Meet the man in the middle of Tri-Cities’ lacrosse boom

Rob Hart used to like watching baseball. He enjoyed its pace, the strategy, the excitement.

But lacrosse has ruined that. Baseball became too slow for him.

Hart still will take in a baseball game, but only because his nephews are playing and they are family.

Hart fell in love with lacrosse.

That love has turned into a devoted service to the Tri-City lacrosse community, helping the sport grow in this region.

Others have noticed, and Hart has been given the Excellence in Growing the Game award by U.S. Lacrosse.

Hart will be honored on Oct. 20, from 2-3 p.m., at the Richland Community Center at 500 Amon Drive.

Hart moved to the Tri-Cities in 2005 from Colorado Springs, where he had been a volunteer for a search and rescue organization.

“I started in 2007, when my son started playing,” said Hart. “I didn’t know a thing about the sport.”

Hart would take his son Daniel to middle school practice, then stay and watch it.

“Finally, one day, the coach asked me to help out since I was there anyway,” said Hart.

The next year, he became head coach of that team – even though he admitted he still didn’t know that much about the sport. High school kids would come to the practices and help the middle schoolers, though.

“The lacrosse community is good and helping each other,” he said.

When Hart’s son moved up into high school, Hart became the goalie coach for the high school team.

But when Daniel graduated from high school in 2013, an interesting thing happened: Hart stayed involved with lacrosse, even though he had no children involved anymore.

That impressed Chad Mitchell, the coach for Richland High’s club.

“Rob stuck around,” said Mitchell, who wrote the nomination for the award. “He was our goalkeeper coach. He’s a utility guy. He does everything. When I started coaching, I was new to the sport and Rob knew I needed help. He knew I needed things before I knew I did. And he always had them ready.”

Whether it was fixed sticks or equipment, Hart had it ready.

“He’s willing to help in whatever role needs filled,” said Mitchell.

Angie Matheson, president of the Richland Lacrosse Club, agrees.

“Rob is the constant ... dependable, knowledgeable, selfless and continually focused on the true purpose -- providing a good experience for our youth,” Matheson said. “It's never about him. It's always about what is right for the program and for the kids. It is that combination that has helped create such a positive culture in our club.

“Every sports program needs a Rob.”

Lyn Porterfield, the U.S. Lacrosse’s Regional Director for Pacific and Mountain Membership and Regional Development, knows Hart is important to lacrosse.

“He seems to be the go-to guy for all things lacrosse in that area,” said Porterfield. “He's a U.S. Lacrosse Level 2 certified boys game coach, and has been instrumental in starting and growing programs there for a long time.”

Hart does it for love of the game.

“It’s a really fun sport,” he said. “We’ve always told people that if they’d just get a stick in their hand, they’d fall in love with it.”

You name it in Tri-Cities lacrosse, Hart has done it. Head coach. Assistant coach. Tournament director.

Today, he is the program director for Richland Lacrosse, which oversees all the teams from kindergarten age up through the high school club.

“Mostly, I deal with coaches,” he said. “I go to board meetings. I don’t vote. But I listen.”

He gives his input when asked. He’s become the wise, old sage with institutional knowledge of the program.

He’s seen the sport is grow in the Tri-Cities.

In 12 years’ time, lacrosse is being played by three high schools and more. There are three club programs: Three Rivers Lacrosse (encompassing Kennewick boys lacrosse and all Tri-Cities girls lacrosse), Tri-City Youth Lacrosse (Pasco), and Richland Lacrosse Club.

Mitchell says a lot of kids are interested in trying something new.

“We’ve had 110 kids in our Richland youth program,” said Mitchell. “Of those, for 45 percent of them, this is their first year.”

There are 86 high school boys teams around the state.

“When we first started, there were 40 to 45,” said Hart.

In fact, in 2018 the Tri-Cities had high school clubs at Richland, Southridge and Chiawana. Hanford is coming in next spring, and Hart believes Kamiakin will start fielding a team in 2020.

On Oct. 9, the Richland School Board unanimously approved a revised regulation that will allow club sports, including lacrosse, at both Hanford and Richland High. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association does not recognize lacrosse. But under the revised regulation, lacrosse teams can now recruit at school and use school logos – though the teams will not receive the same financial support from the school district as sports recognized by the WIAA.

It’s a start, though.

The lower levels are growing too.

Porterfield pulled some numbers up.

“In 2013, there were 206 kids playing (youth and high school); in 2018 there were 432,” she wrote in an email. “These numbers may be slightly lower than actual participation, as there may be kids participating on Tri-Cities teams that live in outlying communities.”

In short, numbers of participants in this region “have more than doubled in the last five years,” said Porterfield. “I believe that the number of clubs/teams has almost quadrupled in that time …”

That’s music to Hart’s ears. It’s one of the reasons he feels strong ties with the sport.

“I love it,” Hart said. “The kids are moving all of the time. We routinely have teams with anywhere from 18 players to 28 players, and everybody gets to play. You can move players in and out like you do in hockey. It’s a thinking sport, like basketball. It has some of the contact like football has. It has the running of soccer. But rarely do you have 1-0 scores. Usually both teams are in double digits.”

Hart enjoys what he does.

“I don’t see myself not doing it,” he said.

And that is music to the ears of Mitchell, Matheson – heck, everyone involved in the lacrosse community around here.