The ETSU men’s lacrosse club welcomes new members as it looks ahead to its first competitive season in the spring.
The team practices Mondays and Thursdays from 8 to 10 p.m. at the field next to the CPA. There is an average of 10 to 12 players each session, though player-coach Karl Wernecke is eager to see new members join.
“We’re definitely welcome to people to come and try it out,” he said. “We’ll teach them the game. Anybody can pick up the stick, and you just have to put work into it like every other sport.”
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a stick and ball. Players use the stick to carry, pass, catch and shoot the ball into the goal. Wernecke likened it to basketball and soccer due to the aim of shooting a ball into a net on either end of the field.
Wernecke said the sport can help to grow participants’ athletic skills, and it is a sport that can coincide with other sports.
“You can play soccer,” Wernecke said. “You can play other sports. You can play basketball. This will only help your athletic skills and grow you as an athlete and a person.”
Coach Malik Howse said the team welcomes people of all skill levels as they set about developing the club over the next few years. He added that the team has aspirations and visions to reach a higher level, with Wernecke confident they can progress to a higher college club level over the next decade.
“There’s different levels of club.” said Wernecke. “Right now, we’re at the very beginning, trying to grow within the school and the community. If we can get some more people to come up, hopefully ten years from now we can be recognized as a real club.”
The team is independent across college club level but will soon compete in the MCLA with eight games in the spring.
“We’re still building, so our aim is to finish each game strong,” said Howse.
The club is not just open to teaching and promoting lacrosse to students at ETSU, but also to high school students, area youth or anybody in the community who is eager to try the sport.
“We’re definitely here to grow the game,” said Wernecke. “We want this sport to grow in the city and school.”
For the team’s spring schedule visit https://etsu.campuslabs.com/engage/news/157072.
