Since its founding in 2010, the Franklin Lacrosse Club has helped over 400 youth and high school players experience the sport of lacrosse and all that it has to offer.
FRANKLIN LACROSSE HISTORY
The Franklin Lacrosse Club was founded in 2010 by Eric Fernandes who grew up on the East Coast where lacrosse is more of an established sport. Having had the opportunity to play lacrosse in high school and college, Eric wanted his son Jake to have that same opportunity. He got his son involved in youth lacrosse with the Brookfield Blazers. Eric was an assistant coach for the Blazers and Jake played for two years at the 7th and 8th grade level. In the 8th grade, Jared Karow one of Jake’s friends and a teammate from Franklin youth football also joined the Blazers. Their 8th grade youth team went undefeated that year winning the MAYLA youth championship.
On the way home from the youth championship lacrosse game, Jake asked about what was next for lacrosse. With no high school team in the area, Eric reached out to 2 other Franklin sports parents David Cuske and Todd Karow and secured their help to coach a team. Together Eric, David and Todd, held a Lacrosse Skills Clinic in Franklin in November 2010. About (30) boys from Franklin High School along with a couple of other high school athletes from Greendale and Muskego came out to experience the sport of lacrosse. That season, the Franklin Lacrosse Club fielded a boy’s JV team as part of MAYLA.
In its second year, the club continued to grow adding a boy’s 7th-8th grade youth team which doubled the size of the club. The club was able to secure an experienced former lacrosse player – Ben Haight as the head coach of the youth program. The boy’s high school team also experienced some early success winning the MAYLA JV lacrosse championship. High School and youth athletes in Franklin were drawn to the sport of lacrosse because it was not only new but it was also a fast and competitive sport requiring both endurance and stick skills. During this time, Eric and his wife Susan established the club as a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization. With this non-profit designation established, they also applied for and secured several First Stick Equipment Grants from US Lacrosse which provided much needed lacrosse sticks, helmets and protective gear for the growing club. The club also reached out to key Franklin area businesses for support and received critical sponsorships from local businesses like the Orthopedic Institute of Wisconsin and Mulligans Irish Pub.
The Franklin Lacrosse Club also formed important partnerships with the Milwaukee Area Sports Complex so that the club had a home field for lacrosse games and an indoor facility for practices. Additional relationships were also formed with the Franklin Recreation Department to support lacrosse classes and clinics over the summer and the Sturtevant Sports Plex for indoor practices and games.
In 2012, the Franklin Lacrosse Club started discussions with Franklin High School about the lacrosse becoming an official high school sanctioned sport. The club also started the process of developing a girl’s lacrosse program and looking for a girl’s lacrosse coach. In 2013, the clubs third year, the initial boys HS team moved to a full varsity schedule and started competing in the Classic 8 Conference as part of the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation. The Boy’s HS Lacrosse team also competed in the Verona Bull Rush Lacrosse Tournament and took 3rd place.
Also, in 2013, Jill Kyhn an experienced and successful girls’ youth basketball coach joined the club and started a girls HS JV lacrosse program. The club fielded a Girls lacrosse program in 2014 with 22 girls, 4 of which were seniors. The club continued to expand and continued to secure involvement from interested parents. Several parents including Rob Murphy, Scott McCutcheon and Jason Scholl, attended US Lacrosse coaching clinics and stepped up to coach youth lacrosse teams. With the involvement of these and other parents, the Club continued to grow adding both a 3rd-4th grade team and a 5th-6th Grade team. The youth teams also started to participate in summer lacrosse tournaments like the Tower Tournament down in Illinois. During the summer of 2014, Franklin High School was working to upgrade the stadium field to a synthetic turf field and also expand their outdoor sports fields. The Franklin Lacrosse Club had over 100 youth and high school players at this time and the club was able to fundraise and make a $5,000 donation to the High School to help the fund the effort.
In 2015, Franklin High School officially added lacrosse to their athletic program offering both Boys and Girls Varsity and JV Lacrosse teams with Jill Kyhn as head coach of the girl’s team and Eric Fernandes as head coach of the boy’s team. With FHS taking on Lacrosse for both boys and girls, the Franklin Lacrosse Club shifted and became solely a youth lacrosse club but their link and support of the FHS lacrosse program has remained strong.
