After a year of work, Sunday becomes a day of fun for about 100 lacrosse players.

The burgeoning Santa Fe Lacrosse organization will celebrate the end of its 2010-11 season with the Santa Fe Jamboree at Santa Fe Preparatory's Brennand Field at 11 a.m.

Santa Fe Lacrosse's two boys and girls club teams — Under 11 and Under 15 — will hold a scrimmage that is the featured event. Refreshments will be served and the players will compete to see who has the fastest shot with the use of a radar gun.

The club also will recognize several players for their dedication and spirit to the sport, as well as their performance on the field, with the third annual Leonard Awards.

They are named after Story Leonard, who played a strong role in forming the nonprofit organization eight years ago and is the Santa Fe Prep head girls club coach.

Santa Fe Lacrosse president Sidney Monroe, who also coaches the boys teams, says the jamboree also functions as a recruiting tool for children looking for an activity or sport.

"It's a sport that you kind of have to really see to believe," Monroe said. "It's a sport that is rapidly growing, especially out West and at the collegiate level. There are some places on the East Coast where kids are playing it from the time they are 3 or 4 years old."

The sport is still in its infancy in the state, and Santa Fe Lacrosse is the only lacrosse club. The club has watched interest branch out, as players come from Los Alamos, White Rock and even Albuquerque to participate.

Taos started a fall program recently, but a lack of volunteers prevented it from continuing into the spring.

Monroe said the organization is helping with the efforts to ground support up north.

For now, the club usually plays matches in Durango, Colo., (for the boys) and in Colorado Springs for the girls during the spring. It is as close to a hot bed for the sport that Santa Fe Lacrosse can find for its players.

Kim Henning, who coaches the girls teams, said the club struggles with finding fields for practices.

The boys and girls split time at Fort Marcy Complex and Ashbaugh Park until this year, when all four teams were at Ashbaugh.

The teams aren't allowed to mark the grass at those parks, so the teams often don't play on a regulation field until they prepare for their Colorado trips and use Brennand Field.

"It makes it difficult because the boys and girls have so little experience at playing on official lines," Henning said. "That's pretty essential, especially around the goal. They're at a disadvantage, but their learning curve (at the matches) is amazing and in the process of a weekend, they learn and get better."

Santa Fe Lacrosse hopes it can get bigger, too.

Contact James Barron at 986-3045 or jbarron@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at thereadbarron.com.