Is lacrosse viewed as a rich people sport in the USA?

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Meowmeowmeow31@reddit

In most of the country, yes. In a lot of the mid-Atlantic region (Baltimore most famously, but also the Philadelphia and DC metro areas) it’s just a normal sport.

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Broad_Tie9383@reddit

I don't know. I've been in the DC metro area for almost 30 years, and lacrosse is still mostly upper middle to rich kids, which, to be fair, is a lot of the population here. Soccer is a normal sport.

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Genesis72@reddit

And not established. Football is also very expensive, but every school already has equipment for any player who’s might play.

A decade ago when I was in high school, the school had no equipment so our coach had to get grants just so kids had pads to wear.

I bought a lacrosse stick from Dicks for $35 my freshman year. I replaced it with a stick my sophomore year that I put together and strung myself that cost $100.

Baseball is the cheapest sport outside of soccer.

Cheaper than basketball how?

HellYeahBelle@reddit

In Baltimore County, definitely a normal sport and at some high schools, might be the most popular spring sport.

In most of the country, yes. In a lot of the mid-Atlantic region (Baltimore most famously, but also the Philadelphia and DC metro areas) it’s just a normal sport.

No, it's a rich people sport here too

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Infinite_Crow_3706@reddit

Like golf?

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It's kinda normal in New England in that there are municipal intramural programs and public school-sponsored teams even in towns that aren't necessarily rich towns, but even then, it's kind of understood that at least culturally, lacrosse is the domain prep/Catholic/otherwise private schools and rich kids, and the archetypal lacrosse player is the same guy as the archetypal frat boy.

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CVogel26@reddit

It's true in New England in the sense that most public schools have it but it's still definitely a rich kid sport.

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SabresBills69@reddit

lacrosse was a Native American sport. theviriquois National competes as its own country in a world championship. Iriquois is located in the western/ upper NY area and u to southern Ontario.

lacrosse is a large sport there.

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Supurbiia@reddit

In the Cincinnati/Dayton area of Ohio, larger public schools have lacrosse teams. It started gaining wider (non-a school) popularity in the early 2000s

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NekoArtemis@reddit

Most accurate answer.

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datheffguy@reddit

It depends.

It’s offered as a standard sports program at public schools in my state, but my school didn’t provide equipment. For other more popular sports like football schools would provide equipment so lacrosse does require a bit of an investment.

If you live in a state where it’s not as popular and the only option is club teams, it’s primarily a rich kid sport.

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Rare_Independent_814@reddit

It’s a north east sport.

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uncouthulu_@reddit

Aside from football, usually the more equipment necessary, the more...discerning the players/families are.

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pinkrobot420@reddit

It used to be. I grew up in Southern California and we always thought it was a rich boarding school kid's sport. I moved to the East Coast many years later, and it's a regular sport that everyone plays.

It's everywhere now. Even my old high school has lacrosse.

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FormerKey3258@reddit

I live next to a park where they play organized lacrosse in Denver, Co. I watch the families who bring their kids there. It's definitely a rich people's sport in Denver.

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jamzDOTnet@reddit

No.

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Tullyswimmer@reddit

As others have said, it's VERY regional.

From about Virginia up through the Northeast, EVERY school has lacrosse, and there's leagues for kids just like pop warner football or little league.

Yes, it did mean something things for us players. When every school, even the poor schools on the wrong side of the tracks, had JV and varsity teams where I lived in Maryland it wasn't just middle class kids playing. It felt like a sport for all of us, especially in high school where much of the equipment could be provided for us.

brubauers@reddit

I'm originally from Long Island, NY, and where I grew up was technically a part of the Hamptons. Lacrosse boomed in popularity, specifically in the early 2000s/2010s. I would say yes; I've lived in a different part of New York that's arguably poorer than where I grew up, and Lacrosse was rare. Also, essentially non-existent in Albuquerque, NM.

The sport itself is also quite costly; according to another Reddit post, "The average annual cost of youth lacrosse is $1,289," which is mind-boggling to me. It's well up there with sports like ice and field hockey, skiing, and snowboarding.

