Grand Cities Lacrosse is GROWING!
Donation protected
Lacrosse is exploding among the young people in the Grand Forks, ND area and we need your help to keep the momentum!
The Grand Cities Lacrosse Association was founded in 2011 to introduce lacrosse to the community and form teams for travel and competition. Starting in 2012 and continuing through 2014, we averaged 25 kids on a high school boys team. We had several false starts with youth teams and were never able to find that spark to really set it off. In late 2014 we found that spark when Danny Gothberg reached out asking for help with his son’s age group and we were able to provide coaches and some equipment. From those clinics it grew to a 23 member traveling U13 team during the 2015 season to complement our high school team. Since the end of May, we have added approximately 30 more players, mostly at the U9 age group. To date, we have exposed over 120 kids in the Grand Forks, ND area to lacrosse.
Lacrosse in northwestern Minnesota and Eastern North Dakota is challenging. Our closest opponent is 80 miles away in Fargo. Our conference includes Sioux Falls, SD which is 5 hours south and Bismarck, ND which is 4 hours west. We routinely travel over 300 miles one way to play league games. On top of all the travel, due to the newness of the sport in the Grand Forks area, every player has to buy a full set of protective gear when they start, most time that can be accomplished for about $220 with a quality starter kit of gear and some cleats. Additionally, they have the association registration fees where most of our operating budget comes from, a new player can quickly spend $1,000 just for that first year. With your help, we would like to alleviate some of this burden on these new players and their families. Funds raised through this campaign will be applied toward some bigger ticket items the teams and association need and will, in turn, lower first year registration fees.
Due to this growth and looking forward to this spring, the regular season for lacrosse, the biggest need will be team uniforms. Grand Cities Lacrosse Association is looking at the very real possibility of having to purchase home and away uniforms for four new teams, a U9, U11, U13, and U15. To be in compliance with National Federation of High School and league rules, we need to have matching uniforms with sleeves. Many options for uniforms are a cost of $100-$120 per player. Going factory direct, we can get a compliant uniform with our team identity incorporated into it for around $50 per player, or about $1,250 per team. Without assistance, uniform costs make up 15%-25% of a player’s registration fee, depending on the overall cost of fielding a particular team for the season.
Another item the association would like to fund is financial assistance for coaches and game officials to attend certification training so that they can teach and officiate the games safely and correctly. As of right now, the closest these training sessions conducted is over 300 miles way in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN area or Sioux Falls, SD. The club would like to at least offer some financial assistance to help the prospective coaches and officials with travel and possibly lodging expenses. Without coaches and officials, we could not have the practices and games for these kids to develop and play.
This past season our high school team fielded their smallest (15 players) but most talented team in the four seasons we have played, capped off by winning the Sioux Falls Spark Shootout in Sioux Falls, SD. Our new U13 team also participated in the Spark Shootout, winning their division while wearing the battle scarred, hand me down uniforms the high school team had worn the previous seasons.
Lacrosse really is the fastest growing sport in the Grand Forks area with 50% growth over last season plus and an additional 75% growth on top of that since the end of May! Help keep that momentum rolling!
The Grand Cities Lacrosse Association was founded in 2011 to introduce lacrosse to the community and form teams for travel and competition. Starting in 2012 and continuing through 2014, we averaged 25 kids on a high school boys team. We had several false starts with youth teams and were never able to find that spark to really set it off. In late 2014 we found that spark when Danny Gothberg reached out asking for help with his son’s age group and we were able to provide coaches and some equipment. From those clinics it grew to a 23 member traveling U13 team during the 2015 season to complement our high school team. Since the end of May, we have added approximately 30 more players, mostly at the U9 age group. To date, we have exposed over 120 kids in the Grand Forks, ND area to lacrosse.
Lacrosse in northwestern Minnesota and Eastern North Dakota is challenging. Our closest opponent is 80 miles away in Fargo. Our conference includes Sioux Falls, SD which is 5 hours south and Bismarck, ND which is 4 hours west. We routinely travel over 300 miles one way to play league games. On top of all the travel, due to the newness of the sport in the Grand Forks area, every player has to buy a full set of protective gear when they start, most time that can be accomplished for about $220 with a quality starter kit of gear and some cleats. Additionally, they have the association registration fees where most of our operating budget comes from, a new player can quickly spend $1,000 just for that first year. With your help, we would like to alleviate some of this burden on these new players and their families. Funds raised through this campaign will be applied toward some bigger ticket items the teams and association need and will, in turn, lower first year registration fees.
Due to this growth and looking forward to this spring, the regular season for lacrosse, the biggest need will be team uniforms. Grand Cities Lacrosse Association is looking at the very real possibility of having to purchase home and away uniforms for four new teams, a U9, U11, U13, and U15. To be in compliance with National Federation of High School and league rules, we need to have matching uniforms with sleeves. Many options for uniforms are a cost of $100-$120 per player. Going factory direct, we can get a compliant uniform with our team identity incorporated into it for around $50 per player, or about $1,250 per team. Without assistance, uniform costs make up 15%-25% of a player’s registration fee, depending on the overall cost of fielding a particular team for the season.
Another item the association would like to fund is financial assistance for coaches and game officials to attend certification training so that they can teach and officiate the games safely and correctly. As of right now, the closest these training sessions conducted is over 300 miles way in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN area or Sioux Falls, SD. The club would like to at least offer some financial assistance to help the prospective coaches and officials with travel and possibly lodging expenses. Without coaches and officials, we could not have the practices and games for these kids to develop and play.
This past season our high school team fielded their smallest (15 players) but most talented team in the four seasons we have played, capped off by winning the Sioux Falls Spark Shootout in Sioux Falls, SD. Our new U13 team also participated in the Spark Shootout, winning their division while wearing the battle scarred, hand me down uniforms the high school team had worn the previous seasons.
Lacrosse really is the fastest growing sport in the Grand Forks area with 50% growth over last season plus and an additional 75% growth on top of that since the end of May! Help keep that momentum rolling!
Organizer and beneficiary
Brent Lindstrom
Organizer
East Grand Forks, MN
Brent Lindstrom
Beneficiary