Lacrosse Fields Turn up the Heat in Firethorne

Michael Stravato/HBJ Wayne Meyer of Jefferson Development: ‘I’m amazed. I didn’t anticipate the fields attracting such attention from homebuyers looking to relocate.’

When Lisa and Mike Fry decided to relocate from Ledyard, Conn., to Houston last year, finding a place where their two young sons could continue to play lacrosse was a top priority.

Fortunately for the Frys, Jefferson Development Co. recently completed the area's first regulation lacrosse fields in the Firethorne community near Katy.

The Frys were sold.
" The lacrosse fields played 100 percent into our decision to buy a home at Firethorne," Mike Fry says.

Lacrosse fields are the latest in a string of unusual amenities and perks that developers are using to differentiate master-planned communities in Houston's ultracompetitive housing industry.

Last spring, Jefferson Development, which developed Firethorne, actually used the brand-new community to launch another program that provided new homeowners with a free gallon of milk delivered to their doorsteps every week for six months.

Other examples of master-planned perks include Sienna Plantation in Fort Bend County, which operates a slide-filled waterpark, and Katy's Cinco Ranch, also has water parks but in addition boasts a Beach Club with a half-acre swim lagoon, a full white sand beach and sailboats and paddle boats for residents' use. Water-ski lakes and landing strips for private planes are also used to attract residents in farther-out communities.

With Firethorne -- which just opened last year and will encompass 3,600 homes upon completion -- Jefferson Development has made lacrosse its primary game plan.

Wayne Meyer, general manager of Firethorne, says the Firethorne Lacrosse Fields mark the first regulation lacrosse fields built by a residential community in the Southern United States, if not the country.

The Houston-based developer transformed a plot of vacant prairie land into two fully-irrigated, 180-foot by 330-foot Bermuda grass playing fields.

The fields were designed by Houston-based Clark Condon Associates and will serve as home base for the Taylor Lacrosse and Cinco Ranch Lacrosse teams.

The official unveiling of the fields is scheduled for Feb. 17, when Cinco Ranch Lacrosse, Taylor Lacrosse and the Katy Cavaliers Lacrosse Cub teams play their first games on the property.

The fields will also host high school and middle school games and tournaments for girls and boys, as well as post-collegiate club games for adults.

Meyer says he has also received inquiries from U.S. Lacrosse regarding holding professional coaching clinics and camps at the Firethorne Lacrosse Fields.

" There's a real excitement here and up to the national level about these playing fields," he says.

Jefferson Development spent about $120,000 to construct the fields and another $50,000 for each digital scoreboard.

Meyer says the company is also in the process of providing lighting for one of the fields.

He estimates that at least three homes have been sold in Firethorne -- located off of FM 1463 near the Grand Parkway and the Westpark Tollway -- primarily because of the lacrosse fields.

"I'm amazed," he says. "I didn't anticipate the fields attracting such attention from home buyers looking to relocate."

Game on
Meyer came up with the idea for the lacrosse fields after watching his son play the sport at Katy Taylor High School and learning that the coaches were unpaid and that the team was never guaranteed a playing facility when there was a scheduling conflict with other sports.

Although lacrosse -- which is extremely popular in Europe -- generally attracts a smaller crowd than soccer locally, Meyer is confident the community can support the sport. Jefferson Development is not charging the lacrosse teams to use the fields.

" My primary interest in building these fields is to promote the sport and to provide much-needed facilities for teams in the area," Meyer says.

Indeed, there are 25 varsity lacrosse teams, 24 junior varsity lacrosse teams, 20 junior high school lacrosse teams and a dozen 7th and 8th grade teams in the Houston area. Most of these teams have been playing on converted soccer or football fields, according to Meyer.

Mike Cavanaugh, a former All-American lacrosse player at Ashland University, says the sport first got its start in Katy five years ago when 12 local high school football players decided they wanted to learn to play the game.

" They'd heard it was high-scoring and fast-moving, so they bought a rule book and video to teach themselves how to play," says Cavanaugh, who has been playing the game for 26 years. "That summer, I was playing in a lacrosse league in The Heights and these players came in from Katy and introduced themselves to me."

Cavanaugh, 38, later agreed to be the volunteer head coach for Taylor Lacrosse, a self-funded, non-U.I.L. sports team, and has been instrumental in the growth of lacrosse in Katy.

Meyer predicts that the popularity of lacrosse will only grow in the Houston area.

According to data from the National Federation of State High School Associations, no sport has grown faster over the last decade than lacrosse. There are now more than 130,000 active players at the high-school level, and the NFHS reported more than 2,600 programs for boys and girls lacrosse in 2005.

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