This is a pretty good guide that goes over the general costs for playing and equipment for the popular sports here in America: https://www.playgroundequipment.com/the-average-cost-of-each-childrens-sport/?srsltid=AfmBOooAzFWeMhdVrHJwEn5m6cPoeEpkwQ_kLLDYcI-DFrwVoU9Fb1ip

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BlueMonday2082@reddit

Not as much a sport for the rich but the rich and mean.

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mostlygray@reddit

Kinda. It depends where you live. My neighbors kid played Lacrosse all through high school and he's just standard working class like the rest of is. He and his buddies would play in the road or in my yard.

How are immigrants relevant?

Of course they'll play soccer; it's the sport that reminds them of home.

We're talking about the people born here.

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LL8844773@reddit

Is there an epidemic of a deficiency in reading comprehension on this platform? Jesus Christ.

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btmg1428@reddit

You tell me; I'm not the one that introduced immigrants as some kind of gotcha.

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LL8844773@reddit

Yeah I know which is why your comments made zero sense.

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btmg1428@reddit

It made absolute sense, what are you talking about?

Please tell me how did it not make sense to you.

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Ok? This is the ask an American sub.

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btmg1428@reddit

I thought you said "immigrants play soccer, too" as proof that the sport is popular in this country?

But when an immigrant presents a contrary opinion and plays devil's advocate for it, you backtrack into "thIS iS aSKaNaMeRIcAN."

Please explain this glaring discrepancy, thanks.

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LL8844773@reddit

I didn’t say that, speaking of deficiency in reading comprehension.

I don’t know why you’re moving me when that is the name of the sub. You’re describing who plays soccer in the US and I don’t think it’s that narrow. If you weren’t raised here then you have less knowledge of this, just like if I immigrated to your country and started telling you about who plays soccer there.

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MonsieurRuffles@reddit

It may not be the most popular sport in the US but that has nothing to do with the wealth, or perception thereof, of the people who play it. You’ll find lots of local, working class teams playing in public parks in cities all over the country.

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btmg1428@reddit

If it was so cheap, then any inner-city kid with a decent amount of talent could afford to go to an AYSO club or an MLS academy.

Not reading the source doesn't invalidate it, sorry.

[Pretty sure] (https://ussoccerparent.com/costs-of-youth-soccer/#:~:text=Average%20cost%20per%20player%20nationwide,extensive%20travel%20and%20private%20training) these sources are a product of my fever dream, too, don't you think?

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nwbrown@reddit

I don't think you know what you are claiming you arguing.

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btmg1428@reddit

Then feel free to enlighten me.

If soccer is so cheap, why do American youth still opt for arguably more expensive sports like football?

While I'm happy to be proven wrong, I would appreciate some insight beyond "LOLOLOL your just wrong here's a downvote."

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nwbrown@reddit

American youth play soccer all the time. In fact they play soccer far more than they play football, despite the later being more common in the pros.

Apart-Disaster-3085@reddit

What? Soccer was the cheap poor man's sports that every poor kid played where I grew up (Oklahoma). Nearly everyone I knew played soccer for at least a couple years in elementary school, though many played through middle school or high school on league teams. Baseball and league football was a little more expensive (though accessible). Nobody played league basketball (though we did in the street), or hockey (though, we did street hockey), and definitely nobody played lacrosse or polo (though, regarding polo, knew lots of kids with horses).

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btmg1428@reddit

But if you want to go pro in soccer, could you do it the same way with other sports like basketball and football, e.g. through scholarships?

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Apart-Disaster-3085@reddit

Yes, Absolutely.

In fact my sister in law went to college on scholarship for soccer. Her friend, who I know well, did the same and was a professional soccer player for about 15 years (after an injury, she now coaches at a college)

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btmg1428@reddit

Does a similar one exist for men, though?

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musaXmachina@reddit

No it isn’t, maybe at the Ronaldo level where they get $B contracts. You see people playing soccer is the most remote and austere locations.

