The registration for the Tomahawks Lacrosse Club’s 2008 spring season is currently open for returning players and will begin on Oct. 25 for new players, lasting through the end of November.

With the number of people interested in playing lacrosse within the Palo Alto community and California on the rise, the Tomahawks are expecting a significant growth for the upcoming season.

“We hope to have over 350 third through 12th grade boys and girls on 16 Tomahawks teams this season, including 30 to 40 Paly girls and 20 to 25 Paly boys,” said Tomahawks Club President Bill Glazier.

Furthermore, for the first time in its 17 years of history, the club will have both varsity and junior varsity teams for high school girls. The girls’ teams will practice at Paly on the upper field from March until May.

“The girls’ high school team was 95 percent Paly students last year,” Glazier said. “[Varsity and junior varsity teams will both] be overwhelmingly Paly this year also.”

One of the returning players from Paly, junior Caroline Lucas-Conwell believes the addition of a junior varsity team will bring more competition within the club.

“A lot of the [current] freshmen were on the Tomahawks in middle school, so they are either just as good as or better than our team last year,” Lucas-Conwell said. “For the girls that were on the high school team last year, it’s not necessarily going to be an easy tryout.”

The Tomahawks will also hold free introductory clinics at Gunn High School from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 11 and Nov. 18. The clinics are “mostly aimed at new folks wanting to learn the game for the first time,” according to Glazier, and some of the current coaches and players will help boys and girls of all ages to learn the basic skills need to play the ancient Native American sport. Each clinic is limited to 25 players, and participants need to come in athletic clothes and running shoes. Sticks will be provided by the club.

Tomahawks will be competing against many of the 68 clubs in the Northern California Junior Lacrosse Association, which ranges from San Francisco to Sacramento and from Redding to Monterey. Most of Tomahawks’ home games will be played at Gunn.

“Our primary local competitions are the Redhawks in Saratoga and the Coyotes from Burlingame,” Glazier said. “The boys’ team should again be one of the strongest teams in the state, and the girls’ team should be among the best teams in Northern California.”

Over the course of the last six years, the Tomahawks have won the Northern California title four times. Nine Tomahawks players have been named High School All Americans in the club’s history. Last year, the high school boys’ team (14-4 overall) was ranked third in the state among club teams and competed in the Northern California Finals. The girls, according to Glazier, did “extremely well in their first season ever,” winning six games.

North America’s oldest sport, lacrosse is also the fastest growing sport in the continent, according to Glazier. Players are always involved in the game, and contrary to popular belief, the size of a player is not an important matter in lacrosse; anyone who is quick, determined, and aggressive has a potential to be a great lacrosse player, Glazier said.

“There are also a lot more action than baseball and far more scoring than soccer,” Glazier said.

Lucas-Conwell added: “Lacrosse is pretty new so if you are not doing sports and are looking to do something, it is a great opportunity”

For more information, visit http://www.tomahawkslacrosse.org.