Santa Fe Youth Lacrosse holds clinics, Fall Fiesta as it tries to rebuild
Oct. 14—Lacrosse in New Mexico was in a good place — then COVID-19 hit.
Of all the sports in the city and the state, lacrosse might have been affected the most over the past two years by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. There were teams in Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Las Cruces. The New Mexico High School Association Lacrosse had even branched out into Texas.
By the time the sport resumed competition in 2021, the league lost teams in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque, and participation levels had declined as the sport got lost in the rush to get the state's youth back on fields and courts.
"Lacrosse really took the brunt of [a loss of interest] with it not being the chosen sport, because it's so on the fringe," said Marc Reynolds, executive director of Santa Fe Youth Lacrosse and the head coach of Santa Fe Prep's co-op boys program. "So we, yeah, we got crushed, absolutely."
With the pandemic apparently receding, Reynolds is doing his part to rebuild interest in the sport in Santa Fe. This weekend gives Santa Fe Youth Lacrosse a chance to continue progress in reestablishing a foothold in the community. It will hold skills clinics for youth and high school competitors with professional men's and women's players at 6 p.m. Friday at Salvador Perez Field.
A three-hour clinic will take place from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Sun Mountain Field, as well as at Santa Fe Prep's Brennand Field before beginning its Fall Fiesta tournament. It will feature teams from Santa Fe, Albuquerque, El Paso and Durango, Colo., with matches in a variety of age divisions, from 8 and under to high school. The tournament will conclude Sunday.
The Fall Fiesta is the highlight of the fall season and sets the tone for the spring, and Reynolds, hired in August to guide the organization, said it is a great opportunity to expose kids to the sport. Santa Fe Youth Lacrosse intends to find other means to reach out to the community, he said.
"I don't think we've really extended our tentacles out to the south side," Reynolds said. "And I don't think we've been as much of a presence as we would like to be in the public schools."
Reynolds said he would like to be able to coordinate with Santa Fe Public Schools to introduce the sport in physical education classes, as well as holding clinics in other parts of the city. The organization has used Salvador Perez as a base for weekend practices and clinics, and Reynolds said clinics saw about 80 kids get a free lacrosse stick for participating.
"There are deeper questions about whether or not that ultimately gets people on the field and signed up," Reynolds said. "But I think you'll see us getting into schools and collaborating with them to introduce the sport in things like after-school programs and PE classes."
Reynolds said the fall season saw about 75 kids between the ages of 8-14 on the field, which was about where the organization was prior to the pandemic. He said the New Mexico Lacrosse Association is trying to help rebuild the sport across the state, but Santa Fe Youth Lacrosse can help by doing its part.
"We're really focusing on committing and energizing to this community right now," Reynolds said. "I think everyone is feeling a little bit of that tribalism because it's just hard. You know we have not put the resources we need here yet. We do have a vision as an organization to share the love. When we begin to grow to a point, and you feel like people know the game well, then we'll start helping
Los Alamos and thinking about Rio Rancho's youth program."
