Group asks TSSAA to sanction girls lacrosse as a sport beginning in 2022

More than a month after the TSSAA voted to postpone sanctioning high school lacrosse, the Tennessee Girls Lacrosse Association wrote a letter asking to sanction girls lacrosse beginning in 2022. 

“The Tennessee Girls Lacrosse Association (TGLA) has taken the necessary steps to insure a smooth transition including getting all teams in compliance with the TSSAA co-op rules,” read the letter, which was sent to the TSSAA Tuesday and shared with Knox News.

In December 2018, the TSSAA voted to sanction girls and boys lacrosse starting with the 2021-22 school year. But on March 19, the Legislative Council voted 9-3 to postpone sanctioning the sport indefinitely. The Legislative Council meets again in December. 

“We will definitely pass along the letter to the president of the council and he and his fellow council members can decide if they are going to take this issue up again in December,” TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress said. 

The TSSAA saw potential problems in sanctioning the sport, including a decrease in participation and difficulty finding referees. But the TGLA wrote that sanctioning girls lacrosse “will make sense for two reasons.” 

“First and most importantly it brings the Title IX numbers closer into balance. Secondly the sport is far less expensive to start than boys lacrosse. For less than $5,000 a school could provide opportunities for 20 girls to play lacrosse.”

That amount does not include a coaching stipend.

The letter said there are 43 active high school girls varsity teams and more than 1,200 girls high school players across the state and seven colleges in Tennessee with women's lacrosse as an NCAA sport. 

“Sanctioning will provide a greater number of Tennessee girls access to these scholarships,” the letter said. 

The TSSAA was concerned that some schools would have to drop the sport and that some students wouldn't be able to play with a team. 

In March, Childress said his staff did a survey to find out who was playing lacrosse as an individual school, how many schools were co-oping and how many schools were in Division I and in Division II.

In TSSAA a school can co-op with only one other school. Several lacrosse teams are made up of more than two schools. 

Seymour girls coach Patrick Doyle, the TGLA East Region representative, said teams comprised of more than two schools will not be allowed in the TGLA starting next year.

“Hopefully this comes up for a discussion in the (December) meeting, realizing that we laid all the groundwork out for them,” Doyle said.