Air Academy High School’s boys’ lacrosse team endured a drastic change to their program this season, initiating additional adversity that the boys will face. With the growing expansion of the sport in Colorado, the Kadet lacrosse team was stripped of being the sole, District 20 feeder school for athletes wanting to compete at the 4A Varsity level. The increasing popularity of the sport led to the addition of Pine Creek’s varsity lacrosse program at the 5A level. Ultimately, this shift means varsity-level athletes from the Discovery Canyon Campus and TCA will continue to play for the Kadet lacrosse program, while Liberty and Rampart High School’s varsity-level athletes will now transition to playing for the Pine Creek Eagles.

What does this mean for the Kadets? Last year, the boys accomplished a massive achievement for the program by qualifying for playoffs and proceeding to make it all the way to the State Championship against Wheat Ridge High School. Unfortunately, the boys didn’t take home the state title, but second in the state is certainly not anything to be ashamed of. Going forward this season, adjustments regarding the district change are going to be made. Luckily, returning varsity sophomore, Jake Thornally, isn’t too concerned about how the Kadets will react. Thornally says, “Since we have so little returning varsity players new people are stepping up and filling roles and we’re building from there.” As far as what to expect this season from the Kadets, Thornally continues saying, “We have a tough regular season so we’re trying to get the most wins as possible and hopefully get a good seed at playoffs; we’ll just take it week by week.” Best of luck to the Kadets as they plan to make the playoffs as a high seed.

While the new addition of Pine Creek’s lacrosse team is causing some direct adjustments to Air Academy’s program, the change, ultimately, is very beneficial to the sport of lacrosse as a whole, particularly in the state of Colorado. According to US Lacrosse, “The Colorado Chapter of US Lacrosse, better known as the Colorado Lacrosse Foundation (CLF), is USL’s 11th largest chapter with close to 13,000 members within its geographic footprint.” Nationwide, the sport of lacrosse is gaining popularity amongst both male and female athletes. US Lacrosse states that, “Lacrosse continues to be the fastest-growing sport at the high school level.” Additionally, the 2012 US Lacrosse Participation Report projected that, “A record total of 722,205 players competed on organized lacrosse teams in 2012, as reported in the annual US Lacrosse Participation Report released today. The growth rate from last year (683,730) was 5.5 percent, marking the ninth straight year of at least five percent growth.” Lacrosse continues to grow increasingly across the nation, as does the popularity and enjoyment of the sport. Thornally, who also plays club lacrosse, is keen on the growth of the sport in the Springs, saying, “The more teams, the more competition, which is great!” A positive take on the situation as an entirety, which will hopefully propel the Kadets to, yet, another successful season this spring.