This time last year, Kyle Harrison came home and stepped onto something familiar—a lacrosse field in Baltimore—but saw a scene he didn’t expect: hundreds of school-aged black boys and girls running around with sticks and helmets and pads being exposed to the game that has touched nearly every part of his own life since he began playing at age 3. That was way back before he was cognizant of the implications of a black kid merely trying, then thriving, as he has, in an overwhelmingly white sport.

Harrison, a two-time Team USA member, 13-year professional, three-time All-American, and former collegiate player of the year at Johns Hopkins, had seen pictures and long heard stories about these free Saturday sessions. They’ve run for two hours each spring weekend since former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, who played lacrosse at Yale, founded Charm City Youth Lacrosse League, or CCYLL, in 2009. Harrison was also well aware of the organization’s recreation and club teams and other year-round initiatives—he’d spent two years on the nonprofit’s board of directors.

But he was still shocked at the scope of what he now watched through his own eyes at Carroll Park in the southwest part of the city. Nearly 700 boys and girls—even if many were just learning to catch and throw—who looked like him were playing the beloved Maryland sport, one that’s pervasive in well-to-do communities all over the area but holds little sway in the minority-dominant neighborhoods of Baltimore.

“Where are these damn kids coming from?” Harrison said to himself. “And how are there so many of them?”

That’s a story unto itself, one the charismatic Harrison has been part of from afar, given his marketable reputation and reach as the game’s most recognizable black player over the past two decades. Since winning a national lacrosse title and graduating from Hopkins in 2005, Harrison has managed to make a living in the sport by cultivating partnerships with brands such as Baltimore-based sports equipment company STX, Nike, and LeBron James’ digital content network, Uninterrupted. He has also become an active player in the development of the new professional Premier Lacrosse League that is slated to debut in June.

While crisscrossing the country to host youth camps and clinics and play in pro games—he was Major League Lacrosse’s No. 1 draft pick out of college and helped lead the Ohio Machine to an MLL title in 2017—he has attracted more than 100,000 combined Instagram and Twitter followers along the way.

So now, Harrison’s footprint and backstory make him the almost singularly qualified and the seemingly inevitable choice to lead Charm City Youth Lacrosse. After spending almost a decade living in California and two years in North Carolina, Harrison, 36 this month, recently moved back home to Maryland with his wife, Meredith, and his two children, Brooke, 3, and Smith, 1, to be closer to his immediate and extended family. And that’s when he decided to add another title to his long list of commitments: Charm City Youth Lacrosse President/CEO. You could call it a full circle move.

“I look like you look. These are the opportunities lacrosse opened up for me.”

Harrison’s father, Dr. Miles Harrison—a successful surgeon who had been a member of Morgan State’s legendary Ten Bears team, the groundbreaking all-black college lacrosse squad that competed against NCAA Division I programs in the 1970s—introduced his son to the game early and sent him to Friends School, where he played lacrosse, basketball, and soccer. And while Harrison was often the only black kid on his youth teams there and in the Lutherville rec lacrosse program, he wasn’t thwarted from progressing in the sport, because the only thing he knew was that his father had always played and that probably meant black people everywhere did. It wasn’t until fans and peers started to recognize Harrison in college that he began to understand his uniqueness and stature and grew into his role as a potential change agent. “[I realized] that maybe they are looking up to me,” he says.

His return home is something akin to if Serena Williams returned to Compton, California, to head a nonprofit that encourages youth tennis participation.

“He adds star power to the leadership of the program, and he also leads by example,” Gansler says. “The vast majority of the players that are playing high school and college lacrosse don’t look like the players that are in our program. When Kyle Harrison comes and says, ‘I look like you look. These are the opportunities that lacrosse opened up for me,’ the message is that much more powerful and poignant.”

A decade ago, Gansler—who later ran for governor—started the league after watching his son play in a summer college recruiting club tournament in the suburbs with more than 5,000 participants.

