Issue #21: Lacrosse on the Fly
A brief history of lacrosse, my two decades of involvement with the sport, six homes near high schools I've coached and officiated games at, and my first MLB game of the 2025 season.
The Silvert Lining is a place where I talk about real estate, cool homes for sale, things I’m looking forward to, and how I’ve been spending my time. In addition to this newsletter, I also post regularly on Instagram. You can follow me at Dan Silvert Homes. If you would like to meet with me to discuss your home search, you can schedule time here.
I'm talking all about North America's oldest team sport this week: lacrosse. The simplest way to explain lacrosse is that it is a team sport where the goal is to shoot a rubber ball into the opposing team’s goal using a stick with a net on the end. The sport has been played by the indigenous communities in North America since the 12th century. The game played by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois people) in 1100 AD is different than the game I started playing in the late nineties.
According to Native American oral traditions, the first lacrosse game was played between four-legged animals and winged birds. Early First Nations and Native American games involved hundreds of men playing using wooden sticks with nets or pockets and deer hide-wrapped balls. Playing fields could extend for miles and games could go on for days. Games could be held for fun and socializing or to settle conflicts.
In Quebec in the 1600s, French missionaries saw indigenous peoples playing the game; the missionaries named the game “lacrosse” because they thought the stick used by participants looked like the cross bishops carry during religious ceremonies. European colonizers modified the game played by indigenous communities by creating standardized rules. After being named Canada’s national sport in 1859, a Montreal dentist and lacrosse enthusiast named George Beers published a rulebook titled Lacrosse: The National Game of Canada in 1869. Beers also brought an exhibition game to England that was attended by Queen Victoria.
Lacrosse has continued to spread in popularity around the world as a men’s and women’s sport played by a diverse group of athletes, and remains popular in First Nations and Native American communities. Lacrosse is returning to the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles in a six versus six format.
Growing up in Piedmont I dabbled in playing almost every youth sport offered. While I was never an aspiring Olympian, I had the height and athleticism to have a passable playing ability at most sports. I first learned about lacrosse when I was in high school and, being the journeyman I was, I wanted to learn how to play and join a team. Unfortunately, Piedmont High did not have a lacrosse team at the time. I tried and failed to play at Berkeley High (who knew you couldn’t play a varsity sport for another school). I later learned that I could have played for Skyline High as part of the Skyline Lacrosse Club that fielded a team connected to the school.
Around this time I had aspirations of playing collegiate ice hockey. To learn how to skate, I started rollerblading along the beach while attending a summer school program at UC San Diego. Once I was back in the Bay, I joined a local roller hockey league at Dry Ice. When I matriculated at UC Davis, I played roller hockey my first year (yes, there’s collegiate roller hockey), but was ready to move on after I was asked to captain the new “B” team my second year.
UC Davis had a lacrosse team and I joined the team rather than continue with roller hockey. Originally I played the position of midfield, which is a very athletic role. Then I left UC Davis in my third year; during my hiatus from college I did a bunch of different things, including officiating junior and youth ice hockey games. When I returned to UC Davis to complete my degree, I needed something interesting to be involved in and started playing lacrosse again. I returned to playing midfield, but during line drills I thought I was going to pass out from exhaustion. I moved positions to defense, where you play with a six-foot stick instead of a three-foot stick and don’t have to run as much.
One cool lacrosse experience was that we had a road trip at Boston College, Northeastern, and Boston University. At Boston College, future Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was getting ready for the NFL Scouting Combine in the background of Boston College’s football practice facility while we played. My mom, a Boston University alum, watched me play in the game versus Boston University.
During my last year of college I found out I was ineligible to play lacrosse about a week before the season started as it was my fifth year enrolled in college. I was born in 1979 and my youngest teammates were born in 1990, so maybe it was a sign from above telling me to move on.
One of the best compliments I received was when my former Aggie teammate Drew Welch (who now coaches at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill) told me during a fall alumni game, “You’ve gotten much better since I played with you.” It’s cool officiating Drew’s players’ games over 25 years later.
It was random that I became a lacrosse referee. An acquaintance reconnected me with a girl that I once had a date with when she was tasked with recruiting a boys’ lacrosse coach at Oakland Tech. I coached at Oakland Tech, Skyline Lacrosse Club, and Foothill High in Pleasanton for about five years. I caught the lacrosse reffing bug during my first year of coaching. I liked umping baseball during high school and reffing ice hockey in my twenties, so I thought it might a good direction for me to move in.
Between box lacrosse and field lacrosse, I’ve officiated games in Las Vegas, Nevada; Orlando, Florida; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Indio, California (at the Empire Polo Club where Coachella takes place); Lee's Family Forum (where the National Lacrosse League's Desert Dogs play); and more. I’ve officiated National Championship games, college games (including my alma mater, UC Davis) and my friends’ kids games (Bishop O’Dowd, Piedmont, Berkeley, Miramonte, and other high schools).
Officiating lacrosse games has taught me so much about grace under pressure, managing difficult personalities, and moving things toward the finish line while holding everything together. I’ve had the opportunity to watch some of the kids I’ve met through coaching and officiating turn into exceptional young men. It’s also led to real estate deals, new friends, and the chance to share my knowledge with fellow zebras, coaches, and players about a game that I love and has meant so much to me.
This week I thought it would be fun to pair homes for sale with local high schools where I’ve coached or officiated games.
Piedmont High School + 41 Artuna Avenue, Piedmont + 220 Palm Drive, Piedmont
Berkeley High School + 1424 Ward Street, Berkeley + 2506 Buena Vista Way, Berkeley
Oakland Technical High School + 5830 Birch Court, Oakland + 615 62nd Street, Oakland
Let me know if you are looking for a new home and I can create a customized search based on your wants and needs that will email you homes that meet your search criteria. You can schedule time with me to discuss your search for a new home or selling your current home by emailing me at DanSilvertHomes@gmail.com. DRE #01963734
On Saturday afternoon I officiated a collegiate lacrosse game between Cal Poly Humboldt and UC Santa Cruz, picked up my girlfriend from SFO, and then headed to the San Francisco Giants game. I made a pit stop at Roma Deli in San Bruno for some monster sandwiches to bring to the ballpark. The impetus for attending the Giants second home game of the season was the Matt Chapman bobblehead giveaway. Chappy is a beloved former A’s player who knows how to chug a beer. I’m happy to see him still playing in the Bay.
I arrived at the game well before the first pitch, but all 15,000 bobbleheads had been distributed more than an hour earlier. I really wish a professional sports franchise worth an estimated $4 billion would distribute a bobblehead for every ticket sold. A friend speculated that resellers and scalpers buy the cheap standing room only seats and then arrive very early to procure bobbleheads to sell.
Despite being bobbleheadless, I was happy to be back at the ballpark. The weather was warm, the beer was cold, and Chappy had a great game that ended with the Giants besting the Seattle Mariners.
I will be taking next week off from the newsletter. I will be back with a new issue on April 22, 2025.
Fascinating. Despite (mostly) growing up in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, I had never taken a deep dive into the game. Thanks for the backstory!