Harlem Lacrosse has endeavored to not only teach the sport to young athletes, but also use the sport as a platform to improve academics, discipline, and focus. Those efforts have been rewarded with a substantial grant from DICK’s Sporting Goods Sports Matter.
Gender equity is obvious because young women participate in equal numbers to young men and actually have more opportunities to compete at the college level.
In 2008, Harlem Lacrosse co-founder Simon Cataldo joined the Frederick Douglass Academy I (FDA) in Harlem as a special education math teacher with Teach for America. Seeing sports as a potential entry point for engaging students, he introduced lacrosse. It sparked excitement in the students and their academic performance improved significantly. This evolved into the idea of placing full-time coaches in schools.
“We put a full-time coach at a public community middle or high school, both a boys’ and a girls’ program,” said Joel Censer, chief pathing officer. “Their job is to coach the after-school lacrosse program at that school and leverage the power of being a coach and using the unique power of sport to try and support students in a variety of ways.”
When Censer was the program director at FDA, he checked students’ grades and set up a night-time tutoring program. Now he runs the organization’s support programs. The coaches/program directors embedded in NYC public schools continue to check grades, coordinate study hall, and provide motivation and resources to excel.
In addition to New York, Harlem Lacrosse is in Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. There are 40 programs, half of which are for girls. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the DICK’S FOUNDATION Sports Matter, which brought national attention to the positive impact of this program. The latest grant includes new gear and $100,000, which will go to placing a full-time coach in a school and providing support services.
Censer noted that if young people practice lacrosse diligently, there are obvious results. “It’s such a powerful tool for young people,” he said. Among those who have seen results is Mariama Camara from Harlem, who used the sport to attend the Westminster School, a private prep school in Connecticut, and is now entering her sophomore year at Brown University, where she plays on the women’s lacrosse team.
“For girls to actually have an athletic outlet where they can be part of a team, make it their own, show leadership, and fail without judgment is really important,” said Censer. “It’s a huge confidence-builder for girls.”