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Gait Helping To Boost Lacrosse's Popularity

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By CHRIS ERRINGTON, Tribune correspondent

Published: December 2, 2007

Widely regarded as the greatest lacrosse player of all time, Gary Gait has done it all in the sport.

From starring at the professional level, to coaching professionally and now collegiately, to finalizing a career by being inducted into the United States Lacrosse National and the National Lacrosse League Halls of Fame, Gait has witnessed the unparalleled transformation of lacrosse from a niche sport to one of the nation's fastest growing.

It's only fitting that he's now a spokesman and promoter for the highest level of youth sports play.

Gait was in the Tampa Bay area Thursday to promote the Dick's Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions - the boys high school club lacrosse championship. The international field will crown its champion Jan. 5-6 at Wesley Chapel District Park.

"It's what I've been doing the past 20 years, from player to spokesman. Doing whatever I could to make the game grow," Gait said via telephone. "I think the tournament has taken monumental steps. The whole concept has really taken off."

According to U.S. Lacrosse, the national governing body of men's and women's lacrosse, high school varsity programs have increased by nearly 200 percent since the mid-1990s.

"Teams are excited to come down here and play because of the weather and the great competition they'll face," Gait said. "Plus, we've made the adjustment from holding the tournament in August to now, so teams could take time to get here and set travel arrangements. That's the biggest change for success."

Gait said plans are in place to give the tournament a permanent home in Pasco County.

Edge Lacrosse Senior Elite from Ontario, Canada, which is scheduled to play in the tournament next month, won the inaugural team title a year ago at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pa.

At least 25 teams from the United States and Canada will descend on Pasco, with each team playing at least five games. The teams will be divided into two categories, with 21 participating in the Boys Elite Division and four others, including the Tampa Tribe, in the Boys Rising Stars Division at the same site as last month's Derek Pieper Memorial Tournament.

Gait, 40, who returned in 2007 to his alma mater to coach the women's team at Syracuse University, made legendary contributions in the 1988 NCAA tournament. He twice converted what is considered one of the most spectacular moves in the game's history, leaping over the crease line and slamming the ball home into the 6-foot net from behind the goal.

The "Air Gait," as it was termed, is now banned from the high school ranks.

While he won't be performing that move again, Gait will be in attendance to watch the action on the field and provide a free stick-handling and fundamentals clinic.

Still, the focus will remain on the tournament and the sport.

"I think when kids play it, they fall in love with the sport," Gait said. "I think an athlete doesn't have to be the biggest, strongest, fastest, but when they develop the stick work, they can excel at lacrosse and be bigger than the big kid, better than the tall kid."

Correspondent Chris Errington can

be reached at cerrington@

pop.tampatrib.com.

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