A grant from US Lacrosse, the national governing body for lacrosse, will help a fledgling Gloucester High School club team take the field next spring. The assistance to the local team is coming through the national organization’s First Stick Program.

Team coach David Guglielmo successfully applied to be part of the program, which will provide coach training and equipment for 24 players this year. Guglielmo estimated the equipment to be worth $6,500. If certain conditions are met, the grant will supply equipment for 12 more players next year, worth about another $3,000.

A former high school lacrosse player who also played for Virginia Tech, Guglielmo said he pursued forming a GHS club team when his son Andrew and one of his buddies expressed an interest in the sport. "He first asked me about it in May of last year, and I told him to bring me a list of other interested students," the coach recalled. "Within a week, he had a list of 12 or 15 kids."

Since then, Guglielmo has ...