Lacrosse is a sport based on speed, agility, endurance and teamwork — which explains why members of the Long Beach State lacrosse team share their skills and volunteer their time and talents to a local youth program.
Long Beach resident and CSULB alumna Glenn Styron, who was also the influential factor behind the first lacrosse team on campus in the 1980s, founded Beach Cities Youth Lacrosse (BCYL) in 2005. The program started with roughly 30 youth at Whaley Park, but the numbers have jumped to more than 130 students, ranging from third grade to 12th grade, playing on year-round club teams.
“We are really excited about the growth of our program and our active relationship with the CSULB lacrosse team,” said Karen Sprague, a member of the BCYL Board of Directors. “It is beneficial to our youth to have such a great college team in our backyard.”
Albie Sears, Timmy Fluder, Kyle Yamamoto, Zach Rodriguez and Red Benson are among the coaches at BCYL who have also played for the CSULB lacrosse team. These players provide support and guidance for the youth to continue playing the game at their top potential, while sharing a passion for the sport.
“The 2011 CSULB men’s lacrosse team assisted with the BCYL boy’s high school club team’s preparations for their upcoming season by mentoring the players during an instructional scrimmage,” Sprague said.
By volunteering to help the children learn the game, the CSULB players have also inspired the program to implement minor changes to create a stronger connection between the two programs. In addition to changing the team colors to black and gold in order to match the 49er team, both the youth players and their parents aspire for them to play at the collegiate level for CSULB in the future.
“Volunteering at the local program with the youth has helped out our players by giving them a different perspective on the game, allowing them to be better players and increasing their maturity by taking on a fatherly type role for the kids,” said Frank Podsiadlik, the head coach of lacrosse on campus.
In order to strengthen the relationship between CSULB and BCYL players, there is talk among the Board of Directors of BCYL to potentially schedule games on campus so that the youth can see their coaches in action.
“We have a strong presence in our community,” Podsiadlik said. “Our team helps out in many ways including recycling, our popular electronic-waste fundraiser, and we are always looking for other ways to help.”
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