Members of the Stanwood-Camano Junior Athletic Association's lacrosse team practice on Friday at Stanwood Middle School. The league has 35 players and is looking to expand into the high school ranks next year. Frank Varga / Skagit Valley Herald

STANWOOD -- The fastest sport on two feet also happens to be the fastest growing sport in Washington state. And it has found its way to Stanwood.

Earlier this year, the Stanwood-Camano Junior Athletic Association started offering lacrosse as a spring activity.

There are 35 young athletes taking part in the sport, and if things go well that number could easily double.

Allen Scott, vice president of the SCJAA, said he brought lacrosse to Stanwood to offer an alternative to athletes who didn't want to play baseball.

"I did a study where I found half the kids played spring baseball and the other half rode the couch," he said. "So we were looking to keep the kids off the street and give them something healthy to do."

In Stanwood, lacrosse is offered in two age groups -- a junior league comprised of fourth through sixth graders, and a senior league for seventh and eighth graders.
Scott said he hopes to be able to put together a high school club team next year.

"I had a high school meeting (on Thursday night)," he said. "We had a number of Mount Vernon kids show up. We sent out some information and right now we're trying to compile a list of all the high school students who would be interested."

He said he's received some interest from Stanwood, Mount Vernon, Burlington-Edison and La Conner high schools.

The third-year plan for the league, Scott said, is forming girls' teams, but he said that could be implemented as soon as next year.

This season, Scott said the interest has been overwhelming.

"We did a feasibility study to see if it had a legitimate chance," he said. "This is our first year having 35 kids doing it.

"We'll have 70 kids next year. We advertised really big, trying to get kids throughout the area to come and join. Right now, all 35 kids are from Stanwood. Our goal for next year is to either get a team going up north, or have kids from Burlington and Conway come down here."

Lacrosse is a sport that combines football, soccer, hockey and basketball all into one package. It originated with the Native Americans, and was rumored to have been used to settle land disputes.

In modern times, the sport has a large following in the Northeast region of the United States, but has been creeping west over the past few years.

Areas such as Issaquah and Bainbridge have had youth lacrosse leagues for several years. Those areas are being used as a model for the Stanwood Lacrosse League.

"Why we started young is because most of the successful programs started young and have gotten bigger," Scott said. "For example, Bainbridge has had the program for 16 years, so the kids started young and have grown up playing it.

"Historically, Issaquah started with 40 kids, and now they have 80. Every year Tacoma has doubled its attendance."

Scott said lacrosse, as a spring sport, has a lot of offer children who don't want to take up baseball.

"The kids were looking for something different," he said. "I did some searching on spring sports and found lacrosse. I spent 31/2 years in northern New York with the military and I saw it a lot up there."

He added the pace of the sport is part of its appeal.

"The kids like the fact that unlike baseball, this is a moving sport," he said. "Everybody's a part of the action. It's a continuous thing. Guys are running around everywhere.

"The other thing is the gear. Kids are gear junkies, and they think the helmets are cool and they like the sticks."

While sign-ups for this year's teams are closed, Scott said anyone interested in the sport is encouraged to come out and watch. Games are played at Stanwood Middle School.

For more information on the SCJAA Lacrosse League, call Scott at 360-939-2194, or log onto www.eteamz.com/scjaalacrosse.com.

"I think lacrosse is going to move from north Snohomish County into Skagit County. Bellingham has a first-year team, and hopefully we can all meet in Alger and be good to go."