The Nicholls State Lacrosse Club will no longer participate in the Lone Star Alliance because of the lack of commitment of the members of the team.”I was really looking forward to playing this semester, and I was just really upset,” Kelsi Guidry, sophomore from Cut Off, said. “If it was promoted around campus more, it would attract more players.”
The Lone Star Alliance is a group of lacrosse clubs at different Division I and II schools such as Oklahoma State, Texas Christian University and Tulane.
The club started about four years ago and reaped the benefits of success early, making the playoffs three out of the four years. However, last year the team had lost the competitive fire it began with.
“The last year the team had to forfeit the last game of the season,” Mike Matherne, director of campus recreation, said. “In the beginning they had a good core of players, but I think the cohesiveness of the students fell apart.”
Because of the success of the club, campus recreation offered to help the team with travel costs and other league costs.
“Last year the costs came out to about $8000 just to be in this one league,” Matherne said. “We didn’t have the commitment from the students to be able to not forfeit games and to travel.”
Matherne also said that they put together some fund-raisers to help out with the costs as well but didn’t believe that the players bought into the ideas fully.
Although the team is no longer a part of the alliance, the club still exists and is recognized as a student organization.
“The players are more than welcomed to pick up games around the area in New Orleans or Biloxi; they just won’t be affiliated with the league,” Matherne said.
Lacrosse equipment can be rented for free to all students who are interested in the sport. Helmets, sticks and shoulder pads can be checked out at campus recreation.
“There’s not a lot of expense involved if a student wants to see if they like the sport,” Matherne said. “They can check out almost anything here and see if they like the sport.”
This is not the first time that a club sport has seen popularity in the beginning but lost interest along the way. A club volleyball team and soccer team were once a part of campus organizations.
“The direction of the club was determined by the students; we just play a complimentary role to help them achieve,” Matherne said.
Still, Matherne believes that lacrosse has a future here at Nicholls and hopes to see it thrive sometime in the future.
“It’s something when those students are playing lacrosse, and they have Nicholls State University across their chests; there’s a lot of pride there,” he said. “They may not be a varsity sport, but there is a positive experience to gain from it.
