LtN Elects Mikey Thompson and Gene McCabe to Executive Committee
We are thrilled to announce the election of Mikey Thompson as LtN’s newest Chair of Board of Directors and Gene McCabe as Vice Chair! Ushering in a new era of growth for LtN’s programming and staff, these two bring a wealth of lacrosse knowledge and a unique passion for pushing LtN’s mission forward.
Mikey Thompson, Board Chair
In his fourth year as Head Coach for Christopher Newport (CNU) Men’s Lacrosse, Thompson has helped the Captains establish a new standard of success while building the program into an up-and-coming power on the national stage. During his time in Newport News, he has helped CNU earn its first two NCAA Tournament berths, break into the national rankings, and establish nearly every conceivable program record.
UVA Lacrosse Alum and Co-Founder of Amped Lacrosse, Thompson joined LtN’s Board of Directors after spending 6 months in Nicaragua working with our student-athletes and coaches in 2013. Since then, he has been a staunch supporter of the organization, working with lacrosse players and teams across Virginia to recruit volunteers, raise money and send much needed equipment.
Thompson brings considerable expertise around the game as well as a passion for engaging members of the lacrosse world to give back.
Gene McCabe, Board Vice Chair
McCabe is in his 14th season as the Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach at Washington & Lee (W&L) and transitioning out of his multi-year role as the President of the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Coaches Association (USILA).
McCabe claims the most wins in W&L program history, boasting five NCAA Tournament bids and three ODAC Tournament titles. He has guided W&L to double-digit wins in 10 of his 13 seasons, including each of the last eight years, which have included four appearances in the ODAC Championship game.
Coach McCabe’s involvement with Lacrosse the Nations began in 2015 when he partnered with Thompson to host the inaugural Virginia LtN Cup. After a season-long fundraiser, McCabe, his assistant coach, and 10 players spent a week volunteering in LtN’s Nicaragua programs. After day 1 in-country, McCabe knew this was a cause that he wanted to be a part of indefinitely.
McCabe brings impressive experience in the governance and growth of the game on a national level, and we could not be more thrilled to have him at the forefront of LtN’s efforts.
Thompson and McCabe are joined on Lacrosse the Nation’s Executive Committee by Brett Hughes, Kim Cory, and David Hennessey.
How LtN Builds Successful Programs - Part II: Succeeding Long-Term
After our selection process, the hard work begins. There are several factors that contribute to the long-term success of our programs. Before we dive in to those factors let’s define success for LtN.
Successful LtN programs have a group of engaged students, coaches and families who have fallen in love with lacrosse. This love of lacrosse provides our students and coaches access to opportunities on the field, in the classroom and beyond. Successful LtN programs offer the US lacrosse community the opportunity to learn, teach and serve.
The Keys to Success
The Kids Come First.
When making decisions about our programming we first think about who it impacts the most -our student-athletes. A great example is our LtN Scholars initiative. It was developed because many of our players were not in school. In our conversations with them we realized the reason was because there were too many barriers in their lives. Barriers that we could reduce, and in some cases eliminate. That decision was a no-brainer.
Adapt. Adapt. Adapt.
No two programs are the same. Schedules change. Cultures are different. Unexpected things happen. Our ability to be flexible within our structure allows us to tailor our programs to the context of the community we’re working with. Conforming our programs to each school, community center and country is critical to our success..
Train Local Staff
Developing local coaches play a huge role in our long-term success. They ensure that our programs are culturally relevant and are able to build relationships within the community better than any foreign staff or volunteer. In April 2018, we were forced to get all our US volunteers out of Nicaragua and our local coaches never skipped a beat. Programs continued as close to normal as could be expected when civil unrest shook the country.
Develop Local Partners
Working with organizations in the community allows us to stick to what we’re good at - using lacrosse to teach life skills. Through our partnerships we get access to fields and a safe place for our tutoring sessions. Partnerships also allow us to provide opportunities beyond lacrosse. Whether it’s English classes, leadership training or creative arts classes. The more we can offer our student-athletes the more they’ll love LtN and the more we can do what we do.
US Volunteers
Our short and long term volunteers train and develop local coaches. They help recruit student-athletes and introduce lacrosse culture at our sites. Once they are home they help grow our network of supporters. Without them we would not be able to successfully launch and maintain our programs.
Get better every day
If we can improve a little bit every day our programs will succeed. Every volunteer and staff member is asked to leave our programs a little better than when they arrive. Doing this ensures that collectively we have a positive impact in the lives of those who participate in our programs.
Our network of donors, fundraisers and ambassadors
Without funding we wouldn’t operate. It is YOU, our donors, fundraisers and ambassadors that ensure we continue to create positive change in the lives of our student-athletes and coaches.
Do you have any questions or comments about our work? Let us know here!
How LtN Builds Successful Programs - Part I: Choosing a Site
We want to make sure that every site we choose has a clear need for the work we do and is in line with our mission of unifying the lacrosse community to promote education and create opportunity for youth across the world. To decide which communities to devote time to and how we work day in and day out on the ground to fulfill our mission LtN developed a rubric to evaluate potential new sites.
The rubric
The rubric assesses six criteria that help us decide whether or not to launch a pilot program. The final score lets us know if we should invest time and resources into a particular site.
Access to Education - How often are kids in school. How high is the barrier to entry? What are they?
Education is at the forefront of our mission. We want to use lacrosse as a vehicle to get kids excited about and valuing their education. We prioritize communities who demonstrate a need for academic support.
Access to Sport/Physical Education - Do children and youth have access to sports outside of school? Is P.E. being taught in school?
We believe that access to sports is critical for youth development. Kids with access to a variety of sports and extra curricular activities tend to be happier, healthier and more successful. LtN gives preference to communities who lack these programs so that we can provide a unique opportunity to learn and play.Potential Partnerships - Are there people/organizations familiar with the needs of the community who can LtN can partner with at this site?
As they say, teamwork makes the dream work. If we can identify community leaders and organizations who want to partner with us we’ll be able to do much more than we could ever do alone. Identifying these organizations is critical to our success.Local Staff - Are there people in the community who we could train to be our coaching staff?
Our experience has taught us that without local staff who believe in the power of sport and are passionate about helping their community we cannot succeed. If we do not see any opportunity to train leaders within the community our programs will not succeed.Current Resources - Do we have the people and resources to run a 3- month pilot program?
We also look critically at our current situation. Is LtN in a place to expand? Do we have volunteers ready, willing and able to help us train and develop future coaches? Do we have the gear we need (sticks, balls, goals, etc) so that we can run programs effectively? The last thing we want is to over extend our resources.
Opportunity to Volunteer - Is the site conducive to hosting short and long-term volunteers?
A critical element of our mission and programs is the ability to connect US volunteers to the world at large. We want to provide the opportunities for coaches, players and lacrosse fans to experience the power of sport first hand. Being able to connect the US lacrosse community to our programs is important. If we cannot do that then we are not fulfilling our mission.
What the score means
Each criterion is scored, one (1) to 3 (three). The sum of all six criterion tell us if we should move forward or not. Her’es how we’ve broken it down.
0-6 indicates the site is NOT a good fit for our programs.
7- 11 tells us we are missing something before we can organize a pilot program.
12-18 lets us know we are a good fit and we should plan to launch a pilot program.
the pilot program
Once we’ve gotten a score we either move forward with our pilot program to see how the community responds. We spend at least three (3) months running our after-school lacrosse programs. The pilot is evaluated on a series of quantitative and qualitative metrics. Based on this evaluation and the recommendation of our on-the-ground staff our Board of Directors votes whether or not to launch programs full-time.
Next week Part II: Succeeding Long-Term