Club programs can be expensive just ask first-year Belleville lacrosse Coach Jason Butka. Each athlete has spent an average of around $300 for equipment and other supplies for the season.
Advertisement
This is the first time Belleville High School has had a lacrosse team and as such it is considered a club level program and must run on its own until the administration decides whether or not to put the program in its budget.
"The team was really started by sophomore Nicholas Lachapelle who came to me and asked me if I would coach the team," Butka said. "I told him to see if he could find anyone else and he asked between 15 to 20 teachers and they all shot him down."
Butka said he decided to coach the team and see what they could do. The co-captains on the team are Lachapelle who plays midfield and wing, senior defensive player Warren Eakes and senior midfield and center Nathan Ortner.
There are 10 players on the field and the team needs about 30 players on a team. Right now there are about 16 players on the team.
"It is exciting right now because we are making history," he said. "The athletes right now are making a precedence. When I told them after the first game (a 10-1 loss) that the goal scorer had made history they got excited."
Senior attacker T.J. Bowman is one of the key players on the team and he also helped design the team Web site www.bellevillelax.com. Junior Gary Stolarz is another key player for the first year program. Other key players are senior winger Chris Kennedy, junior attacker and defender James Hogston and freshman attacker Ryan Roethlisberger.
Senior Brian Napier is the keeper who also has spent the most money on the team in equipment. Two other seniors on the team are Keenan Janus a utility player and Christopher Lewis a defensive player.
"We have had some fund raisers for the program like selling shirts and can drives," he said. "The staff is very supportive and right now we are not doing a pay to play because we are on a shoe-string budget. We are open to suggestions on how to raise funds."
Butka says that the lacrosse community has been very supportive and the other coaches in the area have been very helpful and even the referees help them out in situations.
The game of lacrosse can be very physical and even players who are in good shape can be wincing by the time a game or practice is over.
The team is playing as much of a schedule as they could get and will be playing some junior varsity teams from other schools as well.
The sport has been around for ages and is similar in manner to hockey except it is played on a field outside. Players do not wear a lot of padding and the ball is hard and made of rubber. It has roots on the East Coast and is also played on the West Coast.
Some schools like Romulus have had programs for over 10 years. Butka lives in Harrison Township and says it is big out there and has been played for years. There are even a few teams up in Cadillac and it is thought maybe when the team gets established they could go play a few games up there.
Getting through the first year is always the most difficult and it will remain to be seen how the Tigers do with lacrosse.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
