Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 18, 1991 TAG: 9104190374
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob Teitlebaum / Sportswriter
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Like its most recent predecessors - boys' and girls' soccer and softball - lacrosse is taking the same path that might one day make it a sanctioned sport for Timesland schools.
Last year, Patrick Henry had a varsity team, and this spring the Patriots have found local opponents from Salem, Cave Spring and Vinton. The three newest teams are not sponsored by high schools, but they do have the wishes for good luck and the promises of "maybe we'll find enough money in our budgets to officially sponsor a team in the future."
The four lacrosse coaches are Chris Pollock of Patrick Henry, Bob Rotanz of Salem, Nelson Davis of Cave Spring and Jarrott Brogdon of Vinton, which does not use the name or the colors of William Byrd High School.
This new high-school league gets a lot of push from the strong Roanoke College program. Davis, who works in Roanoke's recruiting office, played for the Maroons when they were national Division III runner-up to Hobart in the mid 1980s.
Pollock, an All-American for the Maroons, is finishing up course work at Roanoke, and Rotanz, who owns Mac & Bob's Restaurant in Salem, was an All-American for Roanoke in the 1970s.
Brogdon is the only one of the coaches who didn't come through the ranks at Roanoke College.
"I was trying to find someone to coach the Vinton team," Brogdon said. "I didn't think I'd have time because I'm the beverage salesman at the Salem Bucs [baseball] games, I coach a baseball team in Stewartsville and in my spare time I sell meat and seafood."
The coaches - and assistants Art Lipsky of Patrick Henry, Tom Blair of Cave Spring and Joe Dishaw of Salem - gather at Mac & Bob's to review the games and talk about the players.
The roots of the high-school program came from a fall program of clinics. "That's where we got the biggest portion of our players," Davis said.
The popularity of the game has grown quickly. Last year, PH had 17 players; this year the Patriots started with 42 and now have 35 on the team. It's created a welcome problem for Pollock.
"When I met with Coach [and PH athletic director Dave] Osborne at the beginning of the year, he said if I could show that a lot of kids are interested, he would support us financially with equipment," Pollock said.
Osborne backed up that promise. PH has a field that is maintained by the city of Roanoke, and the team travels to games in school buses.
"The reason for our numbers," said Lipsky, "is that lacrosse is a new sport. There's no danger of kids being cut like football because everyone's [playing] on the same [beginning] level."
Pollock, 24, one of the youngest head coaches in Timesland, has no problems with his charges despite the closeness in age. "I'm more like their friend instead of their coach. They try to get away with things, like they'll want a day off from practice and say they're going out to a birthday dinner with their parents. I'll tell them the truth - go out after practice."
Cave Spring, Salem and Vinton don't have the same kind of programs. Vinton, besides not using the school name of William Byrd, wears uniforms of royal blue instead of the Terriers' colors of maroon and orange.
"I talked to the principal [Bob Patterson] and he told me he'd do everything he could to support us, but it wouldn't be a varsity sport," Brogdon said.
So Vinton is formed mostly of William Byrd students, but two members of the team come from North Cross, which had a lacrosse team along with Roanoke Catholic in a private-school league several years ago.
The Cave Spring and Salem lacrosse programs are considered to be on the club level also. Their coaches do the field maintenance and raise money - at least a couple of thousand dollars are needed - for the teams through car washes and other means associated with supporting non-funded athletic teams.
Judging by the response at Patrick Henry and the enthusiasm of the coaches, the future of lacrosse looks bright.
"Our goal is to get more coaches and teach them about lacrosse so the schools will have a legitimate coach connected with the system," Davis said. "That way we'll get more teams."
Pollock added: "With all the people around here who have played lacrosse, it will keep growing. By next year, maybe we'll have more teams because there are some people interested from William Fleming and Northside.
by CNB