WEST VALLEY CITY — Utah may or may not become home to a professional lacrosse team. But if there's one thing the Utah Pro Lacrosse Showcase proved, it's that there is plenty of interest in the sport.
With a few thousand fans gathering at the E Center on Dec. 16 to watch the Colorado Mammoth play the Arizona Sting in an exhibition match, the game popular in the east and Canada showed the game is planting roots across the country.
"The sport is really growing out here," Paul Larkin, director of the Utah Lacrosse Association said. "We have more teams every year. We've got kids in kindergarten playing the game because their older brothers played it in high school or something like that. It's only going to keep growing."
The local lacrosse scene ranges from the kindergartners just learning how to hold a stick to highly competitive college teams.
Most high schools along the Wasatch Front are now fielding teams with several players finding homes on NCAA teams after leaving high school.
That's something many of the youngsters at the E Center watching the pro indoor game would like to accomplish.
"My brother (Mark) played in college (at Maryland-Baltimore County and then BYU where he was a club-level all-American in 2005) and he got me into it," 14-year-old Peter Tschaggeny said at the game. "I hope I can play after high school, too."
Tschaggeny has grown up with the game and his father coaches as Bingham.
Others are just learning the sport.
"We're having coaches clinics every year trying to help grow the sport," Larkin said. "We had a clinic at Westminster (last month) and it was a big success. We've never had as many people come. We had coaches and officials and I think it's something that really helps out the state."
The Utah high school season won't start for another few months. But when it does, there will be plenty of competition as local powerhouses like Waterford, Jordan, Alta and Logan compete for state championships in boys and girls divisions.
"There was no shortage of interest in this game," said Chase Nye, the boys lacrosse coach at Viewmont. "We didn't even really make a big deal out of it, but I went to one of our meetings with about 100 tickets and I sold about 75 of them before the meeting was even over. Having the pro league here would help the sport grow so fast. I'd love it."
The National Lacrosse League (indoor) and Major League Lacrosse have both mentioned Utah as a potential expansion market. The MLL, in particular, has said they'd like to add two western-based teams in time for the 2008 season.
Utah, especially with a planned stadium for Real Salt Lake as an ideal playing surface for lacrosse, may have another professional sport in town someday. But if not, the game is growing.
E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com