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btmg1428@reddit

In the favelas of Brazil, maybe. In my neck of the woods? I've only ever seen immigrants play it. Which is wild because soccer is one of the cheapest sports, that's why it's so globally popular. The soccer mom stereotype exists for a reason.

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musaXmachina@reddit

You’re neck of the woods don’t represent the world sport, hell our country doesn’t even. We’re kinda new to it lol.

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btmg1428@reddit

You’re neck of the woods don’t represent the world sport,

This is becoming pointless. Just look at your initial post about it being a rich man sport and the reaction to this. With that you’re speaking for the country, I disagree, looks like others do as well. Also in regards to your decorated club that was established in the late 90s, Sheffield FC was has been around since the mid 1800s for reference. So really weird argument to make, even weirder hill to die on. However, good chat hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

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btmg1428@reddit

Just look at your initial post about it being a rich man sport and the reaction to this. With that you’re speaking for the country,

I guess adding "for some reason" to the end of my comment doesn't seem to convey my disagreement with that statement.

Also in regards to your decorated club that was established in the late 90s, Sheffield FC was has been around since the mid 1800s for reference.

And you accuse me of being pointless? 😆

even weirder hill to die on.

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BrokenManOfSamarkand@reddit

Because if you're not a recent immigrant from Latin America, youre probably a white guy that is ignoring America's traditional sports in favor of rooting for a foreign (almost always European) team. It reads as sophisticated to a certain type of person.

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mothman83@reddit

Or Maybe they just like the sport. The real world is not a never ending parade of MAGA/ Fox News Culture war bullshit.

How dare they betray " traditional" American sports!

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BrokenManOfSamarkand@reddit

Has nothing to do with Fox News, or even a value judgment. America does have traditional sports that's just a fact. Soccer isn't one of them.

I don't care what anyone watches at all, but the reason why someone might view soccer as a rich sport in the context of the U.S. is the reason I stated. It's not one of the traditional sports in the U.S. and means that someone is taking on an internationalist perspective, which is usually seen as being more sophisticated and associated with being above the lower class. You don't see many poor black people or folks in Appalachia rooting for Arsenal.

There's a lot more urban white guys that do.

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btmg1428@reddit

Took the words right out of my mouth!

That, and the pay-to-play system that's harming the American talent pool.

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martlet1@reddit

Jesus you got brainwashed

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MintyFreshMC@reddit

The commenter you’re replying to didn’t imply anyone was betraying anything. Stop being so dramatic.

It's viewed as a foreign sport that rich people occasionally indulge in.

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ELMUNECODETACOMA@reddit

When I was in high school, none of the public schools had lacrosse teams and all the private schools did.

I don't think you get the gist of my prodding.

Maybe so, but I grew up in Oklahoma and nobody except the rich private school kids at Cascia Hall (tulsa) played lacrosse or even knew what is was.

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DifficultyHappy1546@reddit

Obviously we’re not talking about 100% of people here. The overwhelming majority of people that play lacrosse are middle class and above.

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GuadDidUs@reddit

That wasn't my only point. There's a lot of male defaultism going on in this thread.

Equipment needs for women's vs. men's lacrosse are different. They are almost 2 different sports. Men's lacrosse is probably closer in cost to ice hockey or football. Women's lacrosse is probably more comparable in cost to field hockey or baseball.

Lacrosse was actually more accessible to me as a sport as a poor girl in a middle class suburb because it was less popular. I didn't have access to play sports before free middle school and high school sports started; our soccer team, for example, was absolutely stacked with kids that grew up playing travel or club soccer.

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DifficultyHappy1546@reddit

Sorry for being a male that doesn’t really know any lacrosse players other than my daughter.

Equipment cost is negligible when talking about travel sports. $250 for a stick that lasts a couple years is a drop in the bucket when comparing to $4k in club fees plus 20 nights in a hotel over the course of a year.

