OUR MISSION STATEMENT

Wallkill Youth Lacrosse Inc aspires to be an outstanding educational-athletic organization that provides a high-quality experience to every athlete. A high-quality experience is one in which every athlete:

• Is coached using the principles of Positive Coaching

• Has fun at practices and games

• Feels like an important part of the team regardless of performance

• Learns “life lessons” that have value beyond the playing field

• Learns the skills, tactics and strategies of the game and improves as a player.

We recognize that coaches are the people who most directly make this all possible. It is our goal to provide every coach with the tools to succeed as a Positive Coach. We are committed to creating a positive culture, in which coaches, parents, fans, officials and athletes work together to achieve our mission.

A BRIEF HISTORY

We began this journey in early 2014. Two guys saw that the sport of lacrosse in our community was trying to grow but needed a grassroots movement focused on getting children of all ages involved: from Kindergarten through 8th grade. That first year we didn't have enough players to field a team, so we accepted Pine Bush's invitation to play with their youth organization. Word quickly spread and more and more families signed up allowing us to step out on our own the next year! Since then, we have created an (8) person Board made up of volunteer parents dedicated to building a stable organization that will last for years to come. We fully support our coaches and require that they hold a minimum Level 1 Certification through US Lacrosse - we even cover the cost/fee of the certification course.

In 2017, we were awarded the US Lacrosse First Program Grant which gave us (20) full sets of lacrosse equipment. This allowed us to help the parents of our youngest players (K/1/2) so they wouldn't have to lay out a bunch of money in gear when they weren't really sure that their child would want to stay with this sport. And it's not just the residents of our school district and town that we are open to. We have parents from other towns who have heard about our organization, what we stand for, and what we provide and their children are now a part of our teams!

Also in 2017, we were granted our 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status allowing to extend our reach even further into our local communities.

In 2018, two graduating high school seniors were awarded one scholarship each of $250. The funds for this scholarship program comes directly from our fundraising activities, and it is our hope that each year we will be able to give out more scholarships, helping more of our student-athletes. 

Every year, at every board meeting, we work to make our operations more efficient and effective.