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The Harris brothers are looking to build up the lacrosse community in Savannah, starting with a store.
They’ve opened Georgia’s first Lowcountry Lacrosse on the corner of Paulsen and East 66th streets stocked with a collection of helmets, pads, shafts and other equipment for lacrosse players.
Now they can focus on their main goal — growing the lacrosse scene in Savannah.
“Our retail is just an opportunity to have a headquarters,” said Christian Harris, the store’s co-owner and operator.
Christian’s brother, Thomas, opened the first “LowLax” store five years ago in Charleston, S.C., which didn’t have a large lacrosse community at the time. He then expanded into Greenville, S.C., where the sport already was growing.
“The goal always was to be there and help it grow, to get involved in the retail side, but more importantly, the field events, games, clinics and leagues,” said Thomas Harris, the co-owner and chief operating officer.
When Christian joined Thomas in his quest, after declining Thomas’ initial offer to help in Greenville, he started working with Dan Umbel, head of the Coastal Empire Lacrosse team in Savannah.
“Dan has been working with us since he started about four years ago. He kept saying, ‘You gotta come down here, you gotta come
down here,’” said Thomas.
And they did.
Umbel had been leading the Coastal Empire Lacrosse team for several years, and it grew so much he couldn’t manage it while keeping his full-time job at Merrill Lynch. He needed a little help.
“It started out as a Saturday/Sunday helping-out-with-the-kids and turned into a bigger organization than I ever expected,” said Umbel. “Right now I’ve got to help as much as I can, but I really need to get out of the way for a group that does this full time, and that’s what Lowcountry Lacrosse does.”
Initially, they just provided the gear for Umbel’s team, but now they’re providing hands-on help. Christian and his LowLax team partnered with Coastal Empire Lacrosse, directing and working on practice plans for their fall Sunday sessions, in addition to organizing camps and clinics to help kids learn the sport.
“Next year it will be all Lowcountry; it won’t be Coastal Empire anymore,” said Christian. “We’re partnering this year to just kind of get the swing of things, and then he’s going to step off.”
In the coming year, Christian hopes to find groups of kids interested in the sport and provide more opportunities to play, including a three-day Richmond Hill camp in January, when they plan to bring coaches and professionals to the area.
“Right now there’s pockets of stuff, and what I want to do is combine it all and make it like one big league,” said Christian.
Christian currently coaches a group of eight or nine kids at Saint Andrews School and sees the potential to combine it with other interested kids on Wilmington Island to create the first district. He also sees Skidaway Island, Richmond Hill, Rincon, Pooler, Savannah and Bluffton as potential lacrosse districts.
“The vision is that each one of those districts will be a team. They’ll practice twice a week with their team, with their coaches, and then on Saturdays we’ll have a league,” he said.
But they have to start with what’s already here — Benedictine Military School and Savannah Lacrosse Club —the only high school teams in the area. But the key is to start even earlier so they’ll have more time to work students.
“We’d love to keep growing the middle school programs,” said Umbel. “That’s where the biggest growth will happen.”
Christian’s goal is to have four teams next fall and Thomas’ is to create a network so the kids can continue to grow as players.
“We don’t want these kids’ careers to end after high school,” said Thomas. “The end all, be all goal is just to get these kids so they can play, so a college coach will want them. And it’s not just skills. We also really hone in on these player being young men and us being role models for them.”
Links:
Lowcountry Lacrosse:
Fall ball Sunday sessions:
https://lowlax.com/mnuEvents/Events/Leagues/Girls-Boys-Fall-Ball-2014-%281%29.aspx
Coastal Empire Lacrosse:
http://laxteams.net/savlaxcamps/
Benedictine Military School:
http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/benedictine-cadets-%28savannah,ga%29/lacrosse/home.htm
Savannah Lacrosse Club:
https://www.facebook.com/SavannahLacrosseClub