Lacrosse, a sport most commonly played in the Northeast, has most recently been recognized as the fastest growing sport in the country. Traditionally known as a preppy sport, played on beautifully kept green fields, will lacrosse ever be seen as a city sport?
Sam Angelotta, founder and program director of OWLS lacrosse, thinks so and made it his mission to bring the same joy that he found in lacrosse to Chicago’s inner city children.
Outreach With Lacrosse and Schools (OWLS) is an inner city organization working toward creating sustainable lacrosse programs for schools and communities. OWLS is based in Chicago and DePaul’s own lacrosse team is highly involved, striving to help the organization in as many ways as possible.
Angelotta started OWLS after finishing a two-year graduate program at DePaul. While in school, he was a member of the DePaul lacrosse team, which is recognized by the university as a club sport.
“As I was being trained to teach in the urban environment, I had a great deal of exposure to educational research relative to the needs of inner city students,” said Angelotta. “I soon realized a desperate need for quality instruction in the areas of afterschool programming, healthy lifestyles and alternative sports growth.”
“OWLS has really made major strides in working with the lacrosse community within Chicago, and now they’re even reaching out to national programs like Notre Dame University,” said Glasbrenner.
This past summer, OWLS sent several children to a camp at Notre Dame. They were able to stay overnight with all expenses paid. Notre Dame also played in a round robin, or fall ball, tournament, inviting the OWLS program and incorporating a clinic afterwards.
“Notre Dame actually came out to St. Malachy’s and built an equipment shed where we can keep all of their stuff so we don’t have to keep it in the attic of the school anymore,” said Dent.
As OWLS continues to grow, DePaul’s lacrosse team strives to become even more proactive within the program. Angelotta is working toward fundraising $10,000 to start another program. Dent explains this is the necessary amount of money for “20 to 30 sets of equipment for guys and girls, getting all the kids insured through U.S. Lacrosse, and to get field program.”
If this idea can be brought to fruition, a donation tent will be set up and fans will have the opportunity to contribute. The team is hoping to organize the charity game against one of their rivals, such as Missouri Baptist, and be able to hand Angelotta and the OWLS program a check at the game’s halftime.
“We’d like to work with DePaul in order to organize one game at Wish Field and simultaneously raise awareness about the OWLS program,” said Angelotta. “The team has even offered to host OWLS players for a free skills camp before attending the possible.”
The lacrosse team has in the past been unable to play games at Wish Field due to the lack of netting, necessary to keep fans safe from a lacrosse ball.
“Wish Field has just added new netting to a few parts surrounding the field, which would make it possible for us to hold a lacrosse game,” said Glasbrenner. “What they told us is three of the four areas deemed ‘dangerous’ have been covered with proper netting that will withhold a lacrosse ball, so there’s just that one extra area in need.”
“The game would show these kids that people are out there who care for them and support this program a lot,” said Glasbrenner. “Lacrosse is such a growing sport and most of the teams that we play have their university’s support. It would be nice to have our university support us.”
“It is my feeling that with the new direction of DePaul lacrosse,” said Angelotta, “with an emphasis on community service, we can make this wish come true.”