Dear families and friends of Southern Marin Lacrosse,
Some of you may have received a negative email from a disgruntled person (who hasn’t been involved with our club in any capacity in over 10 years) disparaging the success of the Southern Marin Lacrosse Club. While unfortunate and completely unfounded, it does offer us an opportunity to reflect briefly on the current state of the club.
Six years ago, total membership of Southern Marin Lacrosse Club was approximately 200 players. The Club offered one program (NCJLA Spring league) and played in the months from February to May. The Club’s primary resources (fields, coaches, and staff) were scarce, resulting in limited capacity to grow the sport of lacrosse in our community.
Thankfully, the popularity of the sport and the organization grew exponentially. Today, we have never been prouder.
- Spring 2018 had a record number with 700+ players participating
- We fielded 43 teams with 70+ coaches and offered spring clinics for our youngest players
- There was no increase in registration fees for the 5th year in a row, despite the significant increase in operating costs (fields, coaches, equipment, etc.)
- Honored by the NCJLA in 2016 and 2017 with the NCJLA Appreciation Award for our efforts to support the growth of the sport
- In-season and out of season registration fees remain the lowest in the county vs. local programs and travel teams
- We continue to grow our Scholarship Program which allows families in need to introduce their children to the game of lacrosse without the financial burden
- The girls program had 360+ participants, up 350% in the past six years.
- A new in-house U12 7v7 program on Friday nights was launched with no additional cost to families.
- We continued our Player Coach Mentorship Program where older Wolfpack players (U14) work and coach younger Wolfpack players in various programs.
- A new adaptive lacrosse program/clinic and a partnership with Project Awareness and Special Organization (PAASS) was formed.
- Out of season programs had 1400 registrants participate in 60 different Wolfpack programs including clinics, camps, postseason travel teams, tournament teams, adaptive clinics, etc.
- For a second year in a row, all 5 Girls and Boys "A" teams qualified for the NCJLA Playoffs. In 2018, these teams were seeded in the top 4. For perspective, the NCJLA has 7000+ participants. No other club has achieved this great feat! This year, 2 Boys "A" teams will play in the Championship games this coming weekend (good luck!)
- Most importantly, seeing the kids having fun and falling in love with lacrosse makes us most proud.
This success is a credit to every member of the extended Southern Marin Lacrosse family of which you are most certainly a part. We thank every family, every team parent, every scorekeeper and every coach who help drive our success. And most of all, we thank our kids who make us proud everyday not only with their accomplishments, but their team work, energy and laughter.
As a result of the consistent growth and success of the club, we are continuously evaluating how best to meet the increasing demands of running the organization, while continuing to deliver the best possible playing experience for the kids. The Southern Marin Lacrosse Club operates under best practices according to our Bylaws, State of California Non-for-profit laws, and IRS Non-for-profit laws. Governance remains a top priority as we continue to operate the club. To learn more about our organizational structure, please visit Bylaws and/or Club Structure on our homepage at www.smlax.com
Finally, we’d love your support and ask that you take a few minutes to fill this out this short survey. In addition, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of the board members.
Thank you again for all your help and support over the years and we look forward to more lacrosse fun in the years to come.
Sincerely,
Southern Marin Lacrosse Club Board of Directors
Shannon Nies Jon Porter
Board Chair Executive Director & Boys Director
415.846.8963 415.713.7473
Mary Beth Todd Chris Danne
Girls Director Secretary
415.713.3757 415.305.6338
John Bell
Treasurer
415.786.4322
