Philadelphian Arthur Johnson III (center), Springside Chestnut Hill Academy lacrosse coach and founding executive director of The Re- Education Foundation - TREF, uses sport as a tool to educate, empower and transform lives. Pictured during last weekend’s Philly Lacrosse Festival, Johnson organized friendly games between teams from locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.
Early this morning I came across AJ Thompson’s article, ReBuild should help get Philadelphia back on track, in the Viewpoints section of philly.com. Stating “now is the time for the public to voice our concerns and suggestions for the proposed improvements and new playgrounds” regarding the city’s ambitious and monumental investment in its parks and recreation centers, Thompson presents a case for consideration to convert unused ballfields into running tracks.
“Many communities have baseball diamonds where the grass has overtaken the dirt infield, such that the batting cage rises out of a sea of green in an elegy to the death of the sport for many in the inner city,” Thompson wrote. “On these fallow fields of yore, I suggest that the ReBuild program build a few running tracks.”
Thompson’s article caught my attention on the heels of having an empowering conversation, last evening, with Arthur Johnson III of Philadelphia and Lantz Carter of Baltimore. The two African-American lacrosse coaches, administrators and educators shared the origins of their relationship, their individual and collective efforts to grow the non-traditional sport in their respective communities, as well as their challenges and plights in pursuit to use sport to transform young people of color lives and the communities they reside.
Philadelphia’s ReBuild -Rebuilding Community Infrastructure- initiative came up during the conversation as Johnson explained difficulties gaining access to facilities for his youth lacrosse program and nonprofit organization, The Re- Education Foundation- TREF. “We go where we can get field space and can safely conduct our programming,” said Johnson, a lacrosse coach at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, an independent prep school in the northwest section of Philadelphia.
“We have a proven record of using lacrosse to develop young people and need the support of governmental and nongovernmental agencies, private companies and foundations to continue to make an impact,” Johnson said who has also coached in Philadelphia public schools.
Last week the School District of Philadelphia’s boy’s lacrosse championship game featured two teams filled with kids from Johnson’s program on both sides. Amir Fluellen, a Salisbury University student-athlete and Shipley School graduate, is one of Johnson’s many pupils that has gone on to achieve success in collegiate athletics. “I would like to thank my mom and dad first; coach Arthur Johnson III for giving me my first stick,” Fluellen told PhillyLacrosse.com last year.
Attending Carter’s alma mater, Fluellen benefits from Johnson’s relationship with Charm City Youth Lacrosse’s director of boy’s lacrosse. “We’ve been supporting one another ever since we met a couple of years ago,” said Carter. “AJ’s brought kids down to Maryland and we’ve gone up to Philly to participate in events he’s hosted.”
Lantz Carter (center), Charm City Youth Lacrosse boys director, pictured with his father, Lloyd, after winning the 2012 NCAA Division III national lacrosse championship. The older Carter played on Morgan State University’s lacrosse team in the late 1970s, early 1980s.
Last weekend Johnson hosted the Philly Lacrosse Festival, on a multi-use field at Finley Playground, attracting Carter’s Baltimore team along with teams from Trenton, New Jersey and Chester. “We can make use of the fields throughout the city and facilitate quality programming without a question,” said Johnson. Agreeing that the city should engage with individuals like him and organizations like his, Johnson hopes that ReBuild lives up to its mission of promoting “equity and fairness across Philadelphia.”
“What I’m doing here in Philly, what Latnz is doing in Baltimore and our guys in Chester and Trenton are doing in their communities is needed, but also welcomed and embraced. We need to have honest dialogue with stakeholders and decision makers in order to remain viable.”
In his article, Thompson cites stats and figures to support his position for wanting more running tracks in the city, suggesting vacuums of empty baseball fields can be filled “with something that provides opportunities for active people from kids to seniors.”
In light of the men’s and women’s NCAA Lacrosse Championships set to take place this weekend, the following stats support Johnson and Carter’s push to grow the game in minority communities. 85.5% of NCAA men’s lacrosse student-athletes were white in 2014-15, down from 90.2% in 2000. In women’s lacrosse, 86% were white in 2014-15, compared with 89.1% in 2000. The percentage of black men’s lacrosse players is up 2% from 2000 to 2014-15 — from 1.5% to 3.5%. In women’s, that number has grown from 1.9% to 2.9%.
In 2015, 576 schools sponsored varsity lacrosse teams across the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA presenting a 13.0% chance of playing in college, which is one of the highest odds among all sports offered (only fencing and ice hockey are higher).
Supporting programs like Johnson’s would only fall in line with ReBuild’s mission of “promoting equity and fairness” and can “spur additional economic growth” through events like the Philly Lacrosse Festival.
“We have boys and girls camps taking place in June and July, during the same time Olympic Day, National Youth Sports Week and National Parks & Recreation Month are being celebrated,” Johnson said of upcoming activities. He and Carter are having a strategic planning session later today before checking out Baltimore City’s all-star high school lacrosse game.
“We’re passionate about what we do,” said Johnson. “I want to stay here in Philadelphia. But, if we aren’t able to secure the support and resources we need, as a matter of survival, I’ll have to consider moving to earn a living and make an impact.”
AJ Thompson, I’m taking you up on your appeal to voice my concerns and offer my suggestions to ReBuild, the Managing Director’s Office of the City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and the Free Library of Philadelphia (yes, sport is education and has its connections to reading).
Perhaps some of those empty ballfields Thompson referenced should be used for lacrosse programming? At the very least I recommend that ReBuild’s team leaders engage Johnson, and his counterparts involved with various sports throughout the city, to “try something new” while improving “the health of our communities.”