Lacrosse is the new soccer

Amazingly, it took this long. Lacrosse, like the Lowcountry itself, has roots extending deep into Native American culture and vines carefully clipped with French and British influence.

The sport has ties to football (helmets and mouth guards), baseball (ball and stick), basketball (behind the back passing), soccer (lots of running and two goals) and hockey (illegal body checks and spearing penalties).

"Football people like that you can hit other players," said veteran youth coach Jeff Mayer of the Mount Pleasant Lacrosse Club. "Soccer people like the open field."

Organized youth lacrosse, like so many other things in the Lowcountry, has been imported from the Northeast and planted in suddenly fertile soil.

Sunday afternoon might go down as a turning point in South Carolina youth lacrosse history. The Mount Pleasant Recreation Department's Lacrosse Clinic for boys and girls ages 5-14 is part of its move from instructional to league play but, more importantly, an attempt to gauge East Cooper interest in what apparently is America's fastest growing youth sport.

"We've had a really good response so far," Mount Pleasant Recreation Department lacrosse coordinator Kari Moss said. "We had a parents information meeting with about 58 parents and from there it's been a lot of non-stop communication getting information out to schools. We haven't heard anyone say 'no' to anything yet."

The clinic at the Park West Recreation Complex multi-purpose field is set for 1-4 p.m. and registration remains open.

Look out, soccer.

Boom and bloom

"It's tremendous," said Mayer, a Maryland native who played lacrosse at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. "The feedback I've been getting about the clinic is great. We're not looking to be soccer tomorrow with 2,000 kids playing. We just want to get lacrosse going."

The City of Charleston Recreation Department beat Mount Pleasant to lacrosse by a few years. Rich Thomas, the Hilton Head-based president of South Carolina Lacrosse, estimates there are 3,000 players in the state at all youth levels.

High school lacrosse in the Lowcountry has been limited to Wando, Bishop England, Academic Magnet and West Ashley. But growth has led to recognition: The South Carolina High School League this spring will officially crown its first lacrosse champion, with a season running from January to April.

"We're a little bit behind the curve here," said Robert Phelan, who played lacrosse at St. Michael's College in Vermont and has coached City of Charleston youth teams. "It has exploded in Atlanta and North Carolina.

"It's a beautiful game to watch. No other sport has so much action behind the net. The precise passing to cutters is really something special to see."

Baltimore-based U.S. Lacrosse says youth activity has increased 500 percent since 1999 to 250,000 participants.

The real boom in the Palmetto State lacrosse will take place, Thomas said, when "the football establishment understands the highly complementary nature of lacrosse and football."

Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown and New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick are former lacrosse standouts.

"By 2015, I can easily and comfortably believe that we will have over 10,000 players in the state," Thomas said.

What's next?

Except for juggling recreation department staffers in charge of finding enough playing fields for baseball, football, soccer, softball, ultimate Frisbee and egg toss competitions, this is great news.

The more kids involved in more sports, the merrier.

The fewer overfed kids shoving lardy chicken nuggets into their face while lounging in front of video games and questionable Web sites, the better.

Just think. Native Americans once played lacrosse 1,000 players to a side, and with interesting consequences. Unfortunately, that was way before "SportsCenter."

We will never have games that exciting, but someday South Carolina and Clemson might join New England prep schools, Johns Hopkins, North Carolina and Duke, in the competitive lacrosse biz.

Mayer, involved with various Lowcountry lacrosse organizations plus a full- service Mount Pleasant lacrosse store (lowlax.com), will monitor Sunday's Park West turnout closely.

"It depends what the numbers are," Mayer said. "But whatever happens, we're very excited."

Can other sports be far behind?

Look out, lacrosse.

Field hockey might be next.

Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com or (843) 937-5593.