The New Boys and Girls Lacrosse Programs at Hopedale High
Friday, May 11, 2012
Hopedale's Maia Baynan defends teammate Courtney Smith during practice.
The new teams will operate as clubs this year, before engaging in a junior varsity schedule in 2013 and becoming full-fledged varsity teams the following year. Eric Moxim, formerly an assistant with the now developed Milford lacrosse program, has been working for the past few months to bring the sport to Hopedale.
“I started planting the seed at Hopedale in 2009, and I wouldn’t say it was hard, it was just that I wouldn’t go away,” Moxim said with a chuckle. “Then in February, they basically told me ‘Ok, well let’s see how many kids you get for it and go from there.’ Then, through word of mouth around the school, we got 60 kids to show up. So, they let us play.”
Since the team is technically a club, they can only engage in scrimmages and not play actual games. To date, both the boys and girls teams have only scrimmaged each other. The boys team will continue to scrimmage amongst themselves for the rest of the year, but the girls team has a pair of scrimmages set up against neighboring schools.
“I think the guys are content to just learn the game and all the subtleties of throwing and catching right now,” Moxim said. “But those girls, they’re anxious to get out there and play somebody else. They’re ready, and they want some other competition.”
Giving Students Another Choice
Moxim also believes Hopedale was in need of lacrosse due to a lack of spring sport alternatives. In the spring, many students at the school play baseball or softball, but Moxim was looking to grab athletes that played fall and winter sports and had nothing to do in the spring.
Hopedale's Matt Gagnan.
While Moxim’s boys and girls rosters are filled with athletic players, he knows that rushing into competition is not the best idea. Though speed and athleticism help, he is says those qualities alone will not make a competent lacrosse team.
“It is certainly easier to teach an athlete how to play, but lacrosse is different than most sports,” Moxim said. “Just learning how to throw and catch takes so much time, so a good athlete can’t be a difference maker with their athleticism alone the way they can be in some other sports.”
Growing the Sport in Central Mass
As for the growth of lacrosse in the region, Moxim is excited, and sees a model for success at nearby Milford. The Hawk program began only five years ago, and now appears to be ready for playoff competition on a regular basis. But, for Central Mass as a whole to get to the level of Eastern Mass, and other lacrosse-crazy regions, Moxim knows it can’t just be about high school programs.
“We have the luxury of looking at our neighbors in Milford and realizing we can be them in five years,” Moxim said. “But for the game to really grow in Central Mass, we’re going to need to get kids in at the youth level and build feeder programs for the schools. That way, kids grow up playing the sport.”
Ahead of Schedule
They may just be a club, but Moxim doesn’t treat his players that way. The teams each practice for two hours a day, five days a week, a schedule usually reserved for varsity programs. That extra time has allowed the coach to teach over 60 students the finer points of the game and put the program in a spot he never envisioned.
"Most club teams will practice an hour for two days a week," Moxim said. "We've got them on a varsity schedule, and they're picking it up quick. So, I would definitely say we're way ahead of schedule right now."
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