Atlanta students share their love of lacrosse with Boys & Girls Club kids

By: David Ibata

The boys high school football team from Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, had such a great time working with the children at a Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club camp last summer, the boys lacrosse team recently came out to run a similar event for that sport.

The football players "enjoyed themselves so much, they spread the word to the lacrosse team, and the lacrosse team came out last Saturday," said Joshua Dickerson, executive director of The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Atlanta. "They did lacrosse skills and drills and even a miniature lacrosse game."

The Westminster Schools, a private Christian day school for boys and girls in pre-first through 12th grades, is a Salvation Army partner. About 20 of its high school varsity lacrosse players volunteered for four hours Saturday morning, March 30, at the Bellwood Boys & Girls Club on Atlanta's west side. They worked with 15 youngsters ages 6 to 14 from the Bellwood and Fuqua (Atlanta) clubs.

The lacrosse camp was made possible in part by the donation of 12 complete uniforms – including sticks, helmets, gloves and shoulder and arm pads – by the Andrew Oswald Memorial Fund. The nonprofit organization, founded in memory of a teen lacrosse standout from metro Atlanta who died in a motor vehicle accident in 2005, supports youth and high school lacrosse in Georgia.

"The kids who participated were really excited and enthusiastic about the sport," Dickerson said. "Now, we're looking for someone, a volunteer, to come out and teach the children lacrosse."