Lacrosse continues growth

 WESTMORELAND -- When the Rising Stars Sports Center in Westmoreland opened last weekend, a new opportunity for the development, success and enjoyment of lacrosse players in the area opened with it.

“I love it,” Sandra Sanzone of Rome said. “This place is gorgeous.”

Sanzone said sports keep her kids active and she enjoys watching them. Now, her daughter Alexa Sanzone is playing as part of the Tri-City Lacrosse league.

It’s the first time Alexa has played lacrosse inside because it’s the first time there was a league close enough to Rome for her family to get back and forth.

“Participation has been great,” Tri-City youth director Andy Farrell said. “It’s more centrally located, so the sport is available to more kids during the winter.”

Farrell hopes that having an indoor league will help further develop the pool of lacrosse players in the area. He’s spent a lot of time playing as well as coaching and his love for the sport has driven him to see that its tradition not only endure in coming generations, but be added to.

“It’s new to our area,” Farrell said of indoor lacrosse. “Now we have these indoor complexes so there’s opportunity where there hasn’t been before.”

After classes, and in-between studies, Hamilton College players Kaillie Briscoe and Tara Eckberg stopped by the complex to coach up some of the young players.

“It’s just about priorities,” Briscoe said. “Lacrosse and being a good student are my top priorities right now.”

Just about four months ago, Briscoe was scoring six goals in Hamilton College’s women’s lacrosse team’s Liberty League Championship game. She led Hamilton in points and to the NCAA national quarterfinals this past season.

However, she’s not sure any of the kids she coaches at Rising Stars realize that.
“I don’t think they know,” she said. “But I’ll invite them to the games now. We love fans.”

Briscoe is from Orangeville, Ontario, Canada and said her hometown was a big box lacrosse town in which most of the girls played. So now that she’s in the area, she wants to help grow lacrosse in the Mohawk Valley.

“I just wanted to get involved,” she said. “I’ve gotten so much from lacrosse, I just want to make sure I give something back.”

For the Rising Stars, everything has gone better than expected according to board member Rick Ventura. It’s a non-profit organization and Ventura looks at the facility as a service to the community.

“About four years ago, we decided the area needed a good indoor facility,” he said. “The fields are big, they allow more players per field and larger roster sizes.”

So far the complex is booked solid, and Tri City Lacrosse seems to have found a permanent niche in the Mohawk Valley’s winter sports community.