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GuadDidUs@reddit

Equipment costs matter when you're talking about whether public schools can afford to offer the sport. My school had sticks and uniforms for everyone. I only had to purchase my cleats and mouth guard.

The question was not whether club sports are expensive, it's whether lacrosse is expensive. Club sports in America are generally thousands of dollars a year, as you noted. I pay similar to what you pay for club soccer, but am fortunate that our tournaments are generally local.

That said, club track IS significantly cheaper than other club sports. Fees for 2 seasons plus uniform is about what I pay for just my daughter's soccer kit. Meets are typically around $20-$40 each. All in, we're at probably about $2500 for a whole year, including overnight travel for a few meets. Cut out overnights and you're under $1000 probably.

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DifficultyHappy1546@reddit

The question is not is lacrosse expensive. The question is: “is lacrosse viewed as a rich people sport?” The answer is “yes”.

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Weaselandhottie@reddit

Baltimore City, not just the wealthier schools, have Lacrosse. Dunbar is one as is Patterson Park. Neither of those is considered "wealthy" like City or Poly.

West Coast ... outside of some private schools, we don't do that here ... so yes?

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Tacokolache@reddit

No. I played in school. I was poor as shit. I grew up near an Indian reservation. We all played and none of us had money.

At the collegiate level, yeah. Kind of feel like it’s a lot of rich white kids

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myOEburner@reddit

Yes. Reminds me of an interesting article on lacrosse a couple years ago.

Apparently it is all the rage in New England, and affluent families will spend obscene sums of money on the best training and summer camps for their kids to become very good lacrosse players all with the idea that it will give them advantages in pursuing admission into elite universities. Buuuut.....there's one problem.

My kid plays HS varsity lacrosse in MN and it’s not very expensive…compared to hockey. Every piece of hockey equipment is far more expensive, ice time, team/association fees, tournaments, etc., But lacrosse is not as popular here as it is on the east coast, where I imagine it’s a lot more expensive.

But, LAX can be expensive if you add in doing club/travel and clinics/camps.

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GuadDidUs@reddit

I think it's important to make the distinction between men's and women's lacrosse here.

Men's lacrosse has a lot more equipment because of the padding, like ice hockey, therefore yes it's a more expensive investment.

Women's lacrosse has cleats, a stick, a mouth guard, and I believe they wear eye protection now. My HS provided sticks if you didn't have your own.

So not a rich person sport for women.

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D3moknight@reddit

Where I grew up in the South, only rich private schools have lacrosse.

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GreenBeanTM@reddit

Not really. My school didn’t have a team but I just figured that was due to lack of interest same as why we didn’t have a cheer team.

Based off other people saying it’s expensive maybe this is wrong, but I always thought it was similar in costs to football - slightly cheaper for teams that don’t wear the helmets (didn’t even know that helmets existed until right now and it appears to only be men’s teams that wear them, which I also didn’t realize existed), which definitely isn’t seen as a rich persons sport.

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loweexclamationpoint@reddit

Midwest, it's mostly a private school or rich suburb sport. Rural places it doesn't exist.

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twotall88@reddit

I grew up in Southwestern Iowa, I didn't even know Rugby and Lacrosse were sports until I moved to the East coast.

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My daughter plays girls' lacrosse. Not that expensive for school. Gets pretty expensive for club, but still not as much as club volleyball for my other daughter.

In New England it's strongly associated with prep schools, which are also associated with wealth, but it's gotten more popular in public schools over time.

Outside of the Eastern Canada and the MidAtlantic, it's more associated with wealth, since it's less popular in its own right and mostly seen as a sport for kids to play to prepare for college. Men's lacrosse probably has more overall popularity throughout Canada than it has in the US.

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Daddysheremyluv@reddit

Rich kid sport. Most affluent schools have the best teams...... the exception and it is huge some school districts with a a Reservation kids kick ass.

