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Lizbeth – Summer Intern

We are thrilled to have Lizbeth joining BRIDGE this summer. She has been a fantastic player and teammate for our Irma Rangel Lady Panthers. We fully expect to see the same work ethic and motivation to succeed off the field as well. Her internship will focus around researching and building various policies and procedures for a safe environment at BRIDGE. In addition, she will be an integral in creating healthy lifestyle reinforcement guides and tips for every one of our student-athletes. Here are some words from Lizbeth, about her experiences and what she is looking forward to from an internship.

“Working at BRIDGE is a great opportunity to be able to give back to an organization that first introduced me to lacrosse. I have been playing with BRIDGE for soon to be five years and began volunteering with BRIDGE at local camps two years ago. I realized how amazing it is that kids can get excited about a sport they have never seen and are willing to learn it. Expanding lacrosse is a great thing and something that I want to be a part of. David puts in a lot of work in expanding the organization and I am very glad I get to help him with that. I am looking forward to spending the summer working at BRIDGE and helping introduce a great sport to kids. It should be a fun and rewarding experience.”

- Lizbeth Alvarez | Summer Intern 2013

 

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Summer Partners Announced

BRIDGE Lacrosse is proud to announce our summer community partners. It has been a privilege and honor to work with some great community organizations, all doing fantastic work with kids in urban communities. For summer 2013, we are thrilled to be returning to South Dallas with Circle of Support. In neighboring West Dallas, we are looking forward to a great new relationship with Voice of Hope. Both organizations are well structured and offer incredible programming. Our summer program focus has always been on outreach, and working alongside these two will allow BRIDGE to enrich their existing summer curriculum.

Our partnership with Circle of Support is headed into its fifth year and we are thankful for their Executive Director, Bernadette Nutall, and her enthusiasm. Circle of Support’s mission is to provide young girls and boys access to resources that will help them develop into productive, responsible and successful adults. With our new West Dallas partner, Voice of Hope, we are excited to work with new people and new student-athletes. Voice of Hope believes in changing lives one child at a time. Their mission is to provide children living in the neighborhoods of West Dallas with strong character models, education support, life skills, and family support services needed to become productive Christian citizens.

 

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Intern Day One

BRIDGE Lacrosse would like to welcome our very first summer intern. Managing the many moving parts of BRIDGE can be very daunting and having an extra set of eyes and hands to help, is always appreciated. We welcome Drew Carey, a student and lacrosse player at Parish Episcopal. Drew has been a great volunteer and leader for BRIDGE for the past two years. We welcome his experience and passion for our own student-athletes for this summer.

"The opportunity to come to work for BRIDGE Lacrosse is a great change that allows me to take my love as a volunteer to the next level. I started playing lacrosse in second grade and I now have the chance to take my love of the sport and spread it to kids who wouldn’t get the opportunity normally. David Higbee, one of my original coaches and now my boss, is giving me a platform on which to advance my out reach from not just a player Parish Episcopal school, but a teacher, coach, and mentor for the kids we will work with and inspire over the summer. I can’t wait for our first camps to begin and to see the impact we make as we introduce what believe to be the worlds greatest sport to the kids we will meet."

- Drew Carey | Summer Intern 2013

 

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2nd Annual McKinney Laxfest

BRIDGE Lacrosse could not make the impact we do, without the amazing help and support of outside organizations. We are incredibly blessed to have such great friends like the McKinney Lacrosse Association. For the second year in a row, McKinney Lacrosse hosted a lacrosse festival with the proceeds going to BRIDGE.

Last year, we raised $7,100 from both the laxfest and a generous donation made from TeamLax of Frisco. This year, we brought in just over $8,000 from the laxfest, shirt sales and, another great donation from TeamLax. With more than 40 teams in attendance, the weekend was a great event to showcase fantastic lacrosse teams and a community that is supportive of each other.

McKinney Lacrosse was a great host, they provided all the support and took care of the logistics of running a weekend long event. In addition to the three games that each team played, there was a special events area for individual players to show off their skills. Games included, fastest shot and agility drills, with the potential for a prize at the end.

 

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Goodbye Spring

BRIDGE Lacrosse has officially ended the spring season. What an amazing spring it was, too. This year, we had some great accomplishments and we learned a lot. Our spring programming focuses on our three South Dallas community partners, the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy, the Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School and St. Philip’s School and Community Center. In total, we worked with 100 kids at these three schools.

