One of the proposals to be voted on by members of the WIAA Rep Assembly next Friday is the addition of boys and girls lacrosse as a sanctioned sport.

There are four amendments tied to the lacrosse issue. Two are centered at the middle-school level (boys and girls) and two are at the high-school level (boys and girls).

For the middle-school vote to pass, 60 percent of the 18 people who vote must be in favor. At the high-school level, 60 percent of the 35 people who vote must be in favor.

"My thinking is it will be very difficult for passage, said Mike Colbrese, the executive director of the WIAA. "This is the third time I can remember where it has come before the membership and has not received much favor in any one of those previous situations, and the economy certainly isn't any better now than it was the last time that it did come before the membership."

If the WIAA Rep Assembly does vote in favor of the amendments, schools are not obligated to add lacrosse, which is an important point to make considering the elimination of sports like wrestling, swimming, tennis and gymnastics in the Bellevue School District has been discussed as a way to save money in the budget.

"There are some misconceptions out there that this is a high-cost sport, said Gail Loveland, who is the Washington chapter president of US Lacrosse. "A lot of the equipment is owned by the individual athletes and there are already existing booster clubs and fund-raising groups out there to help support the sport. I hope that’s not a detractor. It may be the feeling that’s out there, but I do believe, as time goes on, if we’re not successful this year -- we hope that we are – people will continue to look at the sport."

For those affiliated with lacrosse in Washington, the thinking is it's more a matter of when that if the sport will become sanctioned at some point.

"We’re just trying to recognize what the demand is," Loveland said. "Lacrosse has grown double-digits in six of the past eight years. What we want to do is, we know our organization runs well, is set up well. Our goals and our mission set up really well with the WIAA. We just want to provide the opportunity for them to involve more athletes in on-campus events and really develop more student athletes in the state of Washington."

There are currently more than 2,700 students representing 83 boys and 55 girls varsity and JV teams playing lacrosse in Washington. There are 54 WIAA member schools participating in the sport.

If the amendment to sanction the sport does not pass, those involved with lacrosse in Washington will continue to push for it.

"We’ll continue to be there and work with different representatives in the WIAA to find out how we can continue the process and when this opportunity is really going to be available for student athletes in Washington," Loveland said.

Lacrosse is currently a sanctioned sport in 17 states.