Lacrosse tradition continues to grow
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
It isn't that people weren't playing lacrosse on Nantucket before its high school introduction 11 years ago - it's just that the majority of those who enjoyed the sport were not islanders.

MICHAEL GALVIN/The Independent Amy Knapp returns to coach the girls' lacrosse team a year after her sister took the team to the tournament.

College students from the Carolinas, Maryland and New York who came here to work in the summer often played lacrosse in their free time. They hailed from parts of the country where lacrosse was well known, and most of them had been introduced to the sport at a young age. To Nantucket, and to most of the northeast, lacrosse was the provenance of prep schools and colleges.

That has all changed, of course. The popularity of lacrosse is sweeping the nation, and many public schools have adopted it as a varsity sport. That it has gained a firm foothold on Nantucket doesn't surprise NHS coach and last year's Cape and islands coach of the year Rick Blair, who first played lacrosse as a youngster in Baltimore and went on to captain a Washington College team that played for the national championship in 1977. He says Nantucket's rich football tradition made it a natural fit "for a fast-moving contact sport in the spring." As a long-time year-round islander, Blair knew that lacrosse, if given a chance, would be embraced by Nantucketers.

It got that chance, Blair says, in the summer of 1996, when summer resident Bill Fredericks, a pilot for US Air, approached him and fellow lacrosse enthusiasts Marsh Chambers and Steve Erisman about starting up a lacrosse league. Fredericks was a fan, and felt islanders would come to love it as well. In 1997, lacrosse was offered as a club sport at the high school for both boys and girls and for boys at the Cyrus Peirce School.

Today, after seven trips to the state tournament and five Maritime League championships for the boys' team, lacrosse is an established island presence. On the first day of practice this year, 52 boys turned out for the varsity squad, proof that lacrosse is steadily building a tradition of its own.

The tradition is already being perpetuated. Two players from the first NHS team are active in the school programs, with Kevin Martin Jr. coaching the high school junior varsity and Jamie McCoy coaching a new middle school boys' program. Blair proudly notes that fifteen of his former players have gone on to play lacrosse at the college level, and that three have played as captains, including 2003 NHS graduate Matt Erisman, who is this year's captain at Bates College. 2006 graduate Ethan Farrell is playing, too, at Lynchburg College, well known as a small college powerhouse.

Part of the success, Blair says, can be traced to the coaches. "All of our coaches played lacrosse in college at a high level," he says of boys' varsity assistant coach Marsh Chambers, girls' varsity coach Amy Knapp and middle school coach Heather Williams. "It's nice to see," Blair noted of the student/athletes who continue to play at college. "It's something we tell our players - that it's doable, if you put in the work." He and his coaches also encourage students to play multiple sports in high school to broaden their athletic outlooks.

But now, a new season is at hand. There are 15 returning players from last year's 30 man tournament roster, including all-league midfielder Mark Dwyer, all Cape and Islands defenseman Eric Rogers, team captain Matt Dunham, seniors John O'Mara and Josh Stone, junior Will Martin, and sophomores Gaven Norton, Hakeem Lecky, Henry Farrell and Joe Bopp. The team also boasts a seasoned goalie in Keith Clements, who recently moved to the island.

"There will be a lot of people in the mix every week," Blair notes.

Although the team dropped Saturday's opener at Falmouth, 15-4, the real test comes tomorrow afternoon, when Martha's Vineyard is scheduled to make its lone appearance of the season.

Last year's game against the Vineyarders drew a footballsized crowd, and Blair hopes islanders come out for this early

season matchup. Game time is slated for 5 p.m. I