A burgeoning lacrosse program has begun in Detroit Lakes with three youth teams active in the young program.

Lacrosse started in March after the completion of the hockey season and has expanded from eight to 34 kids ages nine to 13 in the first few months.

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“It’s grown crazily,” head coach Chris Crutcher said.

The program with three teams, a U9, U11 and U13, started indoors at the Detroit Lakes Community Center after a donation from Laney’s Mechanical to get the program going.

“Every week I get calls from kids who want to play,” Crutcher said.

The program has gathered momentum from the use of social media by organizer Stacy Heinlein and word-of-mouth. Like any new sports program, there is a need for more players and especially, more volunteers.

“We want to create awareness and let people know lacrosse is here,” said Heinlein.

“Next year, we’ll be able to go with a full-blow lacrosse program,” said Crutcher.

There are similar programs for kids in Grand Rapids, Bemidji and Little Falls. Little Falls is also in their first year.

“It’s a good sport for the kids; it’s physical and gives them something to do between hockey and baseball seasons.”

The Detroit Lakes team has played games in Minneapolis and Fargo, and has held practices outdoors at People’s Park.

DL was able to hold their own against programs in their fifth year earning a tie and losing a second game at Fargo.

A one-day camp was also held to teach the fundamentals of the game with more in the works as the program continues to evolve. That is where the need for volunteers comes in.

“The more volunteers we have, the more camps we can run,” Crutcher said. “We want everybody to know that everyone can try it. It’s for the kids. If they want to try it one day, we’ll give them a stick. We want everyone to have the opportunity to try it.”

A few more practices will be held this month and a return trip to Fargo with a potential game scheduled to be played at Fargodome.

The idea to start the program came from a conversation between Crutcher and Jim Kennedy, both squirts hockey coaches.

“This year was to get started,” Crutcher said. “We just had some fun with it.”

Crutcher is open to expanding lacrosse to different age brackets.

“If more kids want to do it at the older age groups and if other people want to help coach other teams that would be phenomenal.”

This is the first attempt at organized lacrosse in Detroit Lakes and should bode well to compliment to large number of hockey players in the area.

Hockey and lacrosse have a tangential relationship with a number of similarities between the two games and can be an inexpensive way to get use out of the same equipment.

There are more than 70 varsity boys and girls lacrosse teams in Minnesota for each gender, but nearly all of them are in the Minneapolis metro.

The nearest varsity programs are in St. Cloud and Hutchinson.

For more information or to ask questions submit to coachcrutcher@gmail.com.

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