Minorities in lacrosse?

[Anonymous]

Funny thing about individuals' perspectives and statistics. The individual's perspective is just that, the perspective of one individual. By definition it is biased based on his/her own experiences.

Statistics are also biased based on the data collected, the questions asked, how they were asked, how they were allowed to be answered, etc. Many questionnaires guide you to give the answers that are desired. You can use the same statistics to support many sides of an issue. It is in the manipulation of the data that creates a biased outcome.

Neither personal perspectives nor statistics are valid arguments trying to be made that lacrosse excludes players based on anything else than desire to play (rec level) and desire to improve to compete at higher levels (club). How lacrosse players do those things are different for every individual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you are correct. It’s mostly a rich white sport.

White kids can’t compete in football and basketball so they do country club sports like lacrosse.

You can look at every roster in college or “pro” and it’s 95+% white.

The only “diversity” you might find on a team is Native Americans.

with better competition, white kids will find that they can't compete in lacrosse either,

What a racist post. Here you are commenting in the lacrosse section you probably have a kid playing. You must be so disappointed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you are correct. It’s mostly a rich white sport.

White kids can’t compete in football and basketball so they do country club sports like lacrosse.

You can look at every roster in college or “pro” and it’s 95+% white.

The only “diversity” you might find on a team is Native Americans.

with better competition, white kids will find that they can't compete in lacrosse either,

What a racist post. Here you are commenting in the lacrosse section you probably have a kid playing. You must be so disappointed

+1
Most of the racism in this country is "white on white."

[Anonymous]

Ironically lacrosse is a native american sport that, in years past was huge in, and dominated by, public schools on LI and Central NY, but it grew through private schools, so has become, for now, a privileged/private school sport.

Many sports are dominated that way now, because people with resources can pay for training/ transportation/ extra time /tuition and privates can recruit, while publics are tied to a boundary.

To me, its sad that Baltimore is not dominant! So many kids without the opportunity. The sport is right there, but resources are not accessible. I’ve seen a few teams dominated by people of color who are doing great and I hope the growth of the game continues in that direction, especially as it expands south.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was at Goucher college in Townson Maryland last week for a college tennis tournament. There was a lacrosse tournament at Goucher college for kids between 16 and 18, and there must had been ten different teams there, from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, etc… I went over and watch the lacrosse tournament because it is right next to the tennis courts. I noticed that there aren’t any POC or Asians lacrosse players. I find that very interesting. In my Langley neighborhood, most Asians kids I know play either tennis or golf, haven’t met one with lacrosse. Maybe because of the physicality of lacrosse?

It’s not that complicated. Lacrosse participation is largely dictated by economics and college admissions process. Being an elite HS lax player will help you get into an elite college but not as much as being an elite football or basketball player, which is much more forgiving on grades than lacrosse for the same schools. More importantly, football and basketball give full scholarships and lacrosse does not. Not even close. Last, even though the likelihood of playing in the NFL or NBA is extremely low, those players make a ton of $$ compared to lacrosse players, who have second jobs. Bottom line, minorities aren’t as interested in lacrosse b/c they don’t see the return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lacrosse is a niche sport that takes specialized skills that are lacrosse specific. Most kids who play have a parent/relative/friend who played and introduced them to the sport. So the barrier to entry of the sport keep it a predominately white sport. It’s very hard to just decide to try playing lacrosse and to be successful compared to football or basketball. Coaches, admin, directors, youth sport organizations are predominantly white as well.

One of the best lacrosse players in history was also a pretty damn good football player and a person of color.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at Goucher college in Townson Maryland last week for a college tennis tournament. There was a lacrosse tournament at Goucher college for kids between 16 and 18, and there must had been ten different teams there, from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, etc… I went over and watch the lacrosse tournament because it is right next to the tennis courts. I noticed that there aren’t any POC or Asians lacrosse players. I find that very interesting. In my Langley neighborhood, most Asians kids I know play either tennis or golf, haven’t met one with lacrosse. Maybe because of the physicality of lacrosse?

