Much to do About lacrosse

Wow, so much going on with lacrosse in our community these days that I'm not sure where to begin! Hmm, lets start with the youngest kids first, in particular, grammar school girls. This is the second year that the Oak Forest Park District is partnering with the Illinois Girls Lacrosse Association (IGLA) to provide a grammar school age GIRLS lacrosse program to our community. IGLA is the premier girls lacrosse program in the greater Chicago area providing a "beginners" lacrosse program to girls in grades 3-8. Your daughter and/or you need to know nothing about this sport - our coaches, in a very positive and supportive way, will teach your daughter everything she needs to know to play this sport. The lacrosse season starts soon but it's not too late to sign up at the park district. I strongly encourage you to sign your daughter up asap as the lacrosse season is relatively short (ends June 9th). Did I mention that you can ask your daughter's best friend or cousin to sign up as well? The park district is waiving "out-of-district" fees.

So, why did I start the IGLA partnership last year? Well, here's why. As I type this blog, I'm actually sitting in a hotel room just outside of Cleveland with my wife while we await our daughter's 7pm college lacrosse game. She is a sophomore at a division II school and here's the best part - she is getting a scholarship to play! Translation: lacrosse is helping to pay for her education. I'm not going to bore you with numbers and facts; instead I am going to encourage you to search the Internet to discover for yourself just how fast this sport is expanding at every level. What does that mean for your daughter? It means that there is a vacum out there that is aggressively recruiting high school girls to play this exciting sport and colleges will help pay for their education. Is your daughter already playing soccer or softball this spring? Not a big deal with the IGLA program. We will work with your daughter to get her some practice time and will allow her to make only the games that don't conflict with other sports. 

Lastly but most importantly, did you hear that Bremen High School District 228 recently signed IHSA's emerging sports registration form? What does that mean? It means that our high school district is allowing a co-op lacrosse program to exist within the district. Students from each of the four schools will come together to form a boys and a girls lacrosse team. That's a REALLY BIG DEAL for the communities that feed into our four high schools! Currently, a boys high school team already exists and will be playing some games this season against other local HS lacrosse teams. My goal is to field a girls team next season as well (spring 2014). Do you have a daughter who is currently in eighth grade and will be attending one of our four high schools? If the answer is yes, sign her up at the OF park district asap to get her feet wet with this great sport. Do you live in another community other than one that feeds into Bremen District 228 such as Tinley, Orland, Palos Heights? If the answer is yes, sign her up at the OF park district asap to get her feet wet with this great sport. FYI, my daughter never played lacrosse before high school! 

If you have any questions? Shoot me an e-mail at jconway@oakforestparks.org and I'll do my best to answer them.

Happy Spring!

Joe Conway

Oak Forest Park District Commissioner