Lacrosse has been tagged as “the fastest game on two feet” and those “feet” are rapidly moving across the country. Colleges and High Schools are now adding Lacrosse to their athletic repertoire as the sport gains attention in areas that knew little if anything about the game in the past.
Lacrosse originated from Native North Americans who often played the game as a way to train for warfare. (Awesome!) The game may not be played for the same reasons today, but the action and intensity that is displayed is still highly competitve and exciting.
Traditionally, Lacrosse has been most popular in the Northeast, especially in hotbeds like Baltimore, New England, and New York. This is no longer the case with hotbeds now forming in the states of California, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and several other. In 2000 there were 1,273 programs across the country. Below is a map that illustrates the placement of these programs in 2000. The city of each program was geocoded to find it’s lat/lon and then placed on the map. The red dots represent the lat/lon placement of a program’s city.
2000 HS Boys
In 2007 there were a recorded number of 2612 Boy’s High School Lacrosse Programs across the country. That is more than double the amount that existed in 2000 and equates to about 190 new programs a year in that time frame! All this in only 7 years! Below is a map showing the locations of the 2007 programs across the country. Pay close attention to comparing maps in the states of California, Florida, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Minnesota, and Illinois.
2007 HS Boys
The Northeast still shows itself to be the hotbed of Boy’s High School Lacrosse but there is an apparent difference between the two heatmaps. The 2000 map is extremely bright in New England and we see in the 2007 map that the brightness of New England has faded a bit over time. It is highly probable that in another 7 years the heat will spread throughout the country as new programs spring up in areas other than the Northeast.
Below illustrates a state that has had tremendous growth from 2000 to 2007. It’s California!, a state far away from the traditional hotbed of New England. In 2000 there were a mere 40 High School Boy’s Lacrosse Programs throughout the entire state. In 2007, there were 173. This is a dramatic increase and illustrates how non-traditional hotbeds are discovering the sport and expanding it’s presence rapidly. The maps below show the spread from San Francisco to San Diego between 2000 and 2007.
2000 CA HS Boys
2007 CA HS Boys
Colleges and Universities are creating programs across the country which are attracting growing number of players to their schools. Below are two maps that show the growth of NCAA Division 3 Men’s Lacrosse Programs across the country. The first map illustrates the number of programs in 1999. The second map shows the number in 2007. In 1999 there were 112 programs and in 2007 there were 138. With the amount of high school players playing now the demand for more programs at the collegiate level has increased. It is expected that more colleges and universities will be creating lacrosse programs at their schools in the near future.
1999 D3 Mens
2007 D3 Mens
Another major factor in the spread and growth of lacrosse is Major League Lacrosse (MLL). Started in 2001 the league contains 10 teams all throughout the country. This has helped pushed the popularity of the sport by showcasing it’s top players. The teams have gained a following in their respected areas which include a few teams that are not located in the traditional hotbed of the Northeast. The map below illustrates where all ten of these locations can be found. Notice the correlation between MLL team locations and the growing hotbeds of High School Lacrosse. Western teams like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago are all in areas where high school programs are showing a tremendous amount of growth.
2007 MLL Teams
What has caused the game to spread so quickly? There are a 4 main factors. 1. Increased visibility in the National Media. 2. Development of a Professional League 3. Growth of new High School and College Programs 4. Growth of Youth Programs. Knowledge of the game is spreading making it no longer appear to be in the dark to the general public. The game is also very appealing. It is fast-paced and full of non-stop action. It is a good mix between many popular American sports such as football, basketball, and hockey. The whole of America is starting to discover Lacrosse and it is spreading just as fast as the game itself.
Note: All college/high school data was compiled from laxpower.com, All MLL data was compiled from mll.com
http://www.geocommons.com/workspace/show/3883: Go here for more interactive maps from FortiusOne. Create your own heatmaps from our large data directory
24 Responses to Lacrosse: The Fastest Growing Sport in the Country
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Lacrosse is the best sport around, it combines all major elements of every other sport and is one of the most fun sports being played today. Being a former player and now a coach its without a doubt the fastest growing sport in the nation, especially out west, and texas is going nutts too.
How do i get in touch with the author?
The author is Kevin Burke. He is a data analyst for FortiusOne. His email is kevin@fortiusone.com.
You had some nice points here. I done a research on the topic and got most peoples will agree with you
Lacrosse is also something fresh for the kids now. There are tons of kids screaming out for a fun sport they can pick up and run with and lets face it, time has weathered football into perfection and boredom.
Many kids cant deal with the pressure or need to be perfect atmosphere highschool football seems to give them. Lacrosse makes them feel like pioneers while being comfortable, the lacrosse community is outstanding right now.
This is a great analysis! It’s cool to actually “see” lacrosse growing across the country. The growth in California, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan…it’s just massive!
i love lacrosse,and im a girl. lacrosse is a growing sport and hopefully it will be as big for girls as it is becoming for boys. i love playing lacrosse because you can be aggressive and its new, i like throwing the ball with my stick and learning cool tricks and ways to shoot…..theres only so much you can do with a football(throw) but you can do a lot with a lacrosse stick
this is amazing
thank you so much author
It is truly awesome to see “the greatest gsame on two feet” take off throughout the country. I grew up in Connecticut and later played club LAX in San Diego (early 80′s). I now reside in Cleveland, OH where the sport is growing off the chart. Great article.
it really looks like the world is ending..the auther did a really good job
It is truly awesome to see “the greatest game on two feet” take off throughout the country. I grew up in Connecticut and later played club LAX in San Diego (early 80′s). I now reside in Cleveland, OH where the sport is growing off the chart. Great article.
but anyway it was truly somethin
NO ROller Skating is the best
sure is girl
Great sport. If you know it, you love it.
Very informative, though I feel obliged to point out that the red dot near Chicago on the 1999 and 2007 D3 maps is incorrect. The only varsity-level men’s college lacrosse program that has ever existed in Illinois (to this point, Aurora starts competition next year) was Lake Forest College, and they dropped lax as a sport in 1993 or 94.
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well, Howdy,I’m a long-time reader and also was too shy to create a comment.
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In California, how many high schools offer Lacrosse?
To go from and “F” grade to a “D” is hardly exciting. The game is very slow to develope and the top tier athletes are still playing football, baseball and basketball. At recreation levels kids all complain about little ball distribution and on-field team participation. Will see the same decline in numbers as any other mature sport. Still better option then soccer!
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