If you’re into small solid rubber balls and long handled rackets, then playing lacrosse in college might be right for you.

And soon, you will have more options for playing this full contact sport.

The Big East Conference will formally begin sponsoring the sport of men’s lacrosse beginning in the spring of 2010.

The seven conference schools that will participate in the newly formed league are: Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Syracuse and Villanova.

The teams will play a six-game single round-robin regular season schedule. The Big East will apply for an automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA Championship field.

These colleges belonged to other leagues or were independents before and there will be some shuffling around to make way for the Big East.

For instance, syracuse won the 2008 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse national title, the program’s 10th, after earning an at-large bid as a Division I Independent. Notre Dame was an automatic qualifier into  the national tournament from the Great Western Lacrosse League. Currently, Georgetown, Rutgers and St. John’s are part of the ECAC, Providence is a member of the MAAC and Villanova plays in the Colonial Athletic Association.

““We are looking forward to the excitement that men’s lacrosse will bring to the BIG EAST Conference,” said Commissioner Tranghese. “We have schools with established and successful programs, which want to come together and compete under the Big East brand.””

Men’s lacrosse will be the Big East’s 11th men’s sport while the Conference conducts 13 women’s sports.

So boys don’t forget your balls and sticks  if you are planning on attending a Big East school in the fall.