Coventry's Lacrosse Program in Full Swing

What started out as a mission and goal has become a reality. High school athletes have now been given the chance to continue playing the sport they love, when the opportunity was not available for them in the past.

The Coventry boys lacrosse team has become part of the Rhode Island High School Boys Club Lacrosse League. The other teams participating in the league are: North Providence, North Smithfield/Burrillville, Cranston, and Westerly. The season will consist of a 10-week schedule, where teams play one another twice. After regular season play, there will be a postseason and one team will be crowned champion. This league is at the club level, not the varsity level, such as programs like volleyball and baseball.

Ralph Izzi Jr., the President and Program Director for the Boys Lacrosse Team, put in effort over the last several years to provide the young athletes with an opportunity to continue playing lacrosse. “For about the past three years, we have pursued the opportunity to get a club team at the high school,” he said.

It was not always an easy process. In order for Izzi and his team to be successful, they had to put a plan together and present it to the school principal. They had meetings with the superintendent, principal and athletic director. “We had to show them that it would not cost the school system anything,” Izzi said, “We were able to show them the budget and how everything would work out.”

In order to do so, they had to make sure we had corporate sponsorships, grants from the Rhode Island Lacrosse Association, and receive player tuition fees, according to Izzi. The player fees are in line with what the youth leagues charge.

In order to raise awareness at the high school, there were announcements over the loudspeaker about the information sessions for the team. There was also an email sent out to all of the parents informing them of the club lacrosse team. They held information sessions in the fall of this year. “We had 33 people show up to the information meetings and we were able to work some discounted packages with brand new equipment with local sports stores,” Izzi said.

Once they were successful in presenting the plan to the athletic director and principal, they could move forward with the team. There are now 30 students on the lacrosse team and their season has just begun. On March 25 they defeated the Co-Op Cranston (East/West) team13-3 and they tied Westerly the week after 7-7.

There was a trend developing in the youth leagues for lacrosse, which spearheaded the idea and movement to get a club team at the high school. The town of East Greenwich has about 400 kids in the youth lacrosse program and about three years ago, 10-12 kids from Coventry were in these leagues. Each year that number would increase, close to doubling in size.

“Once we saw this, we tried to take steps to make sure Coventry could get a youth program,” Izzi said. The numbers have been staggering and bode well for the future. During the first year, 67 kids played in the youth program. Over the past year, the first full year of the youth program in Coventry, over 130 kids participated in the league.  

“In two years we should have about 75 kids who are in high school, who play lacrosse in the youth leagues right now,” Izzi said.

Ultimately all of the coaches and program directors involved would love to see boys lacrosse become a varsity sport at the high school. “The club league is preparing them [the players] to transfer from club league to the interscholastic team,” Izzi said. “My vision for Coventry is within the next 2-3 years is we will get this to the varsity level."