Iowa Lacrosse Association has big goals, hopes for the future

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Iowa Lacrosse Association allows kids to play an unfamiliar and growing sport in areas close to home.

“We develop schedules for boys and girls play, we recruit and train officials, and we are looking to establish new clubs in other parts of the state as part of our effort to expand lacrosse across Iowa,” said Jeff Kueter, the president of ILAX.

Lacrosse consists of two teams, each with 10 players. Players use long sticks with netted baskets at the top to pass a rubber ball down a field and into the other team's net.

The ILAX was formed in 2018. Lacrosse clubs from Ames, Ankeny and West Des Moines came together in order to form the association, which now has eight clubs.

Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Dubuque, Meskwaki, the Quad Cities and Waukee now are part of an eight-team league.

The boys and girls clubs start at 10U and go up to 14U.

Cedar Rapids-Iowa City (Kingfisher) won the 14U boys and 10U girls won Iowa Youth State Championships in June. Meskwaki won the 12U girls’ title.

“All of these clubs are always looking for new players,” Kueter said. “Individuals can contact, if they’re not sure which club they would belong to or who to reach out to, they can always contact the Iowa Lacrosse Association and I can make that connection with the appropriate club.”

Right now, the ILAX has two main goals.

“We’re looking to expand the sport across Iowa,” Kueter said. “Our objective I think for the next year to 18 months is to see if we can encourage the development of a new club in a new part of the state where we’re not presently represented.”

The ILAX also hopes to enter Iowa high schools and allow kids above 14U to play the sport. There are high school teams facilitated with ILAX, however, and three won league titles, including Kingfisher in the Eastern Iowa Lacrosse Conference.

“Our objective for all of our member organizations is eventually to have enough youth participating in lacrosse in Iowa that it becomes a sanctioned high school sport,” Kueter said.

As the association continues to grow, there is no doubt that their hopes and goals can easily be achieved.

“It’s a fun game and the kids that embrace it and come in to play really, really enjoy the opportunities that these member organizations have provided,” Kueter said.