Just a little FYI.
Did you know that Rockhurst High School recently captured their fourth Missouri lacrosse championship?
While all the talk in Kansas City sports is negative (Big XII dissolving, no NBA or NHL team), there are few people with any forethought, any out-of-the-box thinking, any focus on what is growing.
We focus on the failures, while not celebrating the victories — we have a locally-owned professional sports franchise that is not only building their own stadium, but bringing in Manchester United, one of the most well-known sports brand names IN THE WORLD.
We are still one of the few markets with NASCAR and are consistently among the most well-attended IRL races.
On top of that, we have two high schools on the Missouri side who are bringing new a relatively new sport to our youth and playing it at an EXTREMELY high level. There is also a new, growing youth league. (despite the fact there are high school athletic directors who say ridiculous things like “we don’t want lacrosse because it will hurt baseball,” ugh, way to put the kids’ interests first).
Rockhurst and Pembroke Hill are consistently sending teams to the semi-finals of the Missouri State Lacrosse Tournament. Last season, Pembroke won the Division II Championship. This year, they lost a tight game to the eventual champions.
You would think someone with AEG or the Kansas City Sports Commission would say, “you know, I think this lacrosse thing is beginning to take off. Rockhurst and Pembroke are successful, there is an imporoving Northland team and there are five, soon to be six, and possibly seven varsity teams on the Kansas side. Maybe we could bring in an NLL team or host a NCAA preseason tournament at Arrowhead or the new Wizards stadium, like they did at the Meadowlands. We could bring in the Midwestern schools (Denver, Notre Dame, Air Force) and one team from the East and grow this thing.”
Nah…too progressive.
