International Lacrosse
Lacrosse Can Make a Difference Around the World… You Just Have to Get Involved.
It seems more often that a sport can bring about a new opportunity, perspective, love, hope, compassion and justice to those that seek to transform and impact lives of children. Through the teaching of lacrosse and its core values, joining Lacrosse the Nations in Medellín, Colombia for their pilot programming was eye opening, exciting and most of all, rewarding. The program provides an outlet for children to have more opportunities using sports as the conductor. Our guide (the program director for Lacrosse the Nations), Javier, stated from the beginning, it’s not about changing the country or interacting with thousands of kids, it’s about making a difference in one child. To grow the love of lacrosse at an international pilot program by building long-term sustainable programing as a means of youth development through empowerment and leadership education helped us encourage community involvement and help us achieve our goals.
We’ll never know the impact on the kids, teachers, and program directors but we all shared the same sentiment - the interactions between all along with the lessons shared – math, English, lacrosse, life and much more, have changed us all for the better. The time spent in Colombia had a greater impact on the group than we could have imagined.
Seeing lacrosse bring people together from all walks of life was exciting! Lacrosse tends to do that all over the world. The Medellín Amiga Fundación brings children and teens from various communities within the city together for a common goal; the Medellín Jaguars who bring adults from around the city and in some cases, around the world to enjoy the sport and camaraderie.
The community of lacrosse is tight knit. The support that lacrosse can create may be unlike any other activity. I'm sure there are similar situations, but not the same. Given the inequality and issues faced in other countries around the world, we strived to provide a positive change through lacrosse and community involvement. We can do it because we want to do it. Making a social impact through sports or otherwise isn’t hard to do; but it does take desire, effort and sometimes, a little creativity that can have a lasting effect and result in the greater good of mankind.
