Kevin M. Neibauer recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bill Malizia of
the Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation.
You may not have heard of Bill or the Foundation, but Bill is hoping to change
that in the very near future.
The Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation is geared toward teaching city kids the
value of the oldest team sport known to man, Lacrosse.
Bill Malizia, an extremely energetic man, has been around the game for over
thirty years, Malizia also has worked in the Department of Recreation in the
City of Philadelphia for quite a few years.
Well, why don't we let Bill tell you about his goals with the Foundation?
KMN- "Bill, the Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation, what do need to know about
it?"
BM-"The Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation is the newest non-profit Lacrosse
organization in the Philadelphia area. There are many other organizations
that use
“Philadelphia” in their title and claim to work within the city, but they
actually don't deal with people who live in Philadelphia or the city proper. Our
organization is going to be different; we are going to work specifically with
kids inside the city."
"We will also expose the kids to not only the field game in the spring; we are
also going to introduce them to box lacrosse in the summer, so they can get the
total Lacrosse experience."
KMN- "do you have a game plan on how to get the kids to come out?'
BM-"We are going to utilize some of the local recreation centers and some of the
local sports organizations that are already running programs."
"Also, word of mouth put the word out with kids that I already know. Friends,
acquaintances, other coaches. We will use High Schools that already play, which
is the Catholic League schools to recruit players that will do some work with
us."
"Websites, Fliers, Face book, whatever we can use to get our word out. The sites
that we are going to use are Philadelphia Department of Rec sites or programs
related to that. There are plenty of fields, plenty of indoor facilities that
are not being utilized. One of the components of our program will be giving
something back to the community." We plan to do several community services
projects throughout the city.
For instance, if we go into a facility where the field is not so good or the
building is not so good, we will help renovate in exchange for use of the
field." We will provide a program for the children in that area too.
KMN-"Philadelphia is a big area, are you going to break it up into sections?"
Or, attack it as a whole?"
BM-"Our basis is in the Northwest Philadelphia area, so that's where we started.
We have a program underway at Kendrick Recreation Center; we plan to use
McDevitt Recreation Center in East Falls. We will take the format for that and
expanded it into areas such as Port Richmond, Fishtown, Bridesburg, South
Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, and the Northeast"
Those are the areas that we have targeted first. We want to give the kids a
structural program just so they can see what Lacrosse is. We may bring in
experienced players, pro players or coaches, do a demonstration. The goal is to
put a stick and a ball in every kid's hands."
KMN-"What is your Lacrosse background?"
BM- "I have been around Lacrosse for about thirty five years as a player and as
a coach. I was fortunate enough to have met Norm Treinish, who was the founder
of the Barry Ashbee League, before he founded the league, when he was the
secretary and treasurer of the original PhiladelphiaWings Lacrosse team, back in
1974, through him, I started playing when I was fifteen." He taught me a lot of
Lacrosse and a lot about life as well.
"I participated in two of his programs, I was named the team Captain and leading scorer of his first team, the Merion Shooting Stars,
and I just got hooked on the box lacrosse that was being played by all those
Canadian players."
I went to field lacrosse, played on club teams. I also founded the Philadelphia
Box Lacrosse Association in 1985, which is still in existence today."
"I have been recognized by the Canadian Lacrosse Association by the Iroquois
Confederacy. I was the High School Coach at Roman for three years from
1999-2002. And have and coached in various leagues up till three years ago."
KMN-"Iroquois Nation...sounds like something that you can bring into your
Foundation."
BM-"Yes, they have been around the game since its origins, they are not some
"Johnny come lately". So, I'm going to utilize their knowledge, history, and
expertise as well as some of their players and coaches to help us out."
"We already have a commitment from the Onondaga Nation to make an appearance in
Philadelphia to play one or two of our youth teams."
KMN- "when you start your Box league, are you using the NLL and the American Box
Rules or strictly Canadian Rules?'
BM-"We will play Canadian Box Association Rules. The reason being, they have
played and formulated the game since the early 1900's, the game has been
successful, if you look at all the players, where they come from,
the premier players are all-pretty much from Canadian Box Lacrosse league, so
why mess with that kind of success? So, we're going to run that kind of program
here in Philadelphia, give our kids a better opportunity to grow and develop at
a faster rate than all the other kids."
KMN-"Those of us that have been around the game know that a lot of NHL players
have also played Lacrosse, for the kids that love hockey, give me some
examples."
BM- "Wayne Gretzky, everybody knows him, but also, Joe Nieuwendyk was also a
great lacrosse player, he came out of Whitby, Ontario and played in the NHL for
Calgary. Some Flyers players of the past have played. Doug Favell being one.
Gary Roberts of St.Louis."
"Not to forget, NFL Hall of Famer, Jim Brown. Was one of the greatest lacrosse
players ever. Brown even said that he would have played Lacrosse over Football
if there was a professional league."
KMN-"You are bringing this to the inner city; a lot of these kids have never
seen the game and don't have any idea what Lacrosse is. How do you get them
out?"
BM-"The game will sell itself, a lot of the kids that play basketball will adapt
to Lacrosse rather easily. It is a lot of the same strategy and played very
similar. Once you show the kids what it is, and they can make a connection, all
the mystery goes away."
"The major component is the parents, once the kid sees the game, he says, "Mom,
I want to play.", Once the parents see a picture or video of the game they get a
better idea. To the average person, the game looks too rough. But, once we
educate the parents we'll be fine."
KMN-" Bill, bottom line...my kid sees the game and wants to play, what will it
cost me?"
BM-"To fully outfit a kid to play lacrosse in today's world would be around
$275.00. That would include a stick, all the equipment and spikes or cleats. We
realize that it's hard enough just paying your bills, so there will definitely
be a commitment for the kids to play."
"That's why we start with an Instructional program, just a stick and a ball,
when the parents realize that there is definitely a commitment from their child,
it is easier to move forward." Plus it gives the kid a chance to see if he
really likes it, without having to put up a lot of money.
"We plan on running fundraisers and events to help offset the cost that the
parents will have to make." We are working on a deal with a sporting goods store
to provide an “equipment start up package” that is affordable and realistic!
KMN-"You mentioned Fundraisers, do you have anything planned'?
BM-"We do. We have a couple of things that we are planning. The first one we are
calling it our "Kick-Off" a night at McFadden's at 3rd and Callowhill. Thursday
April 2nd, from 5 to 9PM. We're going to try to draw a lot of college kids and
other lacrosse people from around the area. We are hoping to get 200 people down
there."
"We'll also use that night to springboard to our other events, recruit some
volunteers."
"We are also sponsoring a "Night at the Wings" on March 28, when the Wings play
the Colorado Mammoth. We are using our kids from our youth program from the East
Falls/Roxborough area to sell a lot of tickets."
"If we sell 200 tickets, our kids can go on the floor between 3 and 4 PM and the
Wings have promised us that Athan Iannucci will be on the floor with the kids."
KMN-"You mentioned Athan Iannucci, do you have any other professional players on
board?"
BM-"I have a verbal commitment from George Castle, one of the Wings. We are
working with John Grant (Rochester). He is hoping to do a clinic for us." in the
future, we are also working with the Philadelphia Wings management and hope that
we can partner with them for a few mutually beneficial programs.
Thanks to Bill Malizia and the Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation
_________________
Kevin
PhillyLax.com
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