BBHS LAX players raise money for Latin American athletes
May 16, 2024 at 2:12 a.m.
Chase Katz has spent more than half of his life playing lacrosse.
The 16-year-old discovered the sport with his best friend Tyler Taerstein when they joined the Harrison Youth Lacrosse team as first graders.
Tyler’s older brother, Zach, followed suit several years later and the three have been teammates in various capacities ever since.
“We’ve all been playing together forever,” Tyler said.
This year, the trio played on three Blind Brook High School varsity teams: soccer, basketball and, of course, lacrosse.
Apart from sports, they share a common interest in something less physically demanding: charity work.
“It’s just something we all like to do,” Katz said.
Though the three have volunteered for various causes throughout their time in high school, it wasn’t until this year they were able to combine their two passions.
A sport-based charity
“I was looking online for some fundraising work to do when I just stumbled upon Lacrosse the Nations,” Katz, a sophomore, recalled. “I did more research on it and thought it’d be cool to do.”
Lacrosse the Nations is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by two former collegiate lacrosse players, Brett Hughes and Brad Corrigan. Katz said he was keen to work with the group because of its deep ties to the sport. “It’s for lacrosse by two former D1 players,” said Katz, a Red Roof Drive resident. “And that just seemed really cool to me.”
According to the Lacrosse the Nations website, the group offers boys and girls in middle and high school access to free afterschool programming. Instilled in each lacrosse practice are lessons that are a part of the “Life Skills Curriculum,” which can range from classes on combating peer pressure to gender equality.
While the group runs a seasonal sport program in Virginia, most of their efforts are focused abroad.
“They run afterschool teams in Nicaragua, Colombia and Panama,” Tyler explained. “And they don’t just do lacrosse. They help with school supplies and food, too.”
Coaches also provide academic support and tutoring for their athletes.
When Katz notified the Taersteins of the organization, the Country Ridge Drive brothers were quick to jump onboard.
“It just seemed like a great way to unite our two worlds,” Zach, the sole junior of the group, said.
The athletes sent an email to the organization’s leadership in March and, after a brief back and forth, scheduled a Zoom meeting with Anders Bjella, the development manager.
“We met with Anders, and he really just walked us through the program,” Katz said.
Tyler added Bjella helped them settle on a fundraising goal for the group. “He told us to shoot for $5,000. He said if we got to that, that’d be great. But if we didn’t, it would be okay because we were just starting out,” the 16-year-old sophomore said.
As plans for a fundraiser started to culminate, Bjella told them the money they collected would go towards funding academic scholarships and school supplies in Nicaragua.
A team effort
With their goal set, the teens got to work.
After getting a fundraising website established by the time the lacrosse season kicked off in April, their first tactic was to do what most teenagers their age would do.
“We spread it on all of our social media accounts,” Katz laughed.
From there, they reached out to those who are closest to them.
“We emailed all of our teammates,” Tyler said. “We explained what Lacrosse the Nations was and what we were trying to do and asked for their support.”
That decision stemmed from advice they’d received from Bjella.
“He told us to try to get the whole team involved,” Tyler said. To that end, Bjella sent them socks for the entire Trojan lineup to wear during a game.
“It was a way for all of us to represent this cause as a team,” Katz said.
During the match against Hastings on Apr. 30, the Trojans took to the field in matching white socks bearing the Lacrosse the Nations logo. Tyler recounted that while some of the players were indifferent to the idea at the start of the game, their enthusiasm grew as each quarter ticked by.
The Trojans dominated the Yellowjackets 15-0, with Tyler scoring four times and Katz contributing four assists.
“By the end of it, the guys were joking that these were our lucky socks,” Zach said. “A couple of them said we should wear them for every game.”
It was the game they were advertising most for their fundraising efforts around, but it didn’t mark the end of their mission.
“We’re going to keep going until the end of the season,” Tyler said.
Anyone interested in donating to their fundraiser can do so by visiting https://4agc.com/fundraiser_pages/0af66ccb-1c63-4545-b08c-150124899b3e
As of Monday, May 13, the players had raised $2,400, a number the boys are already satisfied with.
“So far, it’s been great,” Tyler said. “We’re all really happy with what we’ve been able to do.”
The experience has inspired Katz to consider traveling to see the fruits of their labor.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it happen this year, but I’d like to visit Nicaragua,” he said. “I really want to check out the program in person and see how they help kids.”
While he initially wanted to visit on his own dime, he may get the opportunity to go in a more official capacity once he’s in college.
“I want to do an internship with them,” Katz said. The program, which would give college credit, would allow him to work directly with children in Latin America. It’s a prospect the Taerstein brothers also expressed a desire to pursue.
However, the boys recognize that won’t be possible for several more years and are currently focused on what they can accomplish until then.
“I want us to keep doing something with (Lacrosse the Nations),” Katz said. “Whether it’s us doing it ourselves or through the school, I want to do it every year.”
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