MUSCATINE, Iowa-This fall on Oct. 31, kids can enjoy more than just the usual Trick or Treating fun. For the first time ever, the Youth Sports Foundation will host a free lacrosse clinic for children in fifth through eighth grade. Youth Sports Foundation co-founder Jim Miller hopes the event will get kids excited about lacrosse and generate enough interest to start a spring or summer youth lacrosse program in Muscatine in 2022.

The oldest team sport in North America (records of Native Americans playing the game in Canada go back as far as the 1600s), lacrosse involves trying to get a ball into the opposing team’s goal using a stick with a basket or net on the end. A blend of many skills seen in other sports, Miller believes it will appeal to many kids. “It’s a good mix of soccer and hockey,” he observed. “It’s a great running sport and a great team sport, and it goes very fast.”

After years of wanting to add lacrosse to the Youth Sports Foundation’s repertoire, Miller got the opportunity to meet with Kingfisher Lacrosse, a lacrosse club based in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City area dedicated to introducing the sport to children across eastern Iowa. The club offered to work with the Youth Sport Foundation to offer a coed clinic, and the event planned for Oct. 31 grew from there.

The day of the clinic, interested students in fifth and sixth grade may come to Muscatine Community Stadium at Muscatine High School from 1 to 2 p.m. and curious seventh and eighth graders may attend from 2 to 3 p.m. For each age group, members of the King Fishers will introduce students to the sticks and balls used to play lacrosse and lead them through some skills and drills to give them a sample of the sport.

If you have an upper elementary or junior high school aged child who you think would have fun testing out lacrosse and lives in Muscatine County or the surrounding area, Miller encourages you to preregister for the clinic by visiting the Youth Sports Foundation website. Though free to anyone wanting to attend, Miller asks everyone planning on participating to preregister by Oct. 29 so that the Kingfishers can bring enough equipment with them. Anyone wanting more information about the clinic can also call the Youth Sports Foundation office at 563-288-2541.

As the clinic approaches, Miller hopes that many kids will take an interest in it and that they will want to continue to play in the future. If many children attend this clinic, the Youth Sports Foundation would like to move ahead with forming lacrosse teams in Muscatine next spring or summer.