Keeping kids engaged through lacrosse in Franklin County

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — The Urban Lacrosse Academy (ULA) is working to connect with kids through the sport and hoping to make the game more accessible.

Bear Davis, the former general manager and head coach of the Ohio Machine, founded the non-profit in 2019. Between the college and professional level, he has almost 30 years of coaching experience. He said it’s amazing what can happen when they go into a school and introduce the game to a child for the first time.

Watch: Keeping kids engaged through lacrosse

“The next thing you know they’re out after school with us having a toss,” he said.

Davis grew up in central Ohio. He said one of the main goals of ULA is to bring the game to kids who have not played before.

“It was like hey how do we get this sport to grow inside I-270, it’s going to take a driver, you know, and how do we do that because there’s some great talent, some great kids this sport should be exposed to,” he said.

ULA’s work goes beyond the field. Jeremy Schocken, program director at ULA, said it’s about lessons of the sport and lessons of life.

“We really focus on four pillars of mentorship which is respect, determination, goal setting and integrity, so while we’re doing our programming we try to incorporate those pillars to give the kids a good consistent experience,” he said.

The non-profit provides the equipment. They have an urban league with third- to sixth-grade boys and girls. They also work with some Columbus City Schools with physical education classes and run after-school programs. Davis said it’s about getting kids comfortable with the game and confident in life.

“It’s also just that perseverance, that ability to be able to catch your first ball that you thought I was never going to be able to catch a lacrosse ball, then they catch it and then that gives them a little bit of confidence,” he said. “Every little inch of confidence we can put into these kids lives is going to put them closer to a better outcome.”

Columbus City Council this week just approved $15,000 to support the non-profit’s work.

“To see a kid and maybe comes in and is like, ‘Oh man, lacrosse. What is that?’ and then by the end they’re like look coach I can catch five times, those are the moments that really are like man that kid overcame something that maybe he didn’t like but he tried it and now look at him, he’s having a good time with it,” Schocken said.

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