LAX 101: Decades later, Chris Kelley continues to advance Knoxville-area lacrosse

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BY DAVE LINK

Chris Kelley thought his lacrosse days were over during the winter months of 1997.

He had played at the University of Rhode Island and then started/coached the team at St. John Vianney High School in St. Louis while in chiropractor school at Logan College.

When he moved to Knoxville to start his practice in late December of 1996, Kelley didn’t think there was any interest in lacrosse in the area.

“I thought my playing days and my coaching days were over,” Kelley said.

Then one of his patients told him there was some lacrosse played in Knoxville and the area, so Kelley took over coaching a program at Farragut that was in its infant stages.

Thus, Kelley began his passion of growing the sport in East Tennessee, and more than 25 years later, area boys’ teams compete for the Kelley Cup, for which he is named.

And lacrosse is booming.

It becomes a sanctioned sport by the TSSAA in 2024-25 with boys and girls’ teams playing in winter/spring of 2025.

The Tennessee Scholastic Lacrosse Association (TSLA) has run the sport in high schools since the early 1990s and petitioned the TSSAA to sanction it about four years ago.

The TSSAA Council voted to sanction lacrosse Jan. 19, 2023.

Kelley said the sport is so popular, there aren’t enough coaches in the area.

“The number of girls that want to participate in lacrosse far exceeds the number of people capable of coaching,” he said.

It’s an issue with boys’ lacrosse, too.

“The limiting factor is the coaching right now,” Kelley said.

THEN AND NOW

Kelley started coaching the Farragut lacrosse team in late spring of 1997. It was the only team in town.

Soon, Christian Academy of Knoxville started a team, along with Catholic and Webb School of Knoxville a few years later.

Kelley spent nine years coaching Farragut before taking over as the University of Tennessee’s defensive coordinator/assistant for its lacrosse team.

With an eye on the future, Kelley decided in 2019 to start a lacrosse program at Hardin Valley Academy along with Bill Sitton when their sons were in sixth grade at HVA Middle.

“We decided if we’re going to have a high school team (at HVA),” Kelley said, “we wanted to start a team with a middle school team of sixth graders, and that group is now sophomores at Hardin Valley.”

At the same time, Kelley started a middle school lacrosse league, the Knoxville Scholastic Lacrosse League, which has grown to 11 teams.

Meanwhile, Kelley’s son Trever and Sitton’s son Liam have moved onto the high school ranks as sophomores for HVA’s team.

“Right now, we’re really young because my core group is sophomores,” Kelley said. “We don’t have any seniors on the team right now, so we’re just now stepping onto the stage and learning how to compete on the varsity level. I’d say we’re probably a year away from being at a legitimately competitive level with the rest of the teams.”

HVA, in its third varsity season, recently lost to Catholic by a 15-13 score and lost to Webb 12-3.

“It was better than last year (against Webb),” Kelley said. “We lost 16-0 (last year) and it could have been 30-0. We had a competitive game with them this year and next year it will probably be even tighter.”

Webb is celebrating its 20th anniversary of boys’ lacrosse; its coach, Rico Silvera, decided to start a city championship called the Kelley Cup a few years back.

“I’d say Webb has won the city a few years in a row,” Kelley said. “I’d say they’re probably the strongest this season, but CAK on a good day can beat them, Farragut on a good day potentially could. The teams are fairly equal.”

MOVING FORWARD

HVA plays its home games on the school’s football field, which also is lined off for the shorter lacrosse field.

The Hawks play a 15-game schedule, which started Jan. 9 and concludes April 29. If they make the playoffs, the season extends to the first week of May.

The TSLA has two classifications (A and AA) in two divisions (public and private) for boys’ high school lacrosse.

HVA is Class AA, and its district consists of the Hawks, Farragut, West, Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett, and Cookeville.

Each team can include one co-op school for lacrosse. Bearden doesn’t have a boys’ team – yet – but is the co-op with West and has several players on its team.

Girls’ lacrosse teams in Knoxville include Farragut, Bearden, West, and Catholic with Webb and CAK’s programs in earlier stages.

The sport has come a long way since Kelley moved to Knoxville in 1996.

“I thought I was done,” he said. “I thought it was over.”

Not by a long shot.