The Columbia Public School District may be welcoming a new sport to its athletic programs. Girl’s lacrosse supporters have helped convince the board of education to continue discussions about adding the sport to the district’s athletic lineup.
The major problem that now stands in the way of the program’s existence is the issue of funding. For the District to add the program, it would cost about $50,000 a year.
At Monday’s Board meeting, supporters brought personal stories as well as statistical evidence to the Board’s attention to help convince them that the program is worthy of the funding. Many of the supporters ensured the Board that it would see its investment put to good use.
One key supporter of the program is actually from the St. Louis area. Clayton High School’s girl’s lacrosse coach Bob Panke spoke to the Board about what positives would come from a Columbia girl’s lacrosse program.
“What would happen if lacrosse bloomed in Columbia, would be that we’d have the pipeline from Kansas City to Saint Louis,” Panke said.
Panke says this addition would help connect girl’s lacrosse throughout the state. He also says that this addition would also do two major improvements to girl’s lacrosse in Missouri.
“What we’re interested in is, one, getting more teams MSHSAA sanctioned so that we have more opportunities to play in Saint Louis, two, solidifying the entire state so that when we get 50 teams the state will take over and we’ll be fully sanctioned,” Panke said.
Panke said he will continue to push for the program’s existence. He says he can’t wait for his team to play a Columbia-based school in the near future.
The Board voted Monday night to continue discussions about the potential program at a future meeting.
