Help wanted: Lacrosse teams lack coaches

Several are high-school lacrosse teams, including Eau Gallie and Satellite, have had trouble finding a coach this season. The question is why.

“Schools in our area have difficulty finding lacrosse coaches because the sport is so new to the state of Florida,” West Shore head coach Dan Scheuerer said. “Many school physical education teachers do not have much, if any, experience with lacrosse. The few men in the community who have lacrosse experience are working and just cannot commit the time it takes to coach a team. In addition, as with most school sports all over the country, the pay is minimal in comparison to the amount of time a coach invests.”

Scheuerer said he became the coach by contacting Principal Rick Fleming and volunteering to help, but before then, West Shore faced a similar dilemma as other teams in the district.

“We have been in that situation where we didn’t know if we would find a coach or not, so we know how it feels,” junior Shea Ix said.

In light of the coaching shortage, some teams must be prepared to face a season without a coach.

“Schools that can’t find an experienced coach will usually let a parent be a sponsor and just supervise the players so they can have a team, or they may assign a teacher, or they may have to cancel the season,” Scheuerer said.

If a team is forced to cancel its season, every other high-school lacrosse team will be affected.

“We won’t have as many games,” Ix said. “Teams that we would have had a good chance of winning against aren’t able to play anymore due to the coaching issue, so the games that we would’ve won are getting canceled.”

By Abi Johnson