Lacrosse Sweeps Culver City

The goal is to contend every year. And, slowly but steadily, Culver City High lacrosse coach Casey Chabola and the Centaurs are getting there with their third summer camp, taking positive steps toward wins and bolstering the foundation of their growing lacrosse program.

Open to boys and girls from the first through the ninth grade, the Culver City Summer Lacrosse Camp used to draw only older children, but now has participants from all of the age groups and is an indicator of the popularity the sport is gaining in the community. Fundamentals are a focal point at the camp, which is important because many players have no prior experience playing lacrosse.

"Up to this point, our high school program hasn't had a number of players that have had experience coming into high school," Chabola said. "So I've been introducing and trying to teach the game all at the same time at the high school level, where now, if they start younger and continue on, whether they come to Culver City High School or any other high school in the area, they'll have some experience going in, which will definitely improve lacrosse on the Westside."

Chabola, a Culver City High graduate, played lacrosse at St. Mary's College and didn't have any previous lacrosse experience before college. He played for four years and said his experience helped him relate to his players and allows him to understand the struggles of learning a new sport.

Gaining that experience is invaluable in a sport grabbing a foothold in Southern California. Mira Costa High and Palos Verdes--which compete against Culver City in the Bay League in boys and girls lacrosse--met last season in the U.S. Lacrosse CIF-Southern Section Northern Division final.

Chabola said these rival schools get their advantage from introducing lacrosse early on, and giving their players more opportunities to play the game.

"They have a very strong youth program, where they're starting in elementary school and middle school and then they feed into the high school," Chabola said. "That's obviously a big advantage, and then playing year round. Their players mostly play during the fall, they play during the winter, they play during the regular season and they play again during the summer.

''And so, not only is it the number of years they're playing, but also the number of games they also have in addition to what my players have had experience playing."

The summer lacrosse camp, which ends tomorrow, is helping Culver City to close that gap.

The Centaurs went 4-12 last year, but Chabola is optimistic that his team, which included 12 sophomores, will improve as the players gain experience. Though it may take a while before Culver City can compete with Mira Costa and Palos Verdes, the program has come a long way.

"When we started, it was lucky to get 12 or 13 guys out," Chabola said. "Now, we had 52 players in our program this year. Having the numbers has helped. You know, they push each other to get better. And they have other players to work with during the off-season and other times."

Matthew Gima, a recent Culver City High graduate, also expects to see improvement in the future.

"I didn't know what lacrosse was until high school," Gima said. "So seeing the younger generation kind of start early and get familiar with the game now is definitely encouraging, because by the time they get to high school we'll be up there with all those other teams."

Gima had never played before high school, but decided to come out for the team with a friend and got hooked. He ended up playing all four years, and said lacrosse has been "pretty much my life" since.

"I just couldn't imagine my high school years without it," said Gima, who will attend UC Irvine in the fall and hopes to play for the school's club lacrosse team.

The program is so appealing that some players switch sports to concentrate on lacrosse. According to former Culver City lacrosse player Andrew Baird, some students have traded in football helmets for lacrosse sticks. Because football is a fall sport and lacrosse is a spring sport, some football players play lacrosse to stay busy in the spring, and end up making lacrosse their focus.

"A lot of football players I know who have been playing football their entire life will come out, completely quit football and just play nothing but lacrosse," Baird said.

Baird played some lacrosse in middle school, and played for three years while he was in high school. He attended the summer camp since eighth grade, and is now coaching at the camp. He feels that as the sport grows and gains more airtime on television, it will get more popular locally.

"I think once people see it on TV they'll realize how cool of a sport it really is," said Baird, who will attend Humboldt State and is also hoping to play club lacrosse. "They'll really start to take to it. It's not just like football, where you're just running into each other, or soccer, where you're just running all the time. It's kind of like a blend of everything."

Culver City currently has a junior varsity and varsity team, but Chabola said he felt if the program continues to grow, expanding to three teams might be a possibility.

"I think we're not too far off from having to have three teams at this point," Chabola said. "We're almost to the point where, if we're getting that many students interested, that we're going to have to think about going to three teams."

Whether or not he eventually fields three lacrosse teams, the bonds that have been established, and the focus which Chabola instills in his players should stay intact.

"We're all just part of one big program that works together and has a common goal of getting better and getting along and doing things the right way," Chabola said.