Wall Street Journal on Lacrosse's Growth

Did you know that lacrosse is growing at an amazing rate? OK, if you read this blog you probably did. Well the Wall Street Journal discusses that today. Here is a snippet:

These days the sport is showing serious growth. Participation in high school lacrosse has about doubled this decade, to a total of 143,946 boys and girls playing on high school lacrosse teams in the 2007-08 school year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, which tracks participation by sport. In 2000-01, there were 74,225 high school lacrosse players.

And the fervor goes beyond high schools. A 2007 survey by the National Sporting Goods Association found an estimated 1.2 million Americans over age 7 had played lacrosse within the previous year -- an increase of 40% since 1999.

One point worth noting from the article. The article mentions college scholarships as a lure for the sport. If you are playing lacrosse with the hope of getting a scholarship, it is best to be realistic about your chances. There are very limited opportunities to get an athletic scholarship in lacrosse and most of those opportunities are partial scholarships. Better to play because you enjoy the sport rather than in hopes of going to college for free.