After canceling its inaugural 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dawson County Lacrosse club team will finally get to play during the upcoming season. 

The team will be open to any middle school-aged player interested in lacrosse. The first practice will be held Jan. 9, during which head coach Andrew Cheek will hold tryouts for some of the newer players. 

Last season, Cheek and his fellow coaches were able to play their first game after just a month of practice. 

“In week one, the coaching staff was teaching guys how to feel comfortable with the lacrosse stick in their hands,” Cheek said. “By the end of the month, we were playing in a game that we only lost 10-0. That’s impressive considering your kids didn’t know what lacrosse was 28 days ago.” 

By the time their first home game was scheduled, COVID-19 had shut the season down. 

This season, they will have practice every Saturday on the new field at Veterans Memorial Park. Cheek said that most of the middle school players attended an interest meeting he held in early December and a few brought their friends. By February, the team will add a weekday practice and a Friday intersquad scrimmage. Their first game will be March 5. 

“We’re just trying to grow the game in Dawson,” Cheek said. “You try to build the game up for elementary and middle schoolers right now, so that by the time they’re in high school, they might have enough to field a team.”

Cheek said he would love to create a separate league in Dawson County for all four elementary schools to play against each other and compete in their own league. 

Right now, 18 players are signed up for the team and ready for this upcoming season and Cheek said he hopes to have more before their first practice. 

“We have a four-year plan in place to bring lacrosse to Dawson County,” Cheek said. “We think we have a really good thing going here.”