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10/23/2023 04:04 PMWhen you think of summer and sports along the Connecticut Shoreline, it might conjure up the mental images of baseball fields and sounds of a bat cracking. Yet for 2023, at least in the Valley Regional area, it was the summer of sticks swishing with the sudden surge of a new lacrosse entity.
Nick Graham, a Chester resident, grew up in the Valley area and recently moved his family of 5 back to Chester this past winter. His children play lacrosse, while he coaches it as well. This summer, Graham started up a non-profit organization called the Valley Lacrosse Club (VLC). It is running a series of six two-hour clinics. The first took place last month at the John Winthrop Middle School fields. The club has 42 local boys and girls (ranging from 2nd-8th grade) from Chester, Deep River, and Essex participating.
“Lacrosse is a great sport. My kids love playing it, I enjoy coaching it, and we’ve always had a great experience with lacrosse wherever we’ve lived,” said Graham. “I have a sophomore at Valley who plays on the boys’ lacrosse team. They graduated several seniors from the lacrosse team this past spring, and I quickly realized that with such small schools, some sports really depend on a steady supply of players entering high school to keep their programs not just viable, but good.”
Graham added that an added inspiration toward starting up the organization was to help deter the lax squads from having to go the co-op route, or even worse, folding altogether. He additionally wanted to provide a low-cost opportunity for kids, and give some families a solid introductory education to the sport.
“There is always the possibility that if enough kids don’t play, the programs could collapse or be forced to co-op with other schools,” said Graham. “The best way I could think of helping was to try and provide a feeder program for the Valley Regional area that would give current youth players more offseason practice. Being a newer sport, most parents never played it and are not familiar with it. Parents don’t naturally sign their kids up for lacrosse as they might in other locations, where it’s been around for awhile. The second barrier to entry is committing to equipment. Entry level boys’ equipment can run $400 per player, and $100-150 for girls. If a parent (and their child) isn’t 100% certain their kid will love lacrosse and want to continue playing, why would they invest $400 in equipment? Valley Lacrosse Club solves both of these barriers to entry. It’s only six clinics in the offseason, so there is minimal time commitment. And through the generous support of our sponsors, we’ve been able to supply full equipment for four boys and four girls so they didn’t have to purchase it themselves.”
Already this fall, in the club’s inaugural season, they boast 46 boys and girls playing, with a dozen of them being new and trying lacrosse for the first time, exceeding Graham’s initial expectations. He now anticipates the numbers to grow, due in large part to word of mouth.
“We got way more kids signed up to play than I imagined we could have for this first season. I have no doubt they will all love playing lacrosse and will stick with the sport,” Graham said. “And then hopefully they all play for Valley when they get to high school. I imagine our numbers will increase year over year too, as more kids will have more friends and classmates that play. We look to bring the fast, fun sport of lacrosse to more local kids and develop a feeder program for our high school so they can all continue to have a great experience with this sport.”
Graham and his coaches make sure to instill the essential fundamentals of the sport at the ground level of the game, but the main objective is to convey kids’ entertainment and enjoyment of it to keep them coming back for more.
“The main goal is the same one I tell my players in the spring: to enjoy their experience, develop as great teammates and people, and want to play again next year,” said Graham. “During our clinics we teach all aspects of the game, from basic skills like throwing, catching, ground balls, cradling, and shooting, to more advanced team skills. For our experienced players, we offer more advanced individual skills, taught by some very experienced coaches, like dodging, fakes, shot technique, face-offs, draws, etc. It is vital we offer continued development for our experienced players. And then they all get to scrimmage at the end of each clinic and put their skills to work on the field. The feedback I’ve received from the kids, including my own, is that this is the most fun part of the clinic.”
Another big benefactor to the rousing success of the VLC has been the inclusion and impact of the Warriors’ lacrosse program’s coaches and their terrific tutelage to the youngsters. Colby Hawkins (Valley boys’ head coach), Isaiah Hickes (Valley boys’ assistant coach), Randy Netsch (recently retired Valley girls’ head coach), and Hillary Clifton (Valley girls’ assistant coach) are all heavily involved. Also adding a spark to the experience is the inclusion of the Valley lax players, who volunteer their time to mentor the future Warriors’ student-athletes.
“The Valley coaches are the single biggest contributor to our program’s success. This summer when I was just starting the program up, I knew getting coaches would be the first thing I had to do,” Graham said. “The Valley coaches immediately recognized the value of this program and offered their support right away. They help this program succeed by coaching, and this program will help their high school teams succeed now and in the future. The coaches are not just helping out, but are involved in the process of organizing the program and marketing/recruiting. One of the most exciting parts of this is that we get about 4-6 girls’ and 4-6 boys’ varsity lacrosse players to also volunteer. The kids love being coached by the Valley players, and the Valley players are great with the kids. They bring an energy level and love of the game that is unique to current players. They really enjoy bringing a sport they love to these kids.”
Also a huge contribution to the organization’s early gains and growth is the work and support system of the entire Valley Regional High School Athletic Department.
“[On reasons for the club’s success] Our volunteer coaches. Also great support from Valley Regional and their AD Lewis Pappariella, and District 4 for not only their coaches and players, but also use of their fields at John Winthrop,” said Graham. “The other huge challenge we had this year was marketing; how do we reach kids and parents, especially ones that haven’t played before? Not only did all three elementary schools and John Winthrop post and advertise our program’s flier, but the schools’ PTOs and even the three Park and Rec organizations all helped spread the message about our new program. Clearly they all did a wonderful job, as our numbers are much higher than I had anticipated.”
As the club looks to persist on and expand, it aims to continue to upward trajectory in terms of numbers of kids looking to take part in lacrosse, and Graham concluded that he does not want them to experience a similar longing for lax that he experienced in his youth.
“I enjoy helping kids in sports and have always coached, and bringing the great experience my family has had in lacrosse to as many kids and families as we can is our goal,” Graham said. “I had the thought a couple years ago, ‘man I would have loved playing lacrosse,’” said Graham. “I want to ensure CDE [Chester-Deep River-Essex] kids and their friends will never have that same thought. Also, we may have some more programs in the future besides our fall program, which is our main one. I’m considering teaming up with Parks and Rec, and to also work with the local schools to see if they could make lacrosse part of their physical education programs. Possibly this summer, we may try scrimmages one night a week.”