CITY LIFE Black high school lacrosse is here to stay

By ISI FRANK ATIVIE

The spirit of lacrosse has been a part of the fabric of North America for centuries, since the original Indigenous peoples created the game in 1100 AD. Now it’s widely considered to be one of the oldest team sports in the world. Chicago has a long history of celebrating all sports, including those that are relatively rare to locals such as field hockey, rugby, water polo, and especially pickleball. In Illinois, there are 102 boys’ high school lacrosse teams; there are also 84 teams for girls. The CPS Chicago Public League only has seven boys’ teams and nine girls’ teams. Chicago public high schools were introduced to the game of lacrosse in the 1990s when club teams like Lane Tech High School came onto the scene. But the Illinois High School Association didn’t sponsor the sport until 2010. For the last four years, this city’s south side has been home for the sport, as it has produced nearly hundreds of Black athletes each spring. Some of those kids have a few years of experience, while others have never played the game at all.

Lacrosse is an athletic activity that Black high schools can lean toward, giving their youth opportunities to play something other than common sports like basketball, baseball, and most defi nitely football. However, Kenwood Academy and De La Salle Institute are the only high schools on the south side with predominantly Black teams.

“I think Kenwood lacrosse has been a social upheaval as far as the sports scene in Hyde Park,” says Kenwood Academy boys’ lacrosse head coach Scott Johnson. “And a lot of people who aren’t exposed to it are showing more interest. So, as a result of that, other schools are going to start to follow suit. I know for a fact that other schools want lacrosse teams. But the difficulty is finding somebody who is willing to do it.”

Johnson, 28, is a white Waukegan native who fi rst fell in love with the sport in eighth grade. He started his playing career as a freshman at Warren Township High School in the northern suburb of Gurnee. The 2013 graduate played throughout his entire four years for the Blue Devils as well as for three different travel clubs. Johnson took his talents to Michigan State University as he competed for their intramural team before graduating with an interdisciplinary studies degree in 2016.

“I didn’t know much about it other than it was kind of a similar type of sport to ice hockey,” says Johnson. “That’s what fi rst drew me in. My dad was an ice hockey player; I did not actually play ice hockey. But seeing lacrosse,

I felt like that was kind of a similar type of game. I got interested in it, and from there I just kind of became obsessed with it. And I had a lot of fun.”

Johnson became a student teacher at Everett High School in Lansing, Michigan, after graduation. He eventually left after almost a year and moved back to Illinois, becoming a day-to-day substitute teacher for CPS high schools until he snagged a full-time teaching job at Kenwood Academy in January 2018.

The eighth-grade social studies and freshman human geography teacher was approached by former principal Greg Jones to coach the school’s eighth-grade lacrosse team thanks to longtime social studies and language arts teacher Ivan Sarudi, who generated the idea to have a team the previous fall. Sarudi, along with assistant coach Dan Getachew, recruited students and gathered just 15-20 players for the middle school team. Although they only played three games that 2018 season, it cultivated an opportunity for the school to add the sport to their high school program the following spring season.

“It was just mostly kind of fun and experimental,” Johnson says. “And we were just seeing what we were able to do that year.”

The Broncos boys’ varsity lacrosse team had only won one out of 14 games in their fi rst high school season in 2019; it was Johnson’s fi rst year as the head coach, appointed by former athletic director Danae Russell. However, that predicament didn’t discourage the team at all. The school also added a girls’ lacrosse team that same year.

“It was just a really good opportunity to just get out there and play some high school lacrosse games,” Johnson says.

Both varsity teams were able to display slight improvement two seasons later in 2021 when they amalgamated a total of eight wins (the season was shortened due to the COVID19 pandemic).

“If we continue to grow, generate more interest within the school, and attract more students, I defi nitely think that the program in Kenwood has an opportunity to be very competitive,” says Kenwood Academy boys’ assistant coach Chase Wheeler. “Definitely within the Chicago Public School system, but then also against some of the better teams in the Chicago area.”

Wheeler, 38, was born in Indiana and raised in Chicago’s Jackson Park Highlands neighborhood on the south side. After graduating from Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Tennessee, Wheeler enrolled in Howard University as a business administration major. He soon discovered lacrosse during his sophomore year and subsequently joined their club team, which competed in the National College Lacrosse League. The former African American midfielder played three years for the Bison before graduating in 2007.

“I didn’t play in high school, unfortunately—I wish I had,” says Wheeler. “I picked up the sport very quickly, and I’ve grown up playing sports. But it became very clear that I enjoy playing lacrosse more than any other sport that I ever played.”

Wheeler was asked if he had any interest in becoming an assistant coach for Kenwood’s boys’ team last season, and Wheeler couldn’t refuse. He was amazed to see how the players were immediately drawn to the game despite not being too accustomed.

“It was an immediate yes for me,” Wheeler says. “Kenwood has an academic center. And in the academic center, we have a lacrosse team. So, that’s a great opportunity for middle schoolers to be exposed to the game and start to develop skills. It requires a skill set that is different from other sports. You’re throwing and catching a ball with your stick. And it’s something that a lot of children don’t experience, whether it’s in their backyard, gym class, or summer camp. But we also have freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors who just have interest in coming out and trying their fi rst experience with lacrosse.”

Like all of the other sports programs in Kenwood, both lacrosse teams require their players’ parents to remit yearly fees of $150. Johnson received an endowment from the Urban Lacrosse Alliance grant that’s worth $5,000. The school supports both varsity teams with uniforms, backstops, and other equipment.

“That $150 that the kids are charged, that almost entirely goes to just lacrosse balls,” Johnson adds. “Because we lose a ton of them.”

Lately, in this current season, the Broncos boys’ varsity lacrosse team has been doing superbly well in producing and developing their skills. Talented Black players from their roster received all-conference honors in the Chicago Public League last season. Senior midfielder Rondell Wetzel, specifically, is establishing himself as a premier force on the field, as well as senior defensemen Charles Tinzie Jr. and Donllen Cooke.

But it’s senior attacker Adin Farmer who is starting to evolve into an offensively lethal weapon for Kenwood. Farmer, 18, was the CPL’s first-team all-conference player from the previous season. But as of now, he is the Broncos’ leader in goals with 49 and in points with 59. (Points include both goals and assists.) Although he doesn’t necessarily believe that his presence is making an impact on other Black kids who want to play, Farmer would love to see more of them embrace the sport.

“I hope there will be more Black kids who play lacrosse,” he says. “Because I genuinely believe if the barriers of entry for the sport were lower, then there would be so many other Black kids who love the sport as much as I do.”

The Broncos’ leading scorer was born in Richmond, Virginia, while his parents were grad students at Virginia Union University. Farmer and his family subsequently moved to Chicago when he was one year old. At the age of 12, Farmer arrived at Kenwood Academy. In that same year, he found a sport that would change his life forever.

“I decided to join the team just to try it out the summer after that year, and I never looked back,” Farmer says. “The fi rst time I played it was in a summer tournament with some of the people I play with now, which is really cool, but I had no clue what I was doing and was running around extremely tired. I really enjoyed myself despite being