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too-left-feet@reddit

In western/central/southern tier New York lacrosse is pretty much class independent. I had 2 college lacrosse players as housemates my Sr. Year and they definitely did not come from wealthy families. Further, my son in law played in high school and college and his folks were definitely working class. I also doubt that the boys on the Onondaga Reservation ( south of Syracuse) came from families that had much,… and some of those boys are fantastic.

My youngest decided he wanted to start playing in high school.

Since it was a brand new program, there was very little gear to provide the team.

We shelled out about $1200 in gear for him. Lucky for us, he has a huge cranium so the only helmet that would fit him was $280. Then the coach let us know to buy black helmets if possible, which was another $40.

We are not rich, but we could afford the gear.

I was pretty unhappy when he stopped playing after his sophomore year, but he did it to concentrate on academics. He is graduating this year with a 4.7 GPA and got accepted to all but one university he applied to.

Both of my daughters play for the High School team. It is way better than the the travel shit. We did that for Volleyball for a year with our our oldest. We were probably 10K in after a year.

Funny add on. My youngest is a firecracker. When we were discussing her playing, I was like we sure we want to to give her a stick and tell her to go hit people. She just grinned.

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OUsnr7@reddit

Grew up in one of the wealthier areas of Houston and it honestly was mostly played by rich kids. Ironically, they were pretty mercilessly mocked for it by a lot of other athletes though. Even our football coaches gave shit to the kids that were also on the lacrosse team. I initially thought it might have been because it’s just a club sport but they never gave any of us on the rugby team a hard time

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Nottacod@reddit

Not in Maryland. We always played it in jr and high school. My grandaughter plays it for her high school in a southern state.

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topcide@reddit

I grew up in Michigan and I've lived here my entire life,.

I'm 44 years old

I actually played lacrosse when I was younger, my middle school had enough players. We had a 7th and 8th grade team, I grew up in the Detroit suburbs.

Some of the other surrounding middle schools had teams but we had to play a lot of private schools, but with each year it became more common.

By the time that I was finishing high School, it was a very, very common sport to be played by public schools throughout the metropolitan Detroit suburbs as well as the west side of the state.

Not just a rich people sport, a regional rich people sport.

cyclingidiot16@reddit

Fair but also a regional thing. The US is freaking massive and you get these general questions that only really apply to a small region. Also, it’s Reddit.

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

I said it was Reddit lol.

Catches on first with the well traveled and the mobile; someone sees it elsewhere and brings it back, or played before moving.

Especially because when lacrosse originally got legs in Atlanta, teams had to travel for competition (not cheap).

School programs initially started here in some wealthier public school districts and among private schools, almost entirely around Atlanta.

Now it's in most public schools in metro Atlanta (regardless of wealth).

And it's growing statewide.

It's not a super expensive sport; the bigger issues are coaching (you're JUST now in metro Atlanta starting to have coaches who played), and title 9 precluding schools from adding it for guys (even if there's interest) if they can't get a girl's program going too.

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ByWillAlone@reddit

I grew up in an upper/middle-class neighborhood in the Pacific Northwest...my high school had a robust sports program, we had our own Olympic sized pool, a huge football field with covered stadium, a second football field, multiple soccer fields, a baseball field, multiple tennis courts, and racquetball courts... But we didn't have lacrosse because it was for people richer than my school district. We also didn't have polo. But we did have water polo!

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Sensitive-Respect-25@reddit

The animated show archer has the main character play lacrosse (and at least once organize a team), and he is explicitly showcased as a rich asshat. It's all satire and crass humor BUT does show how the sport is viewed by many.

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Phoenix_Court@reddit

The comments on this post can be divided into two categories.

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PopEnvironmental1335@reddit

It’s more of a private school sport. I’ll let you decide if that counts as “rich.”

Played it in gym class, in Montana, in the 90s.

It's normal in the mid Atlantic/ North Mid Atlantic region. But outside of that, yes, it's a rich kid sport.

Soccer. Soccer is not a sport because you can't use your arms. Anything where you can't use your arms can't be a sport. Tap dancing isn't a sport. I rest my case.

