TENNERTON — The fast-paced, physical game of lacrosse is steadily gaining popularity throughout the state of West Virginia, and now it is making its way to Buckhannon-Upshur High School. B-UHS recently announced plans to launch the club-level sport, with the Buccaneers beginning their inaugural season of play this spring.

Buckhannon-Upshur will join seven other existing high school programs in the West Virginia Scholastic Lacrosse Association, as will fellow newcomers Bridgeport and George Washington. Interest in the sport has been steady so far, with 145 B-U students signing up to participate.

Though this will be the first year in existence for the club, interest in the sport has built over the past few years, according to club coach Matt Gillespie.

“Planning for the team started last spring, but kids have been asking about a team several times throughout the years,” Gillespie said. “Jeff Dreisbach, the head coach at University High School, came down and gave a demonstration before a summer football practice in June and that got some kids interested.”

Gillespie first became interested in the game himself when he saw games take place at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

“I’ve watched a lot of lacrosse and read a lot about the game, but it will definitely be a learning experience for me along with the kids,” he said.

The lacrosse club will play their games on the turf at Freal “Red” Crites Memorial Stadium, which will allow them to keep start-up costs low. A water-soluble paint designed specifically for turf fields will be used to line the field for lacrosse games, according to Gillespie. Morgantown and Fairmont Senior, who are among the existing W.Va. high schools already offering lacrosse, currently use the same type of paint to line their turf fields.

The club will also benefit from receiving their goals for free, courtesy of a fellow lacrosse enthusiast. “The goals will be provided by a fence-maker from West Fairmont who builds the goals himself and donates them to new teams just to promote the sport,” Gillespie said.

Official practices for the lacrosse club will begin in late February and the regular season schedule will run through May 3. The top four teams in the WVSLA will then meet in the semi-final round of the league’s playoffs on May 10, with the higher-ranked teams hosting the games. The championship game will then be played on May 17.

Though the season may still be several months away, Gillespie and his squad have already been hard at work.

“We’re already working on our skills and we’re going to have a clinic at West Virginia Wesleyan College on November 17,” Gillespie said. “We don’t expect to have a really high skill level in our first year, but it’s also the first year for Bridgeport and George Washington and they’re similar to us.”

“You always want to win, but we also want to teach skills as best we can. If we do that, winning and losing will take care of itself.”

Gillespie said that club members had already begun purchasing sticks for the upcoming season, but he hoped that would be the only equipment they would have to buy. A boosters club has already been established for the lacrosse team and Gillespie hopes this will keep the players’ costs low.

“What we want to do is just have the kids buy their own sticks and that’s all. We hope to raise money to outfit the kids, because for the boys it could cost $150-200. The only equipment that the girls will need to purchase are googles and a mouth piece.”

“We hope to avoid making the kids pay their own cost because we don’t want to exclude anyone financially,” Gillespie stated.

Gillespie believes that the lacrosse program, both at B-UHS and the league as a whole, has the potential to someday grow into a varsity sport.

“We’d like for it to eventually be a varsity sport, recognized by the WVSSAC,” he said. “The WVSLA has kept their rules in line with the WVSSAC so that they can step right into the WVSSAC when they get to that point.”

Though Gillespie is excited about the club’s interest level, he and the rest of the club have been careful not to grow the team at the expense of other athletic programs.

“We’ve made a conscious effort to not pull kids out of any other spring sport,” he said. “All of our players who signed up are students who weren’t playing another spring sport.”

Donations to the lacrosse club can be made to the B-UHS Lacrosse Fund, 50 B-U Drive, Buckhannon, W.Va., 26201.