Perhaps, the future of the dominance of urban lacrosse is closer than one would think. In the last few years, urban lacrosse programs at the classic level of MBYLL have made leaps and bounds, and new programs have been consistently popping up in the city of Boston. Seeing that urban lacrosse was ready to take the next step, Joey Picard (co-director of MBYLL’s Select league and a coach with South Boston Youth Lacrosse) decided to combine forces with Charlestown at the select level for youngsters living in the city of Boston.
The select level is something different for the urban lacrosse programs. At the select level, the competition is ramped up a little, and records and standing are taken into account. Ready to bring South Boston to this competitive lacrosse atmosphere, Picard reached out to Catlin and John Cassedy last August. “It was a long process,” said Picard, “ but Reed Catlin and John Cassedy were extremely receptive to the idea of joining forces to help make a name for urban lacrosse.” The trio worked tirelessly for months to prepare for the first select program in Boston, and fittingly enough, decided to name the program Boston United Select.
“We soon realized we couldn’t do it alone and we decided to look into an outside company to assist and oversee our new select program,” said Picard. CroART Lacrosse answered the call and joined up with Picard, Catlin, and Cassedy. CroART Lacrosse is certainly not new to the world of city lacrosse as it is an organization with the primary function of staging events, training, leagues and tournaments for multiple sports, competition levels, and participants of all ages.
“Have fun, do not be afraid to make a mistake, make the person next to you better, and keep it simple. We put the players in situations that they are comfortable and manage the highs and lows of the games and practices. We as coaches turn the intensity up and down and manage the players’ responses over the course of the season,” expressed Tyrone Croom, the director of CroART. This philosophy, which matches similarly with MBYLL’s philosophy, is one that will be integrated into the newly formed Boston United Select program.
When the philosophy of two different organizations is so similar, it’s much easier to achieve a goal. Picard believes the select program in Boston has an extremely promising future: “With the select program, we hope to demonstrate to the league that there is very competitive lacrosse in the city.” How far away they are from competing with the more advanced programs is hard to say, and entirely dependent on how the individual Classic programs grow on their own.
Perhaps the relatively delayed growth of urban lacrosse programs is due to factors that may never be changed in the city such as lack of fields, resources, and a vast economic disparity. However, Catlin believes it is time to look up to the high schools for help. “Being in the city, our kids have a tremendous amount of different high schools to choose from that are spread out all over the city and, unfortunately, a good number of them do not have lacrosse programs. Not having a local high school [with a lacrosse team] where a vast majority of our kids would attend makes it much harder to promote to the younger kids and parents,” said Catlin.
Many suburban youth teams often attend high school games to learn and be exposed to a higher level of lacrosse skill. But city programs lack this exposure and is what Catlin thinks separates suburban lacrosse from urban lacrosse. “Having high school kids playing lacrosse that our young kids can look up to, go watch their games, and strive to one day be on that team goes a long way in keeping kids active and interested in the sport for the long term,” said Catlin.
The relationship between youth and high school lacrosse is a give-and-take relationship. While having a strong youth program can lead to an influx of participation at the high school level, having a strong high school program to inspire and excite the local children is crucial as well.
Once urban high schools and youth programs are performing at their full potential, urban lacrosse has limitless growth.
“We believe in practicing hard, playing hard, and striving to win. But while winning is an essential part of sport and competition in general, we equally emphasize the many other complementary goals of our program including strong fundamental lacrosse skills, good sportsmanship, team camaraderie, and a love for the sport,” said Heyworth.
These goals and missions are resounded throughout the entire MBYLL. While programs vary from town to town, they all share one thing in common: a philosophy in line with MBYLL built off of respect for the game and respect for teammates, coaches, opponents, and referees alike. At the end of the day, regardless of where a youngster is from, he (or she) deserves the opportunity to experience what the great sport of lacrosse has to offer.
12 The Scoop / Spring '15
-AO