While stereotypes might peg lacrosse as a sport for northeast and mid-Atlantic college kids, this football-crazy town is about to get one hell of an education in the fast-paced and physical sport. The Panther City Lacrosse Club, which will play its home games in Dickies Arena, kicks off its inaugural season this year in the National Lacrosse League.
The team’s first order of business: finding a head coach. On Jan. 25, the club announced Tracey Kelusky to lead the team in its first season. After spending six years in the NLL as an assistant coach, this will mark Kelusky’s first head coaching gig. He previously served as the offensive coach for the Philadelphia Wings, where he led the highest scoring offense in the league. Kelusky also has a 14-year playing career to tack onto his resume.
We chatted with the new coach over the phone, where he waxed poetic on his favorite sport from his home in Canada.
FW: What initially got you interested in lacrosse?
Kelusky: Being from Peterborough, Ontario, I was always a hockey guy. I opted to play lacrosse as a summer sport to keep me in shape for hockey. And then, as it turned out, I went to [the University of Hartford] on a lacrosse scholarship. I then spent 14 years as a player in the National Lacrosse League and had a decent career and won a couple championships.
I’ve been involved in the game, really, my entire life. And between coaching in the NLL, I run a lacrosse company that caters to athletes all the way to high school athletes that are aspiring to play at the highest level, both indoor and outdoor.
FW: How do you build a team from the ground up?
Kelusky: Well, we’re fortunate that we have an expansion draft, and we’re going to be able to pick some players from that. And, as a new team coming in, you get the entry-level picks as well as the entry draft. But, I think our league, as a whole, has grown over the last five or six years. And I think the game itself is becoming a little bit more aligned for a U.S. player — a U.S. field player that maybe hasn’t played a whole lot of box. Primarily, in years past, I would say 80% of our league is made up of Canadian players who grew up playing Canadian box lacrosse and ultimately ended up playing in the NLL because of that experience level. So, we’re certainly going to entertain all players.
And we want to obviously have talent, but finding players that are going to want to be invested in the community is key. We want players who are high-character young men willing to build something pretty special.
FW: Many sort of think of Fort Worth as a football town. How do you get the city to love a sport like lacrosse?
Kelusky: Well, I think there’s no denying that. I know Greg Bibb in our ownership group and even Bob Hamley, our general manager, are actively involved with grassroots lacrosse initiatives in Fort Worth and in Texas.
I think our game has been the best-kept secret in North America. Once people see what it entails and what a game looks like, I think the game itself will win people over. A big part of our success in Fort Worth is to be actively involved. We want to help grow this game and be involved in the community as much as we possibly can be.
FW: How would you describe your sort of coaching style, if it’s possible?
Kelusky: I think, as a coach, people who know me best would say that I’m passionate about the game. I’m a genuine person in that sense, and being part of a championship team as a player, I have an idea of what I want the team to look like. It’s genetic makeup from personalities to systems.
I was a blue-collar guy. I was a hard-work guy. And knowing that we are going to be a young team and maybe not have the star power that other teams have, we will have to be a blue-collar team that goes out and works hard.
