But there is reason to believe young players like Meyer, who lives in Roswell, Ga., and attends Wesleyan School, could have a big future in a game that belongs mostly to players from Long Island and Baltimore. One of them could be the next Scott Ratliff.
LACROSSE IN ATLANTA
Atlanta Blaze defenseman Scott Ratliff (left) has become one of the driving forces for the sport in his home state, joining former Syracuse All- American Liam Banks (below) in his venture, LB3 Lacrosse.
HAS BLOSSOMED over the last 10 years, and now it has a face. Ratliff, a native Georgian who was the captain of Loyola’s 2012 NCAA title team before emerging last season as one of the top defensemen in Major League Lacrosse, is one of the driving forces of the sport in his home state. He is president of LB3 Lacrosse, the area’s largest club lacrosse organization. He coaches at Greater Atlanta Christian School. And he likely will be captain of the Atlanta Blaze, an MLL expansion team set to debut April 23 at home against the Chesapeake Bayhawks. “If you had asked me in
fourth grade, fifth grade, through senior year of high school, ‘What do you want to do?’ I would have told you exactly what I’m doing now,” Ratliff said. “I feel extremely lucky to be in the position I’m in. I don’t take it lightly.” Ratliff’s father, Randy, was an All-American defenseman at Maryland in 1977 and 1979, and he started teaching his son the game as soon as he could walk. With the family living in Marietta, Ga., there were not a lot of youth lacrosse options. Ratliff’s rec league had four teams. “We just kept playing each other over and over,” he said.
Even when he was in high school, Ratliff said lacrosse took a backseat to more mainstream sports. Walton High didn’t have a locker room for the lacrosse team. The Raiders practiced on a dirt field at a middle school. Ratliff drew mild recruiting
laxmagazine.com
overtures with his ability to switch between offense and defense, short stick and long stick. He originally intended to attend prep school en route to Navy before Loyola coach Charley Toomey swooped in at the end of Ratliff’s senior year. Ratliff was the dynamite of the Greyhounds’ explosive rope unit in 2012, when he became the first Georgian to earn USILA All-American honors. He repeated the feat as a senior in 2013 and finished his Loyola career with 30 goals, a school record for long poles, 88 caused turnovers and 217 ground balls. Ratliff decided to return to Georgia when he had an opportunity to join former Syracuse All-American Liam Banks at LB3. The lacrosse scene had changed. “There were two teams back then, Lassiter and Lovett. They played good lacrosse. Beneath them, it was awful. You had some elite athletes, some football players running around out there, but there was no lacrosse IQ,” Ratliff said. “When you watch a high school game now, it is played the right way.”
There were roughly 45 high school teams competing during Ratliff’s time in one classification for the state championship. Georgia now fields 100 boys’ and 104 girls’ teams that are divided into two classifications. US Lacrosse membership in Georgia — made up of players, coaches, volunteers, officials and supporters of the game — was 6,054 in 2009 and now stands at 12,925. Ratliff was one of six Division I players to earn a scholarship in the state in 2009, and that number reached 22 in 2015, according to the
LaxPower.com. In addition to LB3, club teams Thunder Lacrosse and MadLax have mobilized in the area to
April 2016» LACROSSE MAGAZINE 23
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