Lacrosse league is here to stay in Hampton Roads

By John Streit

Correspondent

CHESAPEAKE

Chuck Miller, Steve Notarnicola and the Chesapeake Bandits decided they had had enough.

Fearing the city's only recreational youth lacrosse organization would have to retract as it had to in the past; the club's Under-13 coaches went all out to bolster participation numbers.

Now, it seems, the Bandits are here to stay.

After hosting four free introductory clinics throughout the fall, starting in October, the Bandits' experienced a 75 percent growth spurt, going from 60 players to 105 in just a few months. The club recently kicked off its 2009 season.

"We put fliers in all of the schools, put signs in yards, whatever we could do," said Notarnicola, a 46-year-old Hickory man whose organization joins the club teams at Great Bridge, Hickory and Grassfield high schools as the city's only lacrosse teams.

"It was good timing, because if the kids liked it and the parents liked it, then the kids could ask for lacrosse gear for Christmas."

The organization now has six teams serving boys younger than 9 through 14 and girls younger than 11 through 12. The Bandits' rapid expansion mirrors that of the sport throughout the area.

Hampton Roads Lacrosse, the sport's only recreational league in the region that also sanctions public school club teams, has experienced a 30 percent growth rate in the past two years.

The area's only travel club, the Hampton Roads Ironclads, saw their numbers jump from 22 players in 2007 to 55 in 2008 before topping out at 137 just one year later.

The reason local clubs like the Bandits have enjoyed the increase in numbers is simple, according to Miller.

"You're constantly on the go," said Miller, a 38-year-old Deep Creek resident. "It's hard-nosed, fast and hard hitting, and the kids have really picked up on that."

Notarnicola's son Jack, an 11-year-old player on the Bandits' under-13 team, added: "This sport really got me going. Whenever someone makes me mad, I can get it out here at lacrosse."

Notarnicola also recognizes the sports' value as a cross-training and off-season tool for traditional youth sports. He's exposed lacrosse to his Pop Warner football team, the Chesapeake Knights, as a springtime sport to keep players in shape.

In turn, many of the Bandits began playing football in the fall for the same reason.

But times haven't always been so booming.

After forming in 2005, the Bandits were forced to retract just more than a year after its inception; forcing its players to be absorbed by the South Beach organization in Virginia Beach.

An increase in interest saw the club resurface in 2008, and the formation of more teams is imminent.

But Hampton Roads is still decades behind the Baltimore-Washington metropolis with respect to youth development and scholastic play.

Hampton Roads Lacrosse commissioner Page Duffy said the addition of lacrosse as a varsity sport in public schools could help close the gap.

"I think all we need is one bold school to make the move," Duffy said.

As the latest crop of young players continues to approach high school, the pressure may become too much for local school administrators to deny.

"It's really cool how the sport is growing," said 11-year-old Taylor Miller, player on the under-13 Bandits and son of Chuck Miller. "Everyone in my class thinks baseball is the coolest sport, but I tell them lacrosse is growing and it's going to be awesome when we're adults. It'll be all across America."

John Streit, 639-4805 or vb.beaconsports@yahoo.com