For the Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — It was during a youth football game, where Greg Hall had enough with a collision-based sport. Hall began the search for a different sport for his son and found lacrosse.
In that game, Hall watched from the sidelines as his 8-year-old son, a tight end on the offensive line, was involved in a play. Hall’s son was kicked in the head and sustained a concussion, which made him a “little loopy,” according to Hall.
That was the final straw.
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“I did some online research and found that lacrosse’s concussion rate was drastically lower,” Hall said. “Just because of the nature of the game. They still have some but it was really not that prevalent. It was more like one out of 10 concussions.”
Hall created the Greenfield Lacrosse Club in 2016. During this time, Hall had various clinics offered to everyone who wanted to play the sport at Brandonwood Park. The first clinic was coached by Andy Gruber, Indianapolis Cathedral’s lacrosse head coach.
After the first clinic, Hall ran the rest of the clinics on Saturday nights, teaching the kids how to catch, cradle, shoot and run with a stick and ball. Hall coached for 20-plus years in a variety of other youth sports, but never coached lacrosse.
That’s when Alonso Miller stepped in to help.
Before becoming involved with the Greenfield Lacrosse Club, Miller had coached at Center Grove. Miller coached six years at Center Grove and recorded a 36-31 overall record.
Ever since then, Miller has been the “driving force” for the Greenfield club.
“Until he got there, it was me doing it all by myself,” Hall said. “ Coach Miller really got it going because he has done it before. He’s an amazing guy. His willingness just to be able to be here and be the driving force behind the formation of the club.”
In October 2018, Hall and Miller made a plan and put it into action. Between the fall and the start of the spring season, they tried to convince as many kids as possible to play lacrosse. In January, the club joined the Indiana Youth Lacrosse Association as a full member, by a rule Miller had proposed when he was on the Indiana Lacrosse Board. On both of the teams were kids from Warren Township, New Palestine, Fortville and Eastern Hancock. Hall and Miller accomplished their goal and there were two teams, one at the 10-and-under age and another at 12-and-under.
They played their first season this spring. It was successful, Miller said. In total, the two teams won three games. But that did not define how successful the season was in the eyes of Miller.
“To me, success is measured in the kids improving their game,” Miller said. “They started slowly as beginners. What I tell everyone, and sometimes people get offended, lacrosse isn’t like baseball or soccer, where you can learn how to play in an afternoon. It’s a little harder than people know until they pick up a stick.”
In the beginning of the season, Miller taught all the kids the basic skills of lacrosse: throwing, catching, scooping and cradling. By the end of the season, kids on both teams were familiar with the four skills. The season was a success and Miller said the wins were “just the icing on the cake for us.”
During the season, Hall and Miller had raised over $52,000 worth of endowments, grants and fundraising in six months.
“I don’t know any other club that has done as much as we have,” Miller said. “The only other sport that I see doing that much fundraising is soccer, but I don’t think they have.”
Through the “New Start” grant, the club received $8,000 worth in equipment. The equipment included 20 sets of shoulder and knee pads, gloves, sticks and goalie gear. Miller said this was a huge accomplishment by Hall. This allowed kids to play for free and not pay for equipment.
For next season, Miller is hoping more kids come out and play. In the fall, Miller said his teams are joining a fall league at Grand Park for eight weeks, before conditioning for the spring season. One of the ideas Miller wants to accomplish is having the schools participate in lacrosse.
Miller wants to put in gym lacrosse and instructional activities, through US Lacrosse. Hall and Miller would buy equipment for the gym teachers and teach the gym teacher on how to set up the proper activity.
Miller is also planning to have a tournament, where the kids represent each school in Hancock County. The schools would play for the “Riley Cup.” The winner would take the cup to their school and claim bragging rights until the next tournament. Miller said he took this idea from Canadian lacrosse, where their community teams play for a cup at the end of the summer.
Miller wants to create a lacrosse community in Hancock County. At some point in the future, Miller plans on hosting a lacrosse tournament, which would be open to teams in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. He said this would do wonders for the city and bring in outside money.
But mainly, Miller wants the sport to be an outlet for kids.
“I see we have a drug problem in the county and a suicide problem with young people,” Miller said. “Native Americans consider lacrosse to be a medicine sport. They played for a few things: for God, heal the sick and to settle disputes between different tribes. I want it to be keeping kids away from drugs and give them a support system with teammates who will be there for you. You don’t have to feel alone in this world.”
