Kuna Lacrosse has a new middle school team as they grow their program

KUNA, Idaho — Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the country according to U.S. Lacrossein 2020 and the NCAA as men's lacrosse grew by 61 percent from 2003 to 2008 and women's lacrosse grew by 97 percent.

So as much as the Treasure Valley is growing it makes sense that more teams in the area are developing lacrosse programs.

"I like the fact that we get to play and there is quite a bit of contact," said Tucker Hicks a kid on the new middle school team. "My favorite part is just being out with my teammates and having a lot of fun.”

The Kuna Kavemen started their program in 2018, made the jump to varsity in 2019 and this spring started a new middle school program.

"I went to Kuna, but we didn’t have a team my freshman year so I had to go to Mountain View," said Ronny Self. "But since they brought the program out here I just played my sophomore, junior and senior season."

Self has graduated and now he is the offensive coordinator for the middle school team, Self got exposed to the sport by watching lacrosse on television and YouTube, he wants to make it easier for the next wave of Kuna Kavemen.

"I was them at one point in time ," said Self. "I want them to do better things than I did, I’m really out here to teach these guys life lessons more than anything but we are getting them ready for high school and that’s when they really get to become lacrosse stars."

The Kavemen got off to a rocky start at the varsity level, the pandemic halted the momentum this program was building, but they got their first divisional win last spring in a game where Self scored a hat trick.

Kuna has also had three players go on to play college Lacrosse including Lane Kooch who got a scholarship to play at Dominican University of California, his aunt Michelle Foster helps run the Kuna lacrosse program.

"We have found a lot of our players at our middle school have that same kind of dream," said Foster. "They are seeing our kids go off to college and play."

But just like other sports the middle school level is about developing the fundamentals and a love for the game.

"It’s the healing game it started with Native Americans," said Self. "If you think about it on a different level it can bring you out of dark times you come out here and you just forget about everything ,it is a really great game."

The middle school team also had volunteers help out at practice from Northwest Nazarene College.

The Boise State club team also made it to the national tournament for the first time they play Virginia Tech on Monday morning.