Since its founding in 2010, the Franklin Lacrosse Club has helped over 400 youth and high school players experience the sport of lacrosse and all that it has to offer. Thanks to the commitment of several key parents and coaches in the early years, a strong foundation for lacrosse has been established in Franklin. Additionally, over the last few years, several boys and girls HS athletes have achieved significant levels of recognition earning 1st and 2nd team All-Conference honors with a couple earning 1st team All-State honors. Finally, there have been several players on both the boy’s and girl’s side that have gone on to play lacrosse at the collegiate level.
On the way home from the youth championship lacrosse game, Jake asked about what was next for lacrosse. With no high school team in the area, Eric reached out to 2 other Franklin sports parents David Cuske and Todd Karow and secured their help to coach a team. Together Eric, David and Todd, held a Lacrosse Skills Clinic in Franklin in November 2010. About (30) boys from Franklin High School along with a couple of other high school athletes from Greendale and Muskego came out to experience the sport of lacrosse. That season, the Franklin Lacrosse Club fielded a boy’s JV team as part of MAYLA.
In its second year, the club continued to grow adding a boy’s 7th-8th grade youth team which doubled the size of the club. The club was able to secure an experienced former lacrosse player – Ben Haight as the head coach of the youth program. The boy’s high school team also experienced some early success winning the MAYLA JV lacrosse championship. High School and youth athletes in Franklin were drawn to the sport of lacrosse because it was not only new but it was also a fast and competitive sport requiring both endurance and stick skills. During this time, Eric and his wife Susan established the club as a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization. With this non-profit designation established, they also applied for and secured several First Stick Equipment Grants from US Lacrosse which provided much needed lacrosse sticks, helmets and protective gear for the growing club. The club also reached out to key Franklin area businesses for support and received critical sponsorships from local businesses like the Orthopedic Institute of Wisconsin and Mulligans Irish Pub.
The Franklin Lacrosse Club also formed important partnerships with the Milwaukee Area Sports Complex so that the club had a home field for lacrosse games and an indoor facility for practices. Additional relationships were also formed with the Franklin Recreation Department to support lacrosse classes and clinics over the summer and the Sturtevant Sports Plex for indoor practices and games.
In 2012, the Franklin Lacrosse Club started discussions with Franklin High School about the lacrosse becoming an official high school sanctioned sport. The club also started the process of developing a girl’s lacrosse program and looking for a girl’s lacrosse coach. In 2013, the clubs third year, the initial boys HS team moved to a full varsity schedule and started competing in the Classic 8 Conference as part of the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation. The Boy’s HS Lacrosse team also competed in the Verona Bull Rush Lacrosse Tournament and took 3rd place.
Also, in 2013, Jill Kyhn an experienced and successful girls’ youth basketball coach joined the club and started a girls HS JV lacrosse program. The club fielded a Girls lacrosse program in 2014 with 22 girls, 4 of which were seniors. The club continued to expand and continued to secure involvement from interested parents. Several parents including Rob Murphy, Scott McCutcheon and Jason Scholl, attended US Lacrosse coaching clinics and stepped up to coach youth lacrosse teams. With the involvement of these and other parents, the Club continued to grow adding both a 3rd-4th grade team and a 5th-6th Grade team. The youth teams also started to participate in summer lacrosse tournaments like the Tower Tournament down in Illinois. During the summer of 2014, Franklin High School was working to upgrade the stadium field to a synthetic turf field and also expand their outdoor sports fields. The Franklin Lacrosse Club had over 100 youth and high school players at this time and the club was able to fundraise and make a $5,000 donation to the High School to help the fund the effort.
In 2015, Franklin High School officially added lacrosse to their athletic program offering both Boys and Girls Varsity and JV Lacrosse teams with Jill Kyhn as head coach of the girl’s team and Eric Fernandes as head coach of the boy’s team. With FHS taking on Lacrosse for both boys and girls, the Franklin Lacrosse Club shifted and became solely a youth lacrosse club but their link and support of the FHS lacrosse program has remained strong.
Since its founding in 2010, the Franklin Lacrosse Club has helped over 400 youth and high school players experience the sport of lacrosse and all that it has to offer. Thanks to the commitment of several key parents and coaches in the early years, a strong foundation for lacrosse has been established in Franklin. Additionally, over the last few years, several boys and girls HS athletes have achieved significant levels of recognition earning 1st and 2nd team All-Conference honors with a couple earning 1st team All-State honors. Finally, there have been several players on both the boy’s and girl’s side that have gone on to play lacrosse at the collegiate level.