Lacrosse becomes newest high school sport [ArticleImageHyperLink] Wednesday, October 21, 2009 By James Cifu Advertising Lacrosse has been the fastest growing team sport for the past 15 to 20 years in the USA, and now a high school league has been formed.  But because of financial and liability issues, lacrosse is not recognized as an official high school sport. “The FHSAA [Florida High School Athletic Association] allowed lacrosse to be a high school sport, but Pinellas County did not,” Athletic Director Larry Lopez said. Instead, lacrosse will be similar to what hockey is here at our school- the team has all Palm Harbor players, but is not an official team of the school. Several students  helped push for the team. Senior Chris Ferrare and juniors Alex Raucci, Michael Nisbet and Nate Mayer played together on the Clearwater club team last year, and helped start the team at Palm Harbor. The team will be coached by Dan Mayer, who played college lacrosse at Plymouth State University and the University of Illinois. The schedule hasn’t been made yet, but the first practice will be January 18. “The schedule won’t be set until early November, but the first game will be the week of February 8,” Mayer said.  The team will play other high schools such as East Lake, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, Plant, Freedom, Jesuit, Berkley Prep, Tampa Catholic, and Wesley Chapel.

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