Lax tourney headed here

By Nichole Livengood  

JULY 7, 2011 12:22 p.m. (0)

An estimated 4,000 Men’s Lacrosse or Lax athletes and fans will descend on Greenville next May for the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) National Championships.

In fact the organization has selected Greenville for both the 2012 and 2013 National Championships.

“Based on our projected attendance and hotel rooms this event could generate up to $1.9 million in economic impact,” said Todd Bertka of Greenville Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Including teams, families and regional draw, he said the CVB estimates the event will generate close to 3,000 room night bookings.

According to the MCLA the event could generate a $4 million to $5 million economic impact based on lodging, meals, gasoline, parking, amenities, retail purchases for local and non-local participants and spectators from previous years.

The 2012 competition will include 38 teams playing on six fields at Wenwood Soccer Complex in Greenville with the semi-final and final games played at Sirrine Stadium.

Bertka says the venues for the event are close to being ready, but they will need to be spruced up a bit. He said a more definitive assessment will be made in the coming weeks.

“We have offered our facilities to MCLA at no cost, but the returns should far exceed any small costs to improve these two great locations.” In addition to the economic benefits, the event will be covered by Fox College Sports and will be webcast, providing national coverage for the Greenville event.

The MCLA consists of 213 teams in two divisions, across 10 conferences in the United States and Canada. Both Clemson University and the University of South Carolina in Columbia are MCLA teams, but this is the first time the event has been held in the Southeast.

Previous National Championships have been hosted by Denver, Dallas, St. Louis and Blaine, Minn. From 2009-2011 the tournament was held at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Denver.

Lacrosse is the oldest sport in North America. Native Americans in the Southeast were playing a version of the sport they called Baggataway, meaning “little brother of war” long before Europeans ever set foot on the continent.

Games were played over several miles and were used to settle disputes and to train warriors. A French missionary named Jean deBreuf, is thought to have named the sport upon witnessing a game played by the Huron Indians in 1636.

He thought the sticks they used to pass the ball resembled Croziers carried by the bishops of the church. He referred to the game as La crosse. The full contact sport was codified in 1867 by Montreal dentist, Dr. William George Beers.

Lacrosse is played with a small solid rubber ball and a long-handled stick with a pocket on the end used to catch, carry and pass the ball. Teams of 10 players score points by shooting the ball into the opposing team’s goal. New York University was the first college in the United States to have a lacrosse team.

“The sport of lacrosse is exploding across the landscape, particularly the Southeast. This event has the opportunity to grow the sport of lacrosse in our region,” says Bertka.