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Record Number of Teams for the 23rd Annual Santa Barbara Shootout

Jan. 7, 2011

Santa Barbara, CA - Registration for the 23rd Annual Santa Barbara Shootout has closed and a record number of teams are entered to participate. The event is February 18th - 20th. The Shootout filled up earlier than in the past with 49 teams entered by December 1st. That total climbed to 58 teams by December 15th and the event closed at 64 teams on January 6th. The trend is upward. The Shootout had 36 teams in 2008, 42 teams in 2009 and 48 teams in 2010. It's a 128% increase over four years.

The 2011 Shootout is expected to bring 2,500 athletes, coaches, referees and family to Santa Barbara. It creates a demand for approximately 750 hotel rooms and a 5,000 head count for dinner reservations over the three days. Breakfast will be provided at most of the hotels but the influx of visitors into town will be getting lunch from different venues all over Goleta and Santa Barbara as well.

This record number of teams will descend on Santa Barbara to sleep, eat and play lacrosse at UCSB, SBCC and Elings Park. Four divisions will be contested.

Santa Barbara Shootout Divisions

• U.S. Lacrosse WCLA Division One Division
  
• U.S. Lacrosse WCLA Division Two Division
  
• WWLL B Team Division
• Sweet Teen Division (U-19 & U-17)
  

The divisions with the most teams are the ever more popular US Lacrosse Women's Collegiate Lacrosse Associates (WCLA) divisions for ultra competitive and national rankings play. There are 28 teams in the WCLA DI portion and 16 teams in the WCLA DII portion of play. The 44 collegiate-club teams are joined by NCAA DIII Pomona-Pitzer to give the Shootout a 45 count for number of teams of college athletes coming to Santa Barbara.

The WCLA is the avenue to a national championship for college teams not playing in the NCAA. The association stipulates that all players be full-time students at the institution they represent, maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 and have four years of student-athlete eligibility. The statewide and national growth of lacrosse along with the trend of these athletes wanting to compete intercollegiately and competitively has bolstered the Shootout participation.

"What is happening on the national scene with all the growth and development has resulted in the demand of all these teams to play at an event like the Shootout," commented UCSB head coach and Shootout director Paul Ramsey.

"Add in that it's Santa Barbara and the University does such a great job hosting this event that word of mouth is positive and here we are with 64 teams this year."

Santa Barbara Travel Bureau is the travel and accommodations coordinator for the Shootout. Additional information about the Shootout may be found on the Santa Barbara Shootout page of this website, including a complete list of teams. The expected release date for the game schedule is February 1st.