Darius Washington Jr. doesn't have to call the FedExForum to schedule basketball games. DeAngelo Williams and Danny Wimprine don't have to pool their money to pay referees to drive to the Liberty Bowl and officiate University of Memphis football games.
But that's what John Sandlin is doing.
Sandlin is the president of The U of M lacrosse team, who are two games into their inaugural season. As with any club team he's had to overcome some unique obstacles.
Sandlin has filed all the proper paperwork, found a head coach, helped to field a team and scheduled several opponents.
The only problems these days seem to be coming from The University.
"Right now we're having a lot of trouble getting field space to practice," said Sandlin, whose team is accustomed to practicing from 10 p.m. until midnight, because it is the only time made available to them. "We have to share the field with the intramural sports like flag football and soccer. We have to find time between the soccer team practices in the afternoon and the intramural games at night."
Intramural sports are given precedence over the first-year lacrosse team and the club team can only use Echles Field when U of M soccer and intramural sports aren't taking it.
Having to practice into the wee hours is a frustration for head coach Ryan Pavlicek, but the most upsetting aspect thus far has been in scheduling games.
"What we're being told is that those of us who wear University of Memphis on our chests are lower on the totem pole than those just going out and playing recreationally," Pavlicek said. "I go to the intramural people and say, 'We just got a game against a major university, can you make this happen?' and I get, 'Sorry, no.' I don't get an alternative or an alternate solution, I get, 'Sorry, no.'"
"We're being given a handshake and a smile and being told we'll do anything we can to help you, but they're not. If you want to help us you would. It's all talk and no walk."
The scheduling obstacles are making things tough for the program, which is joining the Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference as a full member in 2006. The GRLC is a conference for club lacrosse teams in the southeast.
Despite the problems, Pavlicek has managed to schedule several major teams.
The Tigers have already played LSU and Ole Miss, losing their inaugural game to LSU 10-8 two weeks ago and beating Ole Miss 8-6 Sunday.
The early success is more than even Pavlicek had expected.
"It's above and beyond my expectations," he said. "If you asked me for some reasonable goals before the season, they were to start the team and have fun. Winning games wasn't a goal. I would like to win, but I certainly wasn't expecting one this early. But, we got a win in our second game."
Pavlicek said about 100 people came to see the team's last game against Ole Miss and Sandlin said with time the crowd will only grow.
"It's just fun to watch," Sandlin said. "It's demanding. You have to have endurance like soccer, but toughness like hockey. You end up getting a lot of bruises and stuff.
It's been compared to basketball with weapons."
Sandlin and Pavlicek have fielded the team with many players who Sandlin played either with or against in high school.
Sandlin, a freshman, played three years at White Station High School and Pavlicek said the team definitely has a local flavor.
"They're homegrown," Pavlicek said. "They're playing for Memphis and they're just that. They're Memphis born and Memphis bred."
The Tigers next game is at home against St. Louis on Saturday.
They'll also compete on Sunday at Rhodes College and they travel to Oxford, Miss., for another game against Ole Miss in a couple of weeks.
Pavlicek isn't paid to coach the team and the players pay dues to cover the bare minimum for hiring someone to oversee the field during games and other costs.
"Our checkbook at the end of the year will say $0," Pavlicek said. "We're putting everything we have back into this program."
The sacrifices the players make are showing dividends, but the rewards of playing on a club team can be even greater than beating Ole Miss.
Pavlicek himself didn't play lacrosse until his sophomore year at Arizona State.
"From there I played for the Czech Republic National Team in the 2002 Lacrosse World Games," he said. "This comes from a guy who never touched a lacrosse stick until college."
Pavlicek said the team is always looking for new players and anyone interested in joining should e-mail him at Memphislax@aol.com.