At the Barack Obama Academy, our 7th/8th grades boys finished an impressive 8-5 in only their second year as a team. We are so incredibly proud of our young student-athletes as they made great strides and competed at a high level all year. The Eagles also participated in the McKinney Laxfest and made a trip to Tyler to play Tyler and Shreveport lacrosse in a friendly play-day. A special thank you to Coach Jack, John and Curtis for their hard work and to Cheryl for assisting with many of the daily operations of running the team.

For St. Philip’s, we had an impressive coaching staff this year that also saw two parents serving as assistant coaches. For our 5th/6th grade boys, they put together some high-quality wins and were consistent throughout the year. Thank you to Coach Ellis, Cory and Brian for bringing your passion for lacrosse to our 5th/6th graders. At the 3rd/4th grade level, Coach Lewis returned with help from Coach Josh and our two parent coaches, Anthony and Jeff. With great emphasis on developing young talent and skills, our coaches guided an eager young team to be hard working student-athletes. Coach Lewis, Anthony and Josh also coached a combined 4th-6th Saints team at the McKinney Laxfest.

Not too far from St. Philip’s, our Irma Rangel program achieved some great things. For our Junior Varsity team, they scored an unprecedented number of goals, more than 100. With Coach Amber and Coach John in their third season of lacrosse, the culture and core of the JV team really took shape. At the middle school level, our 7th/8th grade girls continued to progress and develop into formidable players. Each of the girls enjoyed playing and were enthusiastic throughout the spring. Our team participated in the Hockaday Playday and the McKinney Laxfest. We are so thankful for the support of everyone to continue another spectacular spring year.

See you all for fall ball!

 

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We’ll Miss You Laura

On May 19th, our wonderful Program Director, Laura Weinman served her last day with BRIDGE Lacrosse. Laura came to BRIDGE, first, as a part-time employee during the spring of 2011. She would become our full time Program Director a few months later. Laura was a fantastic addition to the BRIDGE Lacrosse team and her hard work and efforts will be missed. Her role was constantly changing and she handled the challenges with professionalism and diligence. She was passionate about the kids she worked with and, most recently, helped coach our Irma Rangel 7/8 Lady Panthers. You will most certainly be missed on and off the lacrosse field.

 Dear BRIDGE,

It saddens me to inform everyone that I have decided to accept an opportunity that was presented to me with the City of Allen, working as a Recreational Specialist, focusing on their fitness and wellness programs. With this opportunity, I’ll be able to further continue working in an environment where I am providing a service to better communities, the one thing that attracted to me to BRIDGE in the beginning. I will be finishing out the McKinney Laxfest tournament May 18th & 19th but will begin my new position on May 20th.

I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to be working with the BRIDGE organization for the past two years and give much of the credit of my professional and personal growth to BRIDGE. I have been able to meet some truly special people and it amazes me every day the support you all have for the organization, David and myself.

BRIDGE will always have a special place in my heart and I won’t be completely out of the picture (David can’t get rid of me that easily) as I hope to still be involved with BRIDE in some way. I wish nothing but the best for the organization and I can’t thank everyone enough for all of your support these past 2 years!

I appreciate everyone’s understanding and please stay in touch!

- Laura Weinman Program Director

 

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Spring Is Here

This is a special spring for BRIDGE Lacrosse. Like last year, we have six teams off and running. However, what’s different about this year? The Lady Saints 5/6 is now a new team at Irma Rangel. This new team helps create a feeder team into our Irma 7/8 girls. And for the first time in our history, we now have four parents serving as assistant coaches. They are helping our head coaches while learning and gaining valuable lacrosse experience. We are thrilled to be adding another Irma Rangel alum to our coaching staff too. Coach Clarissa, will be a assisting Coach Jessica with our new Irma Rangel 5/6 team. Why else is this spring special for BRIDGE? The legend of Coach Jack continues as he is now serving as a coach with the Barack Obama Eagles. It is great to see Coach Jack working with our older boys and passing the torch to our younger coaches at St. Philip’s School & Community Center. Our Irma JV girls are well on track to scoring 100 goals this season. An accomplishment that would have been completely unprecedented a mere two seasons ago. This team, under Coach Amber and John, are truly making tremendous strides on the field. After winning their season opener, locking in a huge home win and scrapping with some of the more established programs, like Ursuline, we believe that this team is destined for greatness. For this spring, the BRIDGE coaches agreed to focus on respect and responsibility. These two character values embody what being a BRIDGE student-athlete means. We look forward to seeing our coaches implement these values into their spring season and how our student-athletes reflect on them each. #respect&responsibility

