Lynn high schools gauging interest in girls lacrosse

An effort to start a girls lacrosse program in the city high schools has met with limited interest.English High athletic director Gary Molea has been looking into the possibility of starting a program after a student at English contacted the School Committee last fall and pitched the idea, but after a signup at English initially indicated there were about 40 students who might be interested in playing, the numbers have dropped off considerably.?Right now it?s just a numbers thing,” Molea said. “We want to make sure we have a solid number.”Molea said although it?s important to have sufficient numbers to consider starting a program, it?s also important that the interest is high among underclassmen because they would be the ones to build it to a point where it would be competitive once the team went from playing a junior varsity schedule to a varsity schedule. A previous attempt to start girls lacrosse in the high schools didn?t work out.Molea said after announcing for two weeks straight that there would be a meeting (last week) for those interested in playing, only 11 girls showed up. He said he spoke with the athletic directors at Classical and Tech and was told neither has any girls interested in playing.Classical athletic director Bill Devin said he had three days of signups last fall and no one showed up. Since then, he said, he has had one girl express interest.Molea said he plans to have one more meeting before the spring sports season starts to determine if the interest is there. He said if interest picks up to the point where starting a program would be viable, he would suggest that the first year be instructional because so few girls (only 2 of the 40 who originally signed up) had ever played the game.The second year, the team could play a junior varsity schedule with the intention of becoming a varsity level program the third year. Molea said what he has found since last fall and the initial signups is that once the girls realized the time commitment involved and the level of fitness required to compete, the interest dropped off.Molea has had time blocked off at Magnolia Park this spring that would be available if the decision is made to run an instructional program to gauge the interest. Molea said one of the major hurdles in starting a girls lacrosse program is that there is no youth lacrosse in the city and as a result, no feeder program. Molea said that even with Lynn Youth Soccer and Little Leagues that have softball programs that feed the high school teams, neither Classical nor English can field a freshman softball team or a freshman girls soccer team.In a letter to the School Committee back in early December, Molea said the costs of running a program would be between $8,500-$11,000. That would include a head coach, assistant coach, uniforms, buses and referees.Molea said girls volleyball was added to the list of girls fall sports several years ago and it has become very popular, not just at English, but at Classical and Tech as well.Molea is no stranger to getting programs up and running. He was instrumental in putting together the girls ice hockey program that has evolved into a cooperative team that includes Winthrop, English, Classical and Saugus.Devin said part of the reason there isn?t much interest at Classical may be because the girls track, softball and tennis programs are all popular in the spring.Both Devin and Molea also noted that the boys lacrosse team, which combines Classical and English students, also struggles to be competitive. A couple of years ago the team went to an independent schedule. The team is back in the Northeastern Conference, but there is an attempt to play some non-league opponents. At one point both Classical and English had separate boys programs.Devin said you don?t see many kids playing lacrosse in the city. He said the Lynn teams are good in football, which has Pop Warner and Youth Football serving as feeder programs. There are church affiliated basketball youth leagues, a l