OMAHA (KMTV) — Lacrosse is known as the fastest sport on two feet and it’s growing in the Midwest.
A recent NFHS survey found 27 states offer boys lacrosse and 28 offer girls lacrosse as a high school sport.
Currently there’s an effort to add Nebraska to that list, and the time put in to make it happen is for the love of competition.
- There is a proposal to make lacrosse an 'emerging sport activity,' which would allow schools three years to gauge interest before adopting it as a varsity sport.
- That proposal will go through a maximum of four rounds of voting, so a decision may not be reached until June 2025.
- If an athletic director votes 'yes,' that does not mean their school must adopt the sport.
At 15, Brooke Hempel already has about five years of playing lacrosse under her belt.
“I just kind of heard of it randomly and I thought maybe I should try it," she said. “'It’s really fun. It’s a good way to interact and try new things.”
She’s considering playing in college, but for now she wants to see the sport grow, especially since her school doesn’t offer a club team, so she plays with a different school.
That’s where Mel Meier comes in.
She’s leading the charge to make lacrosse a varsity high school sport in Nebraska.
"It’s a 24/7 thing," Meier said. "Even if I’m not actively in meetings, I’m thinking about things. I probably send about at least 50 emails a week. I would say at least 10 hours a week, and sometimes over 40.”
For now, the push is to get lacrosse labeled an ‘emerging sport activity' to give schools a three-year window to gauge interest.
“It can be a long process because a lot of it is education and getting the word out on how does it look, how does it operate," NSAA associate director Jeff Johnson said.
The proposal has to pass four different levels of voting, and a final decision may not come until June.
It’s the same process girls wrestling had to go through to become a varsity sport.
Lacrosse players and parents are optimistic.
“It gives the students in high school just more opportunities to play another sport that’s different," Brian Hempel, Brooke's dad, said. "And it is growing. I think if it’s sanctioned, that exposure, their ability to come out and play grows tenfold.”
“For it to be an actually known sport—I didn’t know it until I was in seventh grade," Brooke Hempel said. "So it’d be really fun to see it grow more.”
An important note: If athletic directors vote yes on making lacrosse an emerging sport, their school does not have to adopt lacrosse, but it would give other schools the ability to offer it.
There is also a proposal to allow student-athletes to play two sports in one season—which is currently not allowed—so that’s something else that could play a role in the growth of lacrosse if passed.
