Lacrosse club does not stick | Humber Et Cetera

James Buwalda and Justin Ramroop are trying to raise interest in lacrosse at Humber and start a club. PHOTO BY JESSE THOMAS

Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter

Humber?s campus recreation department purchased lacrosse nets and sticks with plans to develop a new lacrosse club last year, but a lack of interest cancelled the program before it could get started.

That experience left fitness and health promotion students James Buwalda, 22, and Justin Ramroop, 25, wanting more.

?I have always been looking for something to do with lacrosse on campus,? said Buwalda. ?I was excited when the idea was brought up, but it wasn?t embraced by the students.?

Buwalda said the main problem was a lack of promotion for the sport from campus recreation to the student body.

?There wasn?t enough notice, except for a few posters in front of the gymnasium,? he said.

Both students were hoping to combine their studies with athletics and said they feel they are missing out on that experience.

?I like the camaraderie of a team game like lacrosse,? said Ramroop. ?I like the physicality of the sport and I think it would be great to have a club on campus that people could belong to.?

Club teams and recreation sports are sometimes promoted to varsity sports if there?s enough support behind them.

?Women?s rugby began as an extramural sport and became a varsity team as well. Unless there is a strong population of people playing it, it is not likely to catch on as a college varsity sport,? said Jim Bialek, manager of athletics and sports information director.

In order for lacrosse to become a varsity sport, Bialek said that interest would have to expand beyond the Greater Toronto Area.

?It might just be one of those sleepers like baseball where I didn?t know there were any baseball players on campus until we ran it and then there were a million good players,? said Athletics director Doug Fox.
Fox said the cost associated with running a varsity lacrosse team has a starting base level of $20,000.

The Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) is growing and there was a team at Fleming College which hoped to break into the league before it fell through due to a lack of support from the school.

?The team had some interest in playing some games but it didn?t work out and they folded,? said Ryan McGrath, commissioner of CUFLA.

McGrath said that colleges are accepted into the league through a representative vote, but no colleges have applied so far.

For Humber, Fox said the most likely way to introduce lacrosse to the school is via intramural teams, but he has no immediate plans to add the sport.

- With files from Jacob Gallo

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