Running. People think running is a sport. Running isn't a sport because anybody can do it. I can run, you can run. For Christ sakes, my mother can run! You don't see her on the cover of Sports Illustrated, do you?

Swimming. Swimming isn't a sport. Swimming is a way to keep from drowning. That's just common sense. Sailing isn't a sport. Sailing is a way to get somewhere. Riding the bus isn't a sport, why the fuck should sailing be a sport?

Boxing is not a sport either. Boxing is a way to beat the shit out of somebody. In that respect, boxing is actually a more sophisticated way of hockey. In spite of what the police tell you, beating the shit out of somebody is not a sport. When police brutality becomes an Olympic event, fine, then boxing can be a sport.

Bowling. Bowling isn't a sport because you have to rent shoes. Don't forget, these are my rules. I make 'em up.

Billiards. Some people think billiards is a sport, but it can't be, because there's no chance of serious injury. Unless, of course, you welch on a bet in a tough neighborhood. Then, if you wind up with a pool cue stickin' out of your ass, you know you might be the victim of a sports-related injury. But that ain't billiards, that's pool, and that starts with a P, and that rhymes with D, and that brings me to darts.

Darts could have been a sport, because at least there's a chance to put someone's eye out. But, alas, darts will never be a sport, because the whole object of the game is to reach zero, which goes against all sports logic.

Lacrosse is not a sport; lacrosse is a f@ggoty college activity. I don't care how rough it is, anytime you're running around a field, waving a stick with a little net on the end of it, you're engaged in a f@ggoty college activity. Period.

Field hockey and fencing. Same thing. F@ggoty college shit. Also these activities aren't sports, because you can't gamble on them. Anything you can't gamble on can't be a sport. When was the last time you made a fuckin' fencing bet?

Gymnastics is not a sport because Romanians are good at it. It took me a long time to come up with that rule, but goddammit, I did it.

Polo isn't a sport. Polo is golf on horseback. Without holes. It's a great concept, but not a sport. And as far as water polo is concerned, I hesitate to even mention it, because it's extremely cruel to horses.

Which brings me to hunting. You think hunting is a sport? Ask the deer. The only good thing about hunting is the many fatal accidents on the weekends. And, of course, the permanently disfigured hunters who survive such accidents.

Then you have tennis. Tennis is very trendy and very fruity, but it's not a sport. It's just a way to meet other trendy fruits. Technically, tennis is an advanced form a Ping-Pong. In fact, tennis is Ping-Pong played while standing on the table. Great concept, not a sport.

In fact, all racket games are nothing more the derivatives of Ping-Pong. Even volleyball is, technically, racketless, team Ping-Pong played with an inflated ball and raised net while standing on the table.

And finally welcome to golf. For my full take on golf, I refer you elsewhere in the book, but let it just be said golf is a game that might possibly be fun, if it could be played alone. But it's the vacuous, striving, superficial, male-bonding joiners one has to associate with that makes it such a repulsive pastime. And it is decidedly not a sport. Period.

From George Carlin's book Napalm and Silly Putty

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Pristine_Cicada_5422@reddit

Yes, in some very small areas, many high schools have teams, but that’s probably because the rich districts have it, so others follow suit.

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wwhsd@reddit

It’s had the reputation of being a sport for rich kids at prep schools but it gets played by more than just rich kids.

I really love the sport and would like to see it grow outside of the parts of the country where it’s been popular.

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hat_finder@reddit

Yes

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OkayDay21@reddit

Not really. There is definitely a stereotype about rich kids who play lacrosse, but every public high school has a team. It’s a popular sport. I would also say that stereotype is about boy’s lacrosse. Girl’s lacrosse is a very different game, different vibe.

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BrokenManOfSamarkand@reddit

I mean theres a difference between rich and rich. Yes, maybe a certain type of private Catholic or prep school situation is more likely to feature lacrosse bros, but I really dispute the notion that it's a "rich" sport. Its more like a middle brow, somewhat well off but still middle class rather that more traditionally snooty sports like, say, equestrian.

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