Meet Nicaragua's 2017 LtN Scholar, Luis!

With the start of a new year, we have another great addition to the LtN Scholar group here in Nicaragua! Luis, 17 years old, has joined our local coaching staff for Club Esperanza. Along with helping instruct our weekly practices, Luis will be attending Miguel Ramirez Goyena High School to earn his diploma. We sat down with Luis this past week to share his lacrosse experience, his expectations for this upcoming year, and to hear a little bit more about our newest LtN Scholar!

Do you have any siblings?

I have two sisters. Keyling is 5 years old and Rosa is 19. And I have my brother, Juan Carlos, who is 15 (and plays lacrosse at Club Esperanza as well).

How long have you been playing lacrosse?

7 years

What is your favorite memory from playing lacrosse?

This would have to be the second LtN Cup, when my team won the Cup for the Club.

How will your day-to-day schedule change now that you are an LtN scholar?

Everything is going to be different. My classmates now will see me like a coach not like a teammate – as a leader. I am going to start going to school, I am going to be a lot busier studying, prepping my uniform for school every day and teaching lacrosse. My routine is going to be totally different, but that is good for my future. I am going to school from 7:00 am – 12:00 pm, then I get back home and will study the LtN curriculum [for our team discussions] before practice.

What do you plan on studying?

Accounting - I like math a lot!

What are you most looking forward to this upcoming year?

To complete my scholar year, achieve my goals of being a good coach, and to teach to others what I have learned. I want to invite more kids and young people to come to lacrosse and increase attendance in our programs.

What do you like to do in you free time?

I like to hang out with my cousins, who I am very close with, and play video games with them.

Luis is an unbelievable role model for our young players. We are so excited to have him as a part of our team and cannot wait to see all that he accomplishes this year both on the field and in the classroom!

Players Lead Clinic in San Juan Del Sur

After the success of this year’s LtN Cup, our players were given an opportunity to continue their work on the field before the close of 2016. Earlier this year, a small school in San Juan del Sur had reached out to LtN regarding the possibility of hosting a clinic for their students. On December 2nd LtN Cup finalists Team Carazo and Team Chinandega traveled to the beach with our coaching staff to help us grow the game.

The day started with a two and a half hour bus ride out to the coast. We arrived in San Juan in the morning, first touring the facilities of San Juan Day School and meeting the kids that would be attending the clinic in the afternoon. From there, we continued on to the beach for a day of relaxation and celebration for the Cup finalists. Being able to treat our city kids to a day at the beach was a great experience. I was overjoyed to see the players from both Chiqui and the Club enjoy such a beautiful day together - from chicken fights in the waves to digging holes in the sand. Of course, we had to end our trip with a little beach lax before grabbing a traditional Nicaraguan lunch at San Juan Cerveceria in town.

After lunch, we arrived back at San Juan Day School to start up our clinic. This was the first time any of these students had ever picked up a lacrosse stick. Our LtN players were definitely timid at first, not used to being in coaching position. After getting warmed up however, they were helping out the San Juan beginners left and right and really stepping up into leadership roles. It was amazing to see Kevin, one of our most experienced players, breaking down passing and throwing basics; or Gina, our newest player, jump right into the exhibition game afterward to show the new kids what a fast game of lacrosse could look like. After the clinic, we got to share some of our LtN curriculum with the group of young new players - discussing what they enjoyed about the sport and the day’s activities over ice cream.

It was incredible to see our LtN student athletes have the opportunity to spread what they have learned and worked on over the past few years in our Managua programs. With their help, we were able to bring lacrosse to an entirely new community. We hope this relationship between LtN and San Juan Day School will continue. The rapid growth of our Managua programs is unbelievably exciting, and can allow us to have more clinics such as this one. Our LtN coaches, scholars, and players are building up a community that can grow the game to a level never before seen in Nicaragua.

LtN Cup 2016

As an LtN PD, the LtN Cup was something I heard about before even arriving in Nicaragua. Whether I was speaking with my boss Javier, Senior Program Director Dan, or players who have participated in LtN programs in the past, everyone around me regularly expressed their excitement for this day. Having an athletic background, I could recognize and share in this excitement for competition; however, prior to experiencing the LtN Cup for myself, I can honestly say I had no idea just how special this day is.

The Cup is one of LtN’s biggest fundraisers. On the day of the event, teams that we coach from the Chiquilistagua Public School compete against the teams we coach at Club Esperanza Private school in Villa Guadalupe in a championship style format. The goal of the Cup is to get each team sponsored in order to play. Through their team’s sponsorship, LtN student athletes are able to play an active role in giving back to their communities.

On a weekly basis, we hold practices for various ages, from 4th grade all the way up to the high school level. One thing I immediately noticed upon arriving at practices was the players’ unarguable passion for lacrosse, across all age groups. Whether it was answering questions during our life skills discussions before practice, mastering a new concept, or scoring a “tuani” goal on the field, the kids show a constant love for the game. When it came to their preparation for the Cup, their motivation alone triggered my own excitement.

The day of the Cup is like no other. Players from each school arrive together on a bus geared up and ready to go. Normally, these kids practice on a gravel-dirt mixture or a concrete basketball court. On the day of the Cup, they are greeted by the site of three turf fields with painted lines and music playing. The players are divided into their respective teams and enter the fields single file. This moment alone gave me goosebumps, reminding me of when I would suit up for games. The only difference was, this is a special occasion that only comes around once a year for these kids, and they are playing for so much more.

I had the honor of coaching team Managua this year, a group of players from Chiqui. While we did not have the age or size of some other groups, I saw performances in those players that I had never seen before. Millie is high school aged girl who is able to come to practice just once a week. During the Cup she was our star defender - chasing down fast breaks and stealing the ball from boys twice her size. Fourth grader, Jose, who was by far the smallest player on the field, scored a hatrick in our last regulation game which took us to the semifinals for Chiquilistagua. Every accomplishment on the field was celebrated by team Managua that day (my personal favorite being the seated rowboat with their sticks). I could not have been more proud of my team, not for their physical performance, but for the mere energy they brought and encouragement they provided each other.

Whether players were from Chiquilistagua or Club Esperanza, being able to represent where they were from incited a sense of belonging in their play. Each player's pride for their respective school and community was apparent in their demeanor. The desire to perform well and compete for their program really shown through. As a coach, there was nothing more gratifying than being able to witness all that their hard work amounted to.

This year was the fourth annual LtN Cup and our most successful one to date. Not only did every team get fully sponsored by the day of the event, in total we raised over $40,000.00. This was $10,000.00 over our original goal and over $35,000.00 more than LtN raised in their first Cup just three years ago. As LtN’s programs in Nicaragua continue to develop, the LtN Cup will only grow to include more players, coaches, and LtN scholars. Through this event, our LtN students athletes are able to become agents of change for their communities and strong competitors in the lacrosse world.