Not a Challenge Anymore

The idea for Jim Wallace to have his 9-year-old son Joey play lacrosse came about last summer at his 11-year-old son James' lacrosse tournament at Farmingdale University.

You would think finding a lacrosse team here on Long Island would be easy. But if you are a parent of a special-needs child, you know that most things do not come easily. Something as simple as finding a lacrosse team to play on can be a challenge. 

"I think that it is important to remember that sports and athletics have a great value for all people," Wallace said. "The experiences and abilities they bring to people with special needs, their families and communities are at times immeasurable. While there may be large cultural differences in the world, the experience of participating in sports is universal, filling the needs of physical activity, social interaction and demonstrating to the world that everyone is capable of sportsmanship, honor and is worthy of glory." 

Wallace first approached his son James' lacrosse coach, Andy Martin, who referred him to Eric Geringswald. Geringswald runs the Hills lacrosse youth program. Geringswald immediately supported the idea and saw that the Challenger team was added to the Hills youth lacrosse program for 2011.

Wallace's biggest concern was that he would not have enough coaches to work with the athletes. But having been a part of the Dix Hills Basketball Association's Challenger program, he has seen firsthand how great it is to use student athletes from our own school district as peer coaches to work with athletes who have special needs. 

So he decided that this was the way to go with lacrosse too. Geringswald reached out to the two varsity coaches in the district, Gordon Hodgson (HS East) and Nils Haugen (HS West) to ask them if they had any athletes who might be willing to work as peer coaches. On that very first evening that this request was made, Wallace started receiving emails from high school boys and girls offering to volunteer.

Before he knew it, Wallace had 42 student athletes from the HHH school district (grades 5 through 12) sign up and participate in a training workshop run by Brigitte Wallace of Behavioral Consulting Service, LLC and become peer coaches for the program.

Anna Inserra, a 10th grader who volunteered, said, "Lacrosse made me feel good and I wanted them to feel the way I did when I first started to play." 

Wallace explained the rules for the Challenger program: "We do not have any written guidelines as to who is considered a Challenger Athlete. Basically, the athletes are students that receive special education services through their school district and may not be able to keep up with their peers due to behavioral, cognitive or physical challenges. We will not turn anyone away and will work to make whatever modifications we need to the equipment and to our coaching methods to make sure that every athlete is given the opportunity to learn the game of lacrosse.  If we happen to have an athlete who performs at a high enough level to transfer onto a team of their peers with typical abilities, we will of course help them to do so." 

Registration will be kept open to any special-needs athlete who would like to participate. The Challenger league has 19 boys and  is looking to add more female special-needs athletes to the roster.

If you know anyone who would like to play or volunteer, the practices are on Sundays at gym.

A detailed schedule is on the Hills Lacrosse website  There are only three Challenger lacrosse teams in the country and Hills is one of them. Garden City started their Challenger lacrosse team about six months ago. 

As of today, the Challenger team has been invited to participated in three tournaments this spring, including our own King of the Hill Tournament.  The other two are the Nassau County PAL Lacrosse Jamboree, and the Jay Gallagher Lacrosse Tournament in Garden City.

Of course we'll keep you updated on the team success throughout the season.