JACKSON, Miss. - Making modern Mississippi history, the Millsaps Athletic Department is premiering their men's and women's varsity lacrosse teams this spring. However, unknowingly to most, the game of lacrosse has existed in the region since before the arrival of Europeans.
Native American communities across the United States played games very similar to modern lacrosse, making the game one of the oldest in the world. The game was called kabocha-toli (“stick ball”) by the Choctaw Indians. European colonists in the mid nineteenth century aimed to eradicate the game of lacrosse because of its ritualistic purposes. In response, tribes invited European officers to play against them. Although the game was banned in some areas for violent tendencies, in other areas game play increased.
By the twentieth century it was a national game and in 1908 it was a sport in the World and Olympic Games. Over the century lacrosse dwindled out leaving the South with a lack of knowledge about the game.
Millsaps Lacrosse coaches Luke Beam and Tracy Cepnio are bringing it back. “It's exciting to be a pioneer and set the tone,” comments Coach Beam on the development of the program. After growing up surrounded by the excitement of lacrosse and assistant coaching after college, Beam was hired as the coach of the men's lacrosse team. Without a men's club team previously existing at Millsaps Beam had a large task at hand.
Coach Cepnio, hired as head coach of the women's team came in with the job of transitioning from a club to varsity. “It's difficult not already having a [full] team on campus that recruits can see and picture being a part of,” she comments. “It takes a lot of patience starting something new.” And that is exactly what Cepnio and Beam have used to successfully get as far as they have gotten.
Implementing a new sports program is very time consuming. Beam commented on the long hours he spent traveling and watching prospective players. “The hardest thing was making it known that Millspas now has a lacrosse team and you can play here,” says Cepnio. Getting the word out was the greatest challenge for both coaches. They searched high and low for players wanting to be in the South but also be a part of a new program. “It takes a unique mentality to come into a first year program,” comments Beam. “It's for players who want to start traditions and on that note it's very exciting.”
Initially the boys recruited fourteen freshman players. After fall ball certain players recognized the reality of the commitment that was required to play a varsity sport. Beam acknowledges that “varsity athletics aren't for everyone” and is excited about the upper classmen that have stepped up to share their leadership qualities with the young team. Even though they are new to the game “what they don't have in lacrosse skills they can make up with the experience of being a collegiate athlete.”
Cepnio's team is eclectic at least. With a wide variety of lacrosse skill and knowledge the women's team is learning to come together and play as a unit. “It's new for everyone to play at the collegiate level, but they are very enthusiastic about playing,” says Cepnio. “It's going to be an adventure for everyone.”
