Tahoma Lacrosse isn’t an official sport at Tahoma High School.

What does this mean?

For Tahoma Lacrosse to be “officially” part of the school it would mean funding and coaching through the school and would need to be sanctioned through specific guidelines.

To sanction a sport, it needs to follow 3 criteria.

-WIAA Approved Sport
-Offered by other schools in the league
-High rating on the Student Interest Survey (required every 3 years)

According to Tahoma’s Athletic Director, Mr. Davis, THS Lacrosse doesn’t meet any of the criteria.

“Anything that gets kids involved is fantastic,” he said and acknowledged that THS Lacrosse wants to be a part of the program. He hopes that Lacrosse can be sanctioned, however, it doesn’t pass the criteria. He added that rugby and water polo are also working on becoming sanctioned.

According to Mr. Davis, “We have met with the lacrosse folks a couple of times and it’s evolving, they kinda wanted to live in both worlds,” and he added,

“You either embrace it or divorce it”

“If you embrace it we take it all the way on”, “or we divorce it and we keep it outside of the school. Either completely part of what we are doing, or completely separate from what we are doing”.

There is no in-between world.

When asked what they need to do if their coaches and players are up to embracing it as a school sport, Davis said if they pass those 3 criteria, then the process moves forward and lacrosse can be sanctioned. The first step to take is to vote for Tahoma Lacrosse on the student interest survey, which is happening this year.

One of the players on the Lacrosse team, who prefers to speak under the condition of anonymity, wants Tahoma Lacrosse to be a sanctioned sport because it would help with field costs, reservations, gear, and just a promotion of the sport.

He explained how Eastlake High School, Odea High School, and other schools in the area have lacrosse titled as Varsity Lacrosse, unlike our school. He claims that the reason they haven’t been sanctioned might be something called Title 9, which requires the same amount of girls and boys on the team for sports. In the past, it’s been uneven with lots fewer girls, but in the last three years, the size of the girl’s team has greatly increased, with about just as many of the players as the boys this year.

After prompting Eastlake with a question about if their Lacrosse team is sanctioned through the school, their Athletic Director Pat Bangasser said “Lacrosse at Eastlake is NOT a club sport. They are an outside program that calls themselves Eastlake and use our fields (at a cost). We are not a school sport and they call themselves varsity”.

Tahoma Lacrosse Head Coach, Brian Johnson, had plenty to say about the team.

“I would love for lacrosse to be officially sanctioned by the WIAA in WA state and I think someday it will. High School teams play in the Washington High School Boys Lacrosse Association (WHSBLA) and follow WIAA guidelines just like every other sanctioned sport. For example, we follow the contact periods for spring sports, academic eligibility, and player eligibility requirements to name a few.”

“We would first like to become honored as an ASB program within the Tahoma School District like a handful of programs are in WA state. This would provide many benefits including school recognition, newspaper coverage, transportation, better access to facilities (weight-room), scholarship opportunities through school association, and pride playing for your school.”

Funding and insurance issues are what have held up previous efforts to be sanctioned. Many in the lacrosse community feel that those are non-issues. All lacrosse players purchase their own equipment as much of it requires personal preference, especially the lacrosse stick. All lacrosse players also play under the US Lacrosse umbrella which provides each player with insurance.”

“Lacrosse continues to be one of the fastest-growing sports in WA state and nationwide. I feel that someday in the hopefully near future lacrosse will be sanctioned by the WIAA.”

Although Lacrosse isn’t WIAA sanctioned, Tahoma Lacrosse Team still deserves the support of Tahoma High School. They are Tahoma students after all.

One way to support is to vote for Lacrosse on the student interest survey, as well as promote and attend Lacrosse games.

It is clear that many people in the community would love for Lacrosse to become sanctioned and celebrated as yet another sports opportunity for THS student-athletes.

The next step is to make it happen.