Coach Daron Trussell oversees all Tarleton State University club sport teams. This year, men’s lacrosse is one of six club teams available for students to participate in. The unique conceptual aspect with club sports is that despite not having NCAA affiliation, Tarleton opponents will be Division 1 and II schools, due to a lack of NCAA lacrosse teams in the state of Texas.

JTAC: How long have you personally been around lacrosse?

Coach Trussell: This is my first experience with lacrosse to be honest with you. We had a guy who is a transfer student who’s coming here, Kyle Mickelson. He had played at another school, he played in high school and his brother played at SMU, so he came to me about wanting to bring it here. Then we sent out an email to see who all was interested. Surprisingly enough, we already had 20 Tarleton students who played in high school.

JTAC: Are some of the lacrosse players members of other sports teams?

Coach Trussell: Not NCAA sports teams on campus, and no current club members, yet. This is a group of guys who came together out of wanting to play lacrosse.

JTAC: Would it be safe to say lacrosse has as much contact as American football and hockey?

Coach Trussell: Actually, it’s probably a lot less, and with less officials. I got a call the other day saying it was going to be $750 for a home match just for 3 officials. They get paid $750 a game simply because there’s so few qualified officials, because the sport isn’t as established here like in the north east part of the country.

JTAC: What is the team’s biggest strength so far?

Coach Trussell: [Mickelson’s] leadership has been one of them. I mean he’s just all over it – he’s got t-shirts made to sell, and other people to donate like his parents who donated goals. The other day they were all out there conditioning, so you can really tell they’re taking it seriously.

JTAC: What is your biggest hope for the team this year?

Coach Trussell: Our goal for the year was to get three club sports off the ground. Well, right now we’re looking at six. So, the objective is to keep these teams alive. That’s what were trying to instill in these students, to keep this thing alive you’re going to have to recruit freshmen and keep this thing going. That’s the key.

JTAC: Would you say the big freshman class has helped?

Coach Trussell: I think this freshman class is helping a lot of things right now – but it’s always that deal where you’re got those seniors who don’t want to let freshmen in there and when they leave, it’s just done. So, we’ve got to continue to recruit to keep this thing going. You know, organizations are what really tie you to a university and once they have something that ties them here, they’ll want to stay a part of it.