A Wrap on 2023 - The Season, The Business and an Ask.
Wow...what a spring lacrosse season for both of our teams. A combined 14 wins (10 wins in conference) and both teams earned their first post season win in sectional play.
Nice work from our Student-Athletes and Coaches!
The 2023 Season
As I reflect on the boys season (from a coach perspective) three things come to mind. First, the leadership and desire to win. Coach Mike and I asked five young men to step up and help lead this team as captains and they set a goal to be a winning team. We weren’t perfect but they kept us focused and on task throughout the season. Second, this team was a TEAM in all respects. We practiced together, we fought together, we helped each other and we had fun together. We were a team. Finally, maybe the most important, we had over 14 kids earn an academic award this year with a cumulative team GPA over 3.3 (out of 4). We are students first and this team demonstrated that.
I asked Coach Grisinger the same about the girls team. For the girls side, there was definitely a feeling of a rebuilding this year. While not the best win-loss results, we definitely saw positive growth from an emotional, athletic, and pure grit mentality.
Our experienced athletes came out and contributed to the squad. They were instrumental in leading the team and teaching all how to work towards their goals, how to receive and accept feedback, and how to continue to improve. We had big wins in the classroom too.
We continue to recruit where we can and are looking forward to building our brand and our style of lacrosse for the area.
Year three of competitive play is now in the books!
The Business
Friends of Bloomington/Normal Lacrosse (FOBNL) exists to grow the game of lacrosse in our area by supporting the cooperative program with Unit 5 and District 87. FOBNL is a non-profit, 501c3 entity focused on fundraising and support of the program. As a reminder, both boys and girls programs are 100% funded by FOBNL, which generates funds through fundraising and personal donations, and not by the school districts in any way.
As we wrap up the 2022/2023 spring season, I first want to thank all our volunteers from team moms, to scorekeepers, to coaches, to announcers, to Board members and many more. Your time and assistance is greatly appreciated, needed and makes the experience for our student-athletes top notch. Thank you!
From a funding standpoint, I am happy to share that FOBNL is sufficiently funded to a point that gets us through another season but, that is not to say we have room to relax. Our Board is working on a robust fundraising and awareness campaign for the 2023/2024 season that will require each of us to participate and support this program as best we can. Also know, that you do not need to wait for a fundraising event to provide a personal donation. Visit FOBNL ( www.friendsofbnlacrosse.org ) or contact a Board member directly if you are wanting to more directly support our program. Thank you all for making our coop thrive and most importantly provide our student-athletes a chance to play and represent their schools and our community.
The Ask (Please Read and Act)
Closing my first year as FOBNL Board President and fourth year as an FOBNL Board member, I have come to the decision that it is my time to step aside and I plan to resign from the Board effective August 15th. My only goal during my time has been to do the best I can to ensure that the student-athletes in our community have the opportunity to play a sport they love and do it in a fashion that provides an experience that they will learn from and remember the rest of their lives. Being a high-school athlete is a pretty cool thing and I am happy that our kids have gotten that opportunity while playing lacrosse!
With my pending resignation, we will have an opening on our Board for both the President position and an at-large Board Member. If you are interested in serving our lacrosse community here in Bloomington/Normal and helping us build on what we have started, both of these opportunities would be a great way to do that. Please feel from to reach out to me directly if you are interested. My email is rbtfobnl@gmail.com. You can make a difference for our student-athletes and help us continue to build this program.
In closing, thank you to all the student-athletes, parents and families that have supported this coop and have put up with me in trying to move this coop along. It has been a labor of love and extremely rewarding to see our student-athletes excel on the field and in the classroom over the past four years. We are not done building and growing this program and I, for one, look forward to where this coop will go as the next group of leaders step in.
Thank you and be well.
Ron
Go BN Lax!