No affiliation

Connor Mills, Staff Writer

Twelve girls take the field, playing the game they love. Noblesville is printed across their chests. Twelve girls that don’t represent NHS.
Lacrosse is a club sport at NHS, a different activity from school sports because they aren’t affiliated with the school. Club sports may ask the school to use the name and require that the members attend the school as where school sports are completely run and controlled by the school.
Lacrosse becoming a school sport isn’t in the hands of the school, it’s in the hands of the IHSAA. Assistant athletic director Tony Oilar explained the criteria for a school sport in Indiana.
“It takes 50 percent of Indiana schools to have lacrosse as a club sport for it to be considered by the IHSAA to become a sanctioned school sport,” Oilar said.
There are currently 408 schools in the IHSAA making the number 204 the current quota.
This isn’t the case in other states. Junior Taylor Gysin plays summer lacrosse east of the Appalachians.
“Coming from the east coast where lacrosse is their main sport, it’s very different that it’s not even considered a school sport,” Gysin said.
Recognition is something that players from any sport might look for, especially in lacrosse when they might lack recognition from the school.
“I feel that if we play with Noblesville on the jerseys and represent our school when we play, our sport should be recognized”, freshman Kat Green said.
For some players, having lacrosse become a school sport would be very helpful with managing their time.
“It [lacrosse being a club sport] makes it very difficult to balance my schedule,” junior Ben Herron said. “Since lacrosse isn’t recognized by the school, my schedule always conflicts with football.”
Lacrosse has grown in popularity over the past decade. Since 2001, participation in the sport has grown 204 percent according to uslacrosse.org , making it likely to some that it will become a school sport at some point in the near future. The question is, how long will it take?
“I think it will definitely take a few years for Indiana schools to consider making lacrosse a school sport,” Gysin said. “Hopefully after I finish my lacrosse career at the University of Cincinnati, I can come back and see how much the sport of lacrosse has grown.”
For freshman, the possibility of the move happening before they finish their high school careers is still up in the air.
“I think by the time I’m graduated, it (lacrosse) will be an official school sport,” Green said. “It’s a big deal not only in Noblesville but in other towns, too.”