Due to lacrosse’s rapid growth in popularity, lacrosse will become an official Olympic sport and be played at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
For boys lacrosse coach Eric Fernandez, lacrosse being added to the Olympics was a distant rumor he’s been hearing his whole life, and now that it is becoming a reality, he cannot wait to see what it will do for the sport.
“I’m excited mainly because I’ve heard about lacrosse joining the Olympics since I started playing,” Fernandez said. “Ever since I was young, lacrosse has been one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. I think that with the inclusion in the Olympics, a lot more people will be exposed to lacrosse.”
Boys lacrosse head coach Craig Hunsberger pointed out that a sense of national pride has already been built around lacrosse for the countries that have played the sport for a long time.
“It already has reached a national level, I think if you look at the Haudenosaunee, a lot of their culture is based around the creator game,” Hunsberger said.
According to girls lacrosse coach Kimberly Dudek, introducing lacrosse to the Olympics will help get more youth involved in sports, specifically lacrosse. Dudek is also excited to see what opportunities the Olympics can offer to lacrosse.
Hunsberger believes that lacrosse going to the Olympics means that the sport will bring “more opportunities to more people throughout the world and hopefully throughout our country to bring people into the sport.”
Fernandez feels the Olympics offers a perfect opportunity for lacrosse to achieve national pride for the sport similar to Canadians with hockey and Americans with football.
“I’d say there’s pride in playing for your country, no matter what sport, no matter what you’re playing,” Fernandez said. “If [a country] can build national pride around lacrosse, then it will be more likely to grow as a sport.”
Fernandez feels that if players hope to go to the Olympics and play with the altered format [sixes], they need to work on their endurance.
“I think conditioning training has to go up immensely,” Fernandez said. “It is still a lot more running and a big change.”