It’s not that complicated. Lacrosse participation is largely dictated by economics and college admissions process. Being an elite HS lax player will help you get into an elite college but not as much as being an elite football or basketball player, which is much more forgiving on grades than lacrosse for the same schools. More importantly, football and basketball give full scholarships and lacrosse does not. Not even close. Last, even though the likelihood of playing in the NFL or NBA is extremely low, those players make a ton of $$ compared to lacrosse players, who have second jobs. Bottom line, minorities aren’t as interested in lacrosse b/c they don’t see the return.

Pshaw they are not making some careful informed strategic decision based on scholarships. You are making it much more complicated than it is.

Blacks are interested in football and basketball (and Hispanics are interested in soccer) because their parents played those sports and are fans of those sports, because pro football and basketball players are relentlessly shown in the media (so minority kids know who they are), and because football and basketball are high status sports with high status players who minority kids want to emulate.

Lacrosse is not interesting to minorities because they don't see it on TV and the sport and its players are not lionized. Nothing to do with the supposed racism, elitism, and expense of the sport.

[Anonymous]

Blacks are interested in football and basketball (and Hispanics are interested in soccer) because their parents played those sports and are fans of those sports, because pro football and basketball players are relentlessly shown in the media (so minority kids know who they are), and because football and basketball are high status sports with high status players who minority kids want to emulate.

This may be the most ignorant, racist statement on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at Goucher college in Townson Maryland last week for a college tennis tournament. There was a lacrosse tournament at Goucher college for kids between 16 and 18, and there must had been ten different teams there, from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, etc… I went over and watch the lacrosse tournament because it is right next to the tennis courts. I noticed that there aren’t any POC or Asians lacrosse players. I find that very interesting. In my Langley neighborhood, most Asians kids I know play either tennis or golf, haven’t met one with lacrosse. Maybe because of the physicality of lacrosse?

It’s not that complicated. Lacrosse participation is largely dictated by economics and college admissions process. Being an elite HS lax player will help you get into an elite college but not as much as being an elite football or basketball player, which is much more forgiving on grades than lacrosse for the same schools. More importantly, football and basketball give full scholarships and lacrosse does not. Not even close. Last, even though the likelihood of playing in the NFL or NBA is extremely low, those players make a ton of $$ compared to lacrosse players, who have second jobs. Bottom line, minorities aren’t as interested in lacrosse b/c they don’t see the return.

Yes + 100. Lower income families (minority and white) absolutely know there is little to no scholarship $$ in college lacrosse and even less $$ potential in pro lacrosse. These facts absolutely dictate why these families don’t encourage their sons/daughters to play lax. If you can’t appreciate this reality, then you are
probably a trustafarian who has a son named Chad or Trey that does play lacrosse

[Anonymous]

I'm sure reports about racist actions/comments on various college lax teams/games don't paint a welcoming environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Blacks are interested in football and basketball (and Hispanics are interested in soccer) because their parents played those sports and are fans of those sports, because pro football and basketball players are relentlessly shown in the media (so minority kids know who they are), and because football and basketball are high status sports with high status players who minority kids want to emulate.

This may be the most ignorant, racist statement on this thread.

Yeah, who could possibly imagine that kids want to play sports because those sports and their players have high media exposure and social prestige?

[Anonymous]

News flash, it is okay for white kids to idolize black athletes, and vice versa. My son has three posters on his wall of athletes that he considers heroes, and one happens to be white and two are black. Fortunately all three are good role models. He could care less what race they are. This thread is so silly.

[Anonymous]

To original OP: What is the correlation with physicality and Asians?

[Anonymous]

Only if the Asian parents know that there are scholarships for Lacrosse. Then, they will encourage it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:News flash, it is okay for white kids to idolize black athletes, and vice versa. My son has three posters on his wall of athletes that he considers heroes, and one happens to be white and two are black. Fortunately all three are good role models. He could care less what race they are. This thread is so silly.

Says the person executing the humble brag about Junior. This thread is about why lacrosse still fails to attract minorities and lower income people
in general. It’s an important question. Even though lax is a great sport it will always be second tier unless it finds a way to attract a largely rich, white demographic.