As a kid growing up in Southern California, I was given three choices of sport: soccer, volleyball, and tennis. In my hometown of Manhattan Beach, it was conventional to join AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) at an early age, and then a personal choice to continue at a higher level in a club team. Now, when people ask me what sport I play, I’m so used to responding “soccer,” that it’s almost weird for me to now respond with “lacrosse.” Their reactions are confused as they expect me to give them a different answer: they respond, “Oh wow, really?!” or “I didn’t even know they had that here!” Well, that’s because lacrosse hasn’t been on the West Coast for that long; it is far more popular on the East Coast. I was hesitant about playing at first, but once I started to get the hang of it, I joined the school team at Chadwick in Palos Verdes and grew to love the sport. Once I knew that I would be leaving Chadwick and coming to join the Marymount community, I panicked: there was no lacrosse team here. Instead, I joined a club team, one of the few girls’ lacrosse teams in Los Angeles. This team has allowed me to continue my love for lacrosse outside of school.

Lacrosse started with the Native Americans in the Eastern Woodlands, and it was then modified by settlers in the area to the modern form of lacrosse that we now play. For those of you that do not know, lacrosse can be compared easily with soccer — lacrosse is basically soccer with a stick. The field setup is similar (think defense, midfield, forwards, and a goalie), and the objective is the same: score goals. Lacrosse is a higher scoring game, where the average amount of goals per team per game is about seven. There are a few differences though: first, when the whistle blows, players are not allowed to move. Also, players can run around the back of the goal, which is key in confusing the goalie. My favorite thing about the sport is that it’s almost impossible to physically take the ball away from an opposing player, as you would do so by tackling in soccer. Checking, or hitting sticks, is similar but hard to do and easy to avoid: the only way to stop an opposing player is to shield them or push them away from the goal.

Lacrosse is primarily considered a male sport. Almost every high school has a lacrosse team for boys, and there are many club teams for boys in the Los Angeles area. With girls, it is much  rarer. Club tournaments are never local — usually in Santa Barbara or Palm Desert — and even there, the teams we play are from places like Northern California all the way to Arizona. Even at Chadwick, we had to travel far to find schools that had teams, which included multiple trips up to Ojai to play the team at the Thatcher School, or up to Pasadena to play the Polytechnic School.

It is time for all to know that there is another option to playing the big three sports here in Southern California. It’s a quiet alternative to more conventional sports because it is new to the area and not many people are aware that teams are available. Lacrosse is becoming a popular national sport, and more and more teams are available to students as an alternative to soccer, volleyball, and tennis. Lacrosse has massively impacted my life, and it could change yours too. You’ll have fun running around, passing the ball, and shooting some goals. If you’re unhappy in a sport, but you don’t want to abandon sports completely, consider a switch. It could make a huge difference; if you’re a soccer player or a retired soccer player looking for a different outlet, think about joining a local lacrosse team! Soccer players already have a solid foundation on the field structure and fitness abilities, so it would be an easy transition, just as it was for me. If you’re an athlete in another sport, no worries! Many of the teams out here in California are beginner teams, which is good for those who want to start fresh and try it out.