 

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Girls Empowerment

"At the Girls Empowerment Clinic this past Sunday, I was so pleased at the number of girls who came and participated. All of the girls were fully engaged, excited to learn new skills and review basics before the season began. The different drills allowed each girl to show off her strengths and work on her weaknesses. The girls already had the basics down, so we were able to introduce new ideas such as crease rolls and multiple dodges. They picked up these skills exceptionally fast and demonstrated what they learned in the scrimmage at the end of the clinic. Their favorite drill, however, seemed to be the dogfights, where the competitive spirit definitely came out. After giving my presentation on Title IX and healthy lifestyles, they asked myself and the other coaches a few questions about our experiences.  I am so glad I got the opportunity to host this clinic. It is nice to see younger girls taking an interest in the sport and really wanting to advance themselves as players, showing a true passion for the game. After playing for so many years, it was great to spread my knowledge of the game and help others who are just starting lacrosse."

- Coach Emily | Plano Premier

"When we picked Elizabeth up from the workshop I was expecting her to be tired after a full afternoon. Instead she was excited about what she had learned and about the upcoming lacrosse season. She enjoying hearing from the young women who lead the workshop and told us first the information/statistics about how girls in lacrosse or other organized sports tend to have higher academic achievement and better fitness and health as an adult. She also had a clear idea about the healthiness of different snacks.  She was very excited about her shorts as well! (thank you).  She described the coaches as personable and friendly.  She was appreciated learning and practicing offensive techniques such as dodges.  Although physically tired she was enthusiastic about her sport.  This workshop was a great way to start the spring season."

- Mother of a BRIDGE player | Irma Rangel Lady Panthers

 

 

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West Dallas Lacrosse Festival

On Saturday, December 15th,  we wrapped up the West Dallas fall season with our first annual lacrosse festival. It was a beautiful and unusually warm day with some amazing kids, coaches and volunteers. The day started with a lacrosse clinic run by our high school board members. Each board member volunteered and participated in our fall ball season by coaching at one of our three community partner sites. These coaches provided sound instruction and guidance for our boys and girls. During our festival clinic, the coaches ran various stations highlighting basic lacrosse skills such as passing, shooting or cradling.

The highlight of the day, though, came when all of our participants geared up to play in their very first lacrosse scrimmage. On the boys side, the Nash Davis Comets faced off against the Lakewest Tigers. The Comets were led by head coach, James, who started our West Dallas Development Board. James was also assisted by Clay and Matthew. On the Lakewest side, coaches Will K., Will L., Henry, Drew K. and Drew C. coached their Tigers to a tough 4-2 win. It was an amazing experience for everyone and we thank these coaches for their support and leadership.

On the opposite field, our girls got a great scrimmage experience too. With the help of our Girls’ Leadership Board and other volunteer coaches, girls from Lakewest YMCA and Girls Inc. played in a fun and exciting scrimmage. During half time, our young players got a chance to see how fast the game moves as the high school coaches played in a 4v4 scrimmage of their own. Anchored by goalies, Lizbeth and Evan (borrowed from the boys), the high school coaches put on quite a show that inspired the girls to get right back in the game.

Overall, it was a phenomenal day and we really appreciate all of the support from our volunteers and community partners. We are very much looking forward to next year’s festival and we hope to continue to lay the foundation for a strong lacrosse future in West Dallas.

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BRIDGE Gets A New Look

Volunteers at GiveCamp 2012

Volunteers at GiveCamp 2012

We have a new website! BRIDGE Lacrosse was the very fortunate recipient of hundreds of individual hours of amazing volunteers at the third annual Dallas Give Camp event. We were one of fourteen nonprofit organizations selected to participate in a weekend event that helped build and develop new technology tools. As you can tell, we chose to completely revamp our website. We’ve introduced new features that showcase high quality pictures, integrate social media and allow every user to see our impact. BRIDGE was supported by an amazing team of developers and builders during the Give Camp event and we cannot thank them enough for the time and effort they put into our new website.

We also want to send a very special thank you to Robb and Krystal Baldwin of Fork Solutions, who previously supported and managed our first ever website as BRIDGE Lacrosse. They have both been phenomenal supporters and friends of BRIDGE, without them our organization would not be where it stands today.

Please browse and click away at our new site. Watch a video, flip through photos, read our focus and learn how you can help make a difference with us.

 

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