SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Boys Lacrosse

Fallbrook boys lacrosse leaders hope interest in sport leads to improvement

Joe Naiman
Village News Correspondent

FALLBROOK, March 24, 2003 -- Fallbrook High School's boys lacrosse program would like to be competitive, but the short-term goal is to field a team.

"We're just excited to be here and to be able to work with these kids," said Frank Rotunda, the program coordinator of the boys lacrosse team. "I hope to keep it going."

Rotunda has four decades of lacrosse experience, so he realizes that a competitive team can't be built overnight. His goal for the team is to
provide a presence in the community to develop interest in the sport and to encourage children to take up the sport prior to high school as well as to attend Summer camps which would improve their skills.

The California Interscholastic Federation's San Diego Section approved boys and girls lacrosse as CIF sports for the 2001-02 season, and both boys and girls lacrosse made their debuts as CIF sports in Spring 2002. As is the case with other sports, the lacrosse leagues are based on geography and school size rather than on a team's level of skill, which means that Fallbrook must compete with schools whose players have club experience.

"Fallbrook's going to have a difficult time," Rotunda noted. "Some of
the strongest teams in California happen to be in North County."

Some communities have lacrosse at the middle school level, leading not only to a more developed program at the high school level but also to more experienced players. "You can't be competitive with players who are in their first and second year," Rotunda remarked. "It's like Fallbrook's basketball team playing the Lakers. You can't get there that quickly."

The 29 players on the 2003 lacrosse roster - Fallbrook does not have a junior varsity squad - consist of nine seniors, six juniors, eight
sophomores, and six freshman. Eight of those 29 players were on last year's team. A lacrosse team has ten players on the field at one time, but because teams usually have two shifts of midfielders a team
essentially has 13 starters. Of Fallbrook's 13 starters, only six have
previous experience.

The non-playing leadership is also new. Last year's coach opted not to return. "We picked up the ball in mid-January to try to keep things
together," Rotunda noted.

A group of parents and other backers sought to implement a coaching staff to keep the program alive. Although Rotunda is a former college lacrosse coach, he is currently a lacrosse official and is prohibited from coaching a team. In his role as program coordinator he performs the administrative tasks and works with the actual coaches.

Rotunda used his contacts with the official's association and with local
coaches to seek volunteers to coach the Fallbrook program. The new head coach is Tom Ried, and assistant coach Ron Grayson will also instruct the players.

Rotunda once coached at Stevens Institute of Technology, an NCAA
Division III school located in Hoboken, New Jersey. He relocated to Fallbrook when he was given the opportunity for early retirement from the college, and Rotunda has lived in San Diego County for four years. He has been officiating for five years; he took up that aspect of the game while he was in the process of selling his New Jersey home.

Ried played collegiate lacrosse at Colorado State University and has
also played club lacrosse. Grayson played high school lacrosse in Long Island before a collegiate career at Princeton and club competition.

In other states, lacrosse has a long history as a high school and
college sport. Its short history at the high school level in San Diego
County means not only that many teams lack experienced players but also that many communities are unfamiliar with the sport. "A lot of people have never been exposed to it," Rotunda said.

Rotunda is counting on the excitement of the game to attract players as well as parents and community members to the sport. That excitement is reflected in the large number of players on this year's Warrior roster, including the eight returning players. "These guys were very adamant about wanting to play," Rotunda remarked. "Even though we didn't win a game last year and didn't score too many goals, the attitude of the team was very, very good last year."

Defender Steve Haskell represented Fallbrook in last year's high school all-star game, and Haskell returns to the 2003 squad. Other top returners include attackman Jeremy Shedd, midfielder Daryl Credico, and goalie Jacob Jett.

Rotunda was officiating elsewhere and was not present when Fallbrook opened its competitive play with a scrimmage against Francis Parker. Parker is a first-year team and the Warriors came away with a 5-1 victory. "It allowed us to be on a fairly even playing field," Rotunda noted.

Since Rotunda's short-term goal is to develop a program, he feels that he has been successful so far. "The parents here are very excited."

Although his expectations for the immediate season focus on development rather than top-level competitiveness, Rotunda may have a summer camp following the season. "They will be coming back one more year in advance," he said of a possible summer camp. "That helps your program a lot."

Rotunda added that a summer camp would teach skills which could be mastered and become instincts. "Those fundamentals, if you have to think about them, it takes too long," he noted.

The current squad might not reap the full benefits of Rotunda's efforts
to establish a competitive program, but their willingness to be pioneers may aid the players' personal skills in the near term. "They're enthusiastic about the game, and that will pay dividends at the end of the season," Rotunda said.