One of the fastest growing sports in the country is also one of the fastest growing sports in Telluride. Lacrosse, once limited mainly to the East Coast and a few scattered prep schools, has journeyed all the way to the one-horse Western Slope of Colorado. Club teams in Grand Junction, Montrose, Eagle and Telluride give kids the opportunity to learn this fast-paced sport.

And why not? It’s one of the sports genuinely invented by North Americans. When they arrived, French missionaries discovered that Native Americans were playing lacrosse. Now it’s all over the country, in middle schools, high schools and colleges, and there’s even a professional league.

Lacrosse isn’t as established in Telluride as soccer, basketball or — for sure — skiing, but it’s on its way up.

“It’s exciting to see it pop up, go from ‘What are those guys doing running around with sticks?’ to a real force,” said boys coach Michael Hein. 

Both the boys and girls club teams’ rosters are longer than they’ve ever been. This year, 30 kids are on the boys roster, enough for both a high school and middle school team. The girls have 20 kids.

“This year we’re looking to grow in a serious way,” said Hein.

This Saturday in Montrose, the boys beat the Montrose High School club team 4-0, earning the team’s first victory in two years.

“It was a long overdue win,” said Hein. The goals were scored by Tucker Henson, Shawn Swain, Adam de Alva and Clayton White.

Montrose is emblematic of the sport’s growth. Theirs is a new team that was playing in their first game ever.

“We definitely have a long way to go before we can really compete at a high level,” said Hein. “For a lot of guys, it’s the their first time on a Lacrosse field at all. On the other hand, this one win is more than we had all of last year.”

The boys were 0-7 last year. But the fun factor was huge, and that brought kids back.
“It’s really really fun,” said Hein. “It really is a difficult thing to learn how to do, but once you get it down it’s fast, it’s unique, it’s kind of an under-the-radar thing. So it’s kinda special in that way.”

The boys have three more games this Saturday in Grand Junction, Edwards, Montrose and Grand Valley.

Their only home game will be May 17 against Montrose. They’ll play where they practice, in Lawson Hill.

This past Saturday in Grand Junction, the girls team did not find the same fortune that the boys found in Montrose. They came up short in both their matches, against Vail and Grand Valley.

The loses were likely a question of experience. Though the sport is in its infancy on much of the Western Slope, some teams are already running.

“A lot of these teams have been playing for three-four years,” said head coach Katie Kennedy. The Telluride girls team is in its second year. “And so we’re building the program.”

Watching the girls play might have been like looking at one of those swirly, black and-white, optical-illusion designs: it looks like a jumble at first. But when you looked away, you see a lot of bright spots.

“The girls improved a ton, and it was really fun to watch them improve over the course of a game,” said assistant coach Brianne Hovey. “Our goalies rocked. We had three goalies who had never played in a game before.”

They’ll get another shot at winning this Saturday, again in Grand Junction, with two more games.

The girls have been practicing since March 10. And Lacrosse is one of those skill sports that rewards practice.

“You couldn’t be, like, a great skater and go try and play hockey,” said Hovey. “It requires a lot of stick skills.”

It’s a young team, as only five girls returned from last year.

“There’s lots of room for growth,” said Kennedy.

The girls won’t have any home games, but they will scrimmage their home town; any woman who plays lacrosse is invited to scrimmage the club team May 20 in Lawson Hill at 5:30 p.m. Call Kennedy at 970-471-5738 to sign up to play.