The Chesapeake Bay Region Is The Sleeping Giant Of The Box Lacrosse Universe

The Chesapeake Bay expanse of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC stands as one of the most prolific field lacrosse regions in the entire United States. With thriving youth participation and a rich history of major college programs, this Mid-Atlantic region stands out as one of the most passionate and lacrosse-driven areas in the country. At the high school level alone, an estimated 11,000 kids in Maryland, 9,000 in Virginia, and 500 in the considerably smaller District of Columbia partake in the game. With a local recruiting base of this magnitude, the number of area intercollegiate championships is nothing short of staggering.

On the men’s side, Johns Hopkins is the owner of nine national titles, with the University of Virginia holding seven, the University of Maryland claiming four and Loyola of Maryland possessing one.

In the women’s space, Maryland has lifted the championship trophy 14 times, with Virginia winning three and James Madison taking home the hardware on one occasion.

Even the operational infrastructure of the sport is based in this stretch of land, with Sparks Glencoe, Maryland serving as the home of both USA Lacrosse headquarters and the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum. In addition, numerous NCAA men’s and women’s lacrosse tournaments have taken place in both Baltimore and nearby College Park, Maryland.

In recognition of how monumentally prominent the sport stands within this territory, back in 2004, Maryland recognized lacrosse as the state’s official team sport. A claim that is still proudly boasted to this very day. This part of the world is madly in love with the game of lacrosse. But how does this span of land rank when it comes to consuming the box form of the sport?

To garner answers to this all-important inquiry, NLL.com spoke with three of the zone’s most prolific box lacrosse advocates to assess where the box lacrosse experience currently exists in the hierarchy of Chesapeake sports and what steps need to be undertaken to bring the five-on-five version of the Creator’s Game to new heights. Larry Fila is the co-founder of Premier Series Lacrosse and president of the Baltimore Indoor Lacrosse League (BILL). Mark Millon is a former longtime NLL player and field lacrosse All-American from UMass. And Colin Fagen is the head of the Maryland Lacrosse League.

Each of the above men provides a unique and varied perspective regarding the state of the NLL-fashioned pastime in their shared terrain, with all three coming to the box game after spending their youths competing at the field level, a track especially common to American-born lacrosse players. Fila, whose Baltimore-based organization first gained prominence thanks to frequent appearances by lacrosse icons Gary and Paul Gait, leads an entity that has both experienced robust youth and adult progression, while simultaneously being subject to the many logistical obstacles getting in the way of Chesapeake box accelerating to a more advanced strata.

“Box lacrosse is like a three-legged stool,” claims Fila. “Each leg represents players, referees, and arenas. The seat represents a good management organization that helps keep all the legs standing. Two years ago, we had approximately 400 kids in the youth league, not tournament play, but league play. And we’re getting really good traction. But then we ran into an issue over the last two years with arenas. When one of the legs isn’t there, the chair is unable to stand.”

Fila further noted the difficulties involved with a sports calendar that is forced to move indoors during the winter months. “The sweet spot is December, January, and February for the league, which is peak time for anybody wanting to be inside. There are not enough arenas around to handle it. That’s our issue in Maryland.”

The epicenter of Baltimore-Washington box lacrosse is Coppermine Du Burns Arena, located in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore, two miles east of the city’s famed Inner Harbor.  All three men base their on-field operations within this venue, whether it be Fila and Fagen’s youth/adult leagues, or Millon’s ongoing schedule of clinics, camps, and club team management.

“Starting in January and February, my Team 91 club does box training at Du Burns Arena,” shares Millon. “I tell the kids I want you guys all to understand and envision that you’re not in Baltimore right now, you’re in Toronto, and we’re a bunch of young Canadian boys, and we’re learning to play box lacrosse.” Fagen later noted, “It’s definitely the nicest facility. The arena has a good box setup and ample seating. The issue is they use it for soccer and other sports like volleyball on the turf. So, renting it out can be a challenge.”

While the trio of lacrosse luminaries thinks the world of the Du Burns complex, harsh reality sets in when realizing that the box lacrosse scene is merely a portion of the arena offerings, as opposed to its sole focus. Several area ice facilities melt their playing surface during the warmer months, but these spaces tend to not be optimal, courtesy of the heat generated by the combination of the region’s hot and humid summers, along with a glaring lack of air conditioning. While a substantial pool of prospective dual field/box lacrosse players may very well be present in this lax hotbed, an obvious lack of a place to play continues to present significant limitations.

A prospective resolution to this conundrum may be forthcoming courtesy of Fagen, who is working with investors to construct a TRAC-like box lacrosse-centric facility (Toronto Rock-owned Oakville, Ontario complex) near the Maryland state capital of Annapolis. A development of this nature would likely signify the ultimate game-changer.

“Getting indoor time has always been a struggle,” expounds the Frostburg State alum. “There’s soccer teams and field hockey. So, we are working on putting together a group of people to build an indoor facility, with the goal of making the box game more accessible for potential year-round use. Some people think of box as just a winter type of thing. Having dedicated space for box and doing indoor training would be a huge opportunity.”

Aside from the issues that come with difficult-to-attain field time, the triad of lacrosse knowledge harkens for the days of the Baltimore Thunder, the NLL franchise that would later become the Colorado Mammoth, as well as the shorter-lived Washington Power. The lack of a professional box lacrosse presence in the area limits exposure to the indoor game, a situation that is far different than a market a little further north on Interstate 95.

“People are driving up to Philly to see Wings games, which might be two or three hours for some. We have the Orioles, Ravens, Capitals, and Wizards, along with the other DC teams. All are well received and have a good sports space, which helps drive more people to play,” opines Fagen.

“We once had the Thunder and Power. If there was a team here, undoubtedly there would be so much more exposure and generate so much more excitement,” contemplates Millon.

With the presence of the Baltimore Ghost Crabs as part of the NLL’s UnBOXed grassroots initiative, Charm City once again finds itself with a National Lacrosse League affiliation. The multi-pronged initiative’s goal centers around promoting the game and league to current non-NLL markets via interactions with schools and other youth-focused events. The Ghost Crabs are a signature member of the inaugural class of UnBoXed teams, a program that debuted just last year.

With the NLL’s investment in the market operating in the periphery, Millon spends much of his time promoting the intrinsic benefits of the box game to the region’s enormous swath of initially skeptical, but satisfied collection of highly skilled field players, looking to take their game to the next level.

“I’m a good salesman for box,” boasts the Syosset, New York product. “I noticed after playing box those first three or four years I would launch into my field lacrosse in the spring and summer, and boy, did I become a better player. I was already obviously a good player, being a first-team All-American, but I just noticed a complete catapult in my skills. And it was really simple. I would go outside in the field game, take a look at the goal, and I’d be like “damn” it’s not four by four and a half anymore. It was massive.”

Millon further elaborated on the spatial advantages of rotating between the field and box experience.

“Everything is in such close quarters in box, and now I have all this room to use my speed and skills. I noticed how box helped me become a better player. And that’s the foundational part that I do down here. We’re going to use box, we’re going to play box, and we’re going to play it the right way because it’s going to make you a better player,” emphasizes the longtime Maryland resident.

It can easily be argued that the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland, Virginia and the Nation’s Capital represents box lacrosse’s next great frontier. Thanks to the continued hard work of folks like Fila, Millon and Fagen, the possibility of this potential goldmine bearing previously untapped fortune may become a reality in the years and decades that lie ahead.