Thank you so much for your participation this past spring in CBAA Lacrosse. We're proud of the progress your children made this year and hope they had fun. We are already working hard to ensure their experience next season will be even better than this past one. 

I am excited and honored to take over as President of the CBAA Lacrosse program. I can't thank Anthony Ventresca enough for his 7+ years of dedication to building the program and helping CBAA become so well recognized & respected throughout the region for producing very talented lacrosse athletes.  

Below is a summary of the vision for the CBAA Lacrosse program going forward, including information about Fall Ball. I'm sorry in advance for the length, but I wanted to provide you with some important changes that are worth noting with more details to follow shortly.

Your feedback about the lacrosse program has been very positive. However, like any program, there's always room for improvement. In reviewing your feedback and evaluating other programs locally and outside of Pennsylvania, we have an opportunity to take the best attributes from the best programs to build on the current foundation.

We believe kids love playing lacrosse for many reasons, including that 

(i) it is fast-paced, 

(ii) each player on the field gets to touch the ball, 

(iii) lacrosse requires a combination of physical skill and physicality, and

(iv) the lacrosse gear (aka "swag") is "cool."  

We believe parents fall in love with lacrosse because it encourages physical activity and teamwork and the games have a set start and stop time each weekend.  

Finally, we believe lacrosse is a great "cross-training sport" in the spring because it involves many of the core skills and competencies associated with Fall and Winter sports including soccer, basketball, football, and hockey. 

At the highest level, the CBAA Lacrosse vision is to ensure all players in the program receive proper and fair coaching, learn about and improve their lacrosse fundamental skills, and most importantly, have fun playing the game.   To achieve our vision, we need to focus on several key areas of development within the program:

• Communicate expectations clearly and consistently. 
• Player Development - provide a constructive environment for kids to develop individual and team-based lacrosse skills and enjoy their growth based on each player's skill level
• Coach Development - provide resources to educate, share, and build CBAA coaching expertise to enable consistent, structured learning focused on developing kids.
• Positive family and community experience

The execution of this vision begins with Fall Ball. Registration for Fall Ball is now open and we're working on many of the details to make our fall instructional clinics a signature program, unique to CBAA Boys & Girls Lacrosse. 

We will create a structured, well-planned, fun environment for all kids who participate and tailor the Fall Ball clinics to the players' current skill level from beginners to more skilled players. 

Fun is the focus, but a tiered approach to skill development an equal priority. We intend to utilize the local lacrosse talent and expertise (high school and college coaches and players) to help run the Fall Ball program and enable the coaches for our spring program to observe and support those running the clinics. 

The kids emulate and respond well to players who have recently "walked the walk." We will identify lacrosse expertise that helps our children build a strong foundation for future excitement and growth in lacrosse. Segregating the kids based on their skill level, maximizing their reps, and building their lacrosse IQ are our goals for Fall Ball.

If you know of families who do not currently play lacrosse but may be interested, please feel free to forward this email to them to spread the word. Our Fall Ball program is the perfect time to pick up the sport in a developmental environment to see if your child would like to try before they buy.

More to come, but I ask for your confidence in our commitment to provide you with greater value for your investment. We will ensure that Fall Ball is well staffed and the ratio of child-to-coach is appropriate based on the skill level and age. Communication will be frequent and your feedback is welcomed. Although it's hard to accommodate everyone, feedback is critical to building a world-class organization, and that's our long term goal.

If you'd like to provide additional feedback on your past or present experiences, I welcome you to do so. If your child has left the program for one reason or another, we would love for you to give us the opportunity to win back your confidence if you share our vision.

Let me know if you have any questions about the program - I'd love your feedback on how we can improve the program.

Thank you again for you continued support!

Yours to count on,

Nick

Nick Walter

President, CBAA Lacrosse