Lacrosse program shows promise for middle schoolers
BY KYLE VUILLE
New exposure to a unique sport is
making a positive impact on middleschoolers
in the Bronx.
Dan Leventhal, founder and president,
of Bronx Lacrosse attended
Community Board 4 meeting on
Tuesday, November 26 and shared
with board members what a success
his program has been on the two middle
schools he’s worked with for the
past two years.
Players in his program have 96
percent attendance rating and a
hundred percent graduation rating
among his eighth grade players, he
shared.
As of 2019, Bronx Lacrosse offers
their program at two schools: Highbridge
Green Middle School and Rafael
Hernandez Dual Language Magnet
School.
Leventhal said he was inspired
to start the program when he began
teaching at Highbridge Green Middle
School in 2015 and saw students
didn’t have many opportunities for
extracurricular activities.
With 20 years under his belt playing
lacrosse and a yearning to connect
with the children outside of academics,
he knew this was chance to
introduce the sport.
With no prior knowledge of what
lacrosse even was, it took a lot of enthusiasm
and compassion to ‘sell’ the
Dan Leventhal, president and founder of Bronx Lacrosse, gives his boys a quick pep talk
during a game. Leventhal has started boys and girls teams at two local schools: Highbridge
Green Middle School and Rafael Hernandez Dual Language Magnet School.
Photo Courtesy of Bronx Lacrosse
sport to the kids at fi rst, Leventhal
said.
“I had to be enthusiastic about it
and explain to them lacrosse is a combination
of different contact sports,”
Leventhal said.
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In one short year, Leventhal
rounded up enough gear for 30 players
and offi cially started the lacrosse
team at Highbridge Green.
The program started at Highbridge
Green in the spring of 2016
with Bronx Lacrosse being founded
the following year in summer of
2017.
The program at P.S./I.S. 218
started in the fall of 2018.
After a few months of practice,
scrimmages along with the program’s
individualized tutoring sessions
with kids, parents and teachers
started to see noticeable changes in
participants.
“I remember the principal calling
me in to offi ce and telling me how
well the kids in the program were doing,”
Leventhal said. “That’s when I
realized we had a good recipe going
there.”
The program also offers incentives
to participating students through
special outings to encourage them to
want more out of life.
The popularity of the sport had
reached unexpected popularity
within Highbridge Green.
“Lacrosse is so embedded into the
school now,” Leventhal said, “Fifth
graders coming into the school are
excited about trying out.”
He said this past fall, half of the
sixth grade boys tried out for the
team.
This past July, the boys and girls
teams at Highbridge Green won the
Middle School Athletic City Lacrosse
Championships.
This was the fi rst time in the history
of the sport that a Bronx team
won the title.
Leventhal hopes the program will
take a similar route at P.S./I.S. 218
and plans to expand the program to
local high schools in the area.
“We are in the process of forming
a partnership with a Bronx high
school so students interested in continuing
to play lacrosse after middle
school will be able to do so,” Leventhal
said.
However, Leventhal said there
are many challenges Bronx Lacrosse
faces as a new organization.
One obstacle Bronx Lacrosse has
had to deal with is fi nding accessible
fi elds to play on.
Lacrosse is typically played on a
standard sized soccer fi eld, ranging
from 110-120 yards in length and 70-
80 yards wide.
“The closest place for us to play
our games is on Randall’s Island,
where it can easily be a three hour
round trip commuting using public
transportation,” Leventhal said.
“So we have to work with what we
have.”
Leventhal emphasized the program
is really an academic program,
but uses lacrosse as a confi dence
builder.
“The students fi nd a sense of
pride,” Leventhal said, “standing out
from the crowd carrying the lacrosse
stick.”
Leventhal attributed the ongoing
academic success of the program to
the chief program offi cer, Jess Westermann,
who has worked in education
for 14 years.
Westermann was a former director
of the NYC Department of Education
New Schools Intensive and
helped launch the School Empowerment
Network.
“Right now our work is focusing
on kids math fl uency, where we are
bringing in extra tutors to help with
both homework and state exam prep,”
said Leventhal.
The recently named captain of the
Highbridge Green team, 13-year-old
eighth grader, Muhammed Krubally,
attested to the program’s infl uence on
his life.
“I was pretty excited to join because
my brother played and everybody in the
Bronx plays basketball or soccer and
this was new to me,” Krubally said.
Krubally said he’s been involved in
the program for two and a half years at
Highbridge Green and has grown a lot
since he joined.
“It’s helped me academically, it’s
helped me as a leader, and it’s helped
me create bonds,” Krubally said.
He added the lacrosse team has become
a brotherhood and all the teammates
look out for each other.
As for his studies, Krubally said
he’s noticed the progress he’s made in
math and English, noting math is now
his favorite subject in school. He said
he meets with the program’s tutors
about three times a week to work on
homework.
Krubally and others in the program
hope to carry their newfound confi -
dence and potential into high school
and eventually to college.