It is a peculiarity of geography that draws mostly Midwesterners to the sunny southern Gulf coast of Florida. People from Ohio, Minnesota (with that accent...what is that?), Illinois, Indiana. Flat places. Farming places. Basketball places.

The same geographical phenomenon draws those persons from Maryland, New Jersey, and, especially, Long Island, to the East Coast of Florida. Fort Lauderdale. West Palm Beach. Those places are like the northeast: hotbeds of lacrosse.

Midwesterners do not play lacrosse.

This lesson in American southward migration explains much about the history of lacrosse in Southwest Florida. Simply put, mangroves and manatees we got; midfielders we ain't.

So, we play every game shorthanded and most games hurt. But we love it. Not the hurt part, but the playing part. And we've done it for 15 years.

However, the 1999-2000 season was very nearly our last. Instead, it turned out to be something of a watershed year for Southwest Florida Lacrosse. Demoralized after so many years of playing the big teams on the East Coast and getting absolutely hammered, the team was struggling. Another season pitting our 11 players against other teams' 25 was just not appealing to anyone anymore. Attendance at practices declined while dissatisfaction rose. So, with our apologies we cancelled our games against the Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm, and hoped we could coax our small core of die-hard (a.k.a.dumbass) players to attend the league Crossovers in January and February. It was that or fold for 1999-2000 and beyond.

A few other teams' players were ticked at us, but for the most part the league, players, and teams were supportive of our efforts at staying afloat. Most realized that many teams were only two or three players away from the same fate.

For us, it was a brilliant move. Former players were eager to rejoin knowing that they wouldn't have to play larger, younger teams in hopelessly one-sided games. Playing against teams like ourselves, we started to win. The game was fun again. A promised league reorganization, in which smaller teams will be in the same division as other smaller teams, will further boost local interest in the sport--no one likes to see their home team lose year after year. Winning gets spectators and sponsors. And those things get you more players. It's a cycle of winning that feeds itself.

So, 2000-2001? Whole new ballgame. The Florida Lacrosse League has promised to reorganize to allow perennially small teams to be in the same division as others of similar size. That means more competitive games for everyone. No more blowouts, no more 3:1 ratios against our opponents!

Once again, Fort Myers Indoor Lacrosse is planned for the summer months and our high school team, Lee County Lacrosse Mohawks, went to playoffs for the first time in their twelve year history--kudos to the players and new head coach Ron Meiser.

We have interest. We want to play and have fun. Join us and see what Southwest Florida Lacrosse is all about!

You can e-mail Richard Williamson here.