Lacrosse becoming a big deal in Tri-Cities

Back when I was a young journalism student at Western Washington University, my first assignment for the campus newspaper was to cover a lacrosse match. The first thing I did was look up how to spell it.

Then I tried to figure out how the sport worked. Basically, I figured, it was like hockey on grass. Or soccer with sticks.

Our university had a club lacrosse team, and it was reasonably popular, probably because of our proximity to Canada, where it is the official summer sport of our neighbors to the north. It turned out to be a fun sport to watch and cover, and I enjoyed the assignment throughout that spring.

So I have been delighted to see lacrosse become a semi-big deal here in the Tri-Cities. Near my home in south Richland, lacrosse teams play regularly at parks. And now the Tri-City Herald covers the sport with some level of regularity (no doubt less than its participants wish but more than it was).

One sign of this is that Eric Degerman, online managing editor, and I created a section on SportsTriCities.com to keep all related stories (we have one story in there so far). And photographer Paul T. Erickson covered a lacrosse match over the weekend, and the ensuing gallery garnered an impressive 6,300 page views (and counting).

Lacrosse fans should be pleased this high-energy sport has arrived and is gaining popularity in the Tri-Cities.

This story was originally published April 21, 2011 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Lacrosse becoming a big deal in Tri-Cities."