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In the realm of professional sports, lacrosse may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But it's getting there — growing in popularity and expanding across the nation every year. When NFL commentator Dave Dameshek and pro lacrosse player Paul Rabil hit the road in Los Angeles, their conversation is at first centered around this exciting time for lacrosse. "It's the only team sport that since 2008 has had youth participation growth year-over-year -- on top of that it's the only sport that's had youth participation grow year-over-year," says Rabil. According to US Lacrosse, national lacrosse participation hit a record ~750,000 players on organized teams in 2013 -- a figure that grew 3.4% from 2012, and one that's inflated 194% since the organization began tracking growth in 2001. Youth represents half of the total, and it’s no wonder; lacrosse is the fastest growing sport at the high school level. Rabil explains that it was a slow burn at first: "The professional lacrosse league — major league lacrosse — has been around for 15 years, and the trouble initially was that an alternative sport like lacrosse doesn’t get mainstream recognition that an NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL might get on your mainstream sports networks."The two pause to stop at a scenic overlook, an opportunity for Dameshek to point out some of his favorite things about L.A ., his current home base and the city where he built his media career. Next, they land at a skate park; a spot is particularly significant to Rabil. Tony Hawk is one of his idols; not only did Hawk bring an alternative sport into the mainstream, but he leveraged it in an entrepreneurial way through a series of video games.Their final stop, to meet Culver City High School’s lacrosse team, is, in Dameshek’s words, "proof that the sport is catching on out here." As Rabil and Dameshek observe the Culver City Centaurs, it’s clear that the dedicated team is representative of the West Coast’s burgeoning scene and the fact that, right now in the connected age, the time is ripe for lacrosse. Dameshek remarks on this evolution: "Lacrosse is at a stage where football was 50 years ago, where soccer was, say, 15 years ago.""I think the difference-maker here, the sports that you pointed out, didn’t have the social media alternative to expedite that growth, which is what lacrosse has now," says Rabil. The two agree that the social web is a new, pseudo-DIY landscape in which alternative sports thrive. "The evolution of social media created immediate touch points for us as professionals to interact with our fans on a regular basis. So for something that in the past, you had to rely on television, print and radio, and lacrosse didn't create the impressions that warranted that, we can now create our own," explains Rabil.Dameshek theorizes that this increased visibility, plus the fact that more and more high schools are officially sanctioning lacrosse, helps the sport grow. "You need role models. You see the NBA, and you probably recognize that you won't wind up there, but it is something to aspire to -- whether it's a championship at your age, or the ability to play in college," says Dameshek.As the Culver City Centaurs hang on to Rabil’s every word in rapt attention, it’s clear that young lacrosse players have something tangible to aspire to.