“It occurred to me, sitting there on a hill, that these were all white kids, and there were no kids from Baltimore City,” Gansler says. “Everybody in the area either plays lacrosse, their neighbor played lacrosse, or their kids play, but in Baltimore City, there’s a donut hole. We needed to fill that in. Lacrosse has been an avenue for a lot Marylanders to go to colleges that they might not otherwise get to go to. It should be for the kids in Baltimore City as well.”

Gansler launched the CCYLL with 83 kids and a $50,000 budget from corporate donations. The Verizon Circuits, Cordish Blue Jays, and Comcast Comets were among the names of the first 10 teams that year, and students from private high schools such as McDonogh, Calvert Hall, Boys’ Latin, Gilman, and St. Paul’s volunteered as coaches for community-service credits. The Weinberg Foundation donated $10,000 for equipment.

Each year since, the organization has slowly grown and added programs. Its board includes people like Kendra Ausby, a Baltimore judge and former player at UMBC who has helped grow the league’s women’s teams. Last year, CCYLL’s operating budget was $300,000, and its programs included competitive teams in the Maryland Youth Lacrosse Association, indoor lacrosse games at the Under Armour House and Myers Pavilion, elementary and middle-school gym classes, academic and college admissions mentoring, and inspirational guest speakers such as congressman Elijah Cummings. In a handful of cases, if a player from the CCYLL program is accepted to an area private school, the organization will help cover part of the tuition.

But CCYLL is still a very grassroots operation, and it has just one full-time employee, executive director Artie West, a former women’s player at Towson. West, 33 this month, reaches out to volunteers via email and social media. News and information gets around town by word of mouth, and donations are always welcome.

Harrison’s presence and connections provide an opportunity for the organization to grow its profile. And, for a new generation of players, he embodies a link—via his father—to the greatest historical piece of minority involvement in the sport, save for football and lacrosse Hall-of-Famer Jim Brown, who famously starred in both sports at Syracuse University. Today, CCYLL jerseys feature 10 stars on them in honor of Miles Harrison and the rest of Morgan State’s trailblazing Bears, who upset the No. 1 ranked team in the country in 1975. “He brings so much weight and value to our program,” West says of the younger Harrison. “I can’t wait to really see where he takes this thing and where he propels the organization to go.”

His impact is already being felt. In October, Harrison announced a new CCYLL partnership with Nation United, an elite national club initiative that connects players of diverse backgrounds to college programs. According to NCAA statistics from 2018, 85 percent of men’s college lacrosse players and 84 percent of women’s players are white, compared with 4 percent and 3 percent black representation, respectively. And that’s actually an improvement from the 2 percent black participation in men’s and women’s lacrosse a decade ago.

Harrison has publicly addressed such [racial] incidents over the past year.

Ultimately, Harrison envisions CCYLL’s high-school level and burgeoning elite team, Charm Nation, becoming a feeder program for Nation United and serving as a gateway for city kids to play in college like he did. Fifty kids from the high school classes of 2020 and 2021 tried out last summer for this year’s Charm Nation team, which played in a major youth tournament for the first time in San Diego. Seventeen black kids and two white kids made up the roster.

“The overall struggle for these kids is to have the ability to progress in the sport,” says Bryce Spruill, a former player at Stevenson University, who is Artie West’s brother and Charm Nation’s coach. “Some kids are from the city, and there are some from the county that don’t want to play for these expensive club teams, or can’t afford it.”

Charles Pitt Jr. is one of those now aspiring collegiate players who heard and got Harrison’s message. The Park Heights native, a 17-year-old senior at Mervo High and MVP of the city high school boys’ lacrosse championship game a year ago, started playing the sport as a freshman after a friend recommended it. And, having followed him on social media and watched his instructional videos, Pitt was already well aware of Harrison before he first arrived at a CCYLL high school team practice last year.

“Picking up the sport, I was watching a few pros,” says Pitt, who was in love with basketball before lacrosse, “but I never thought that I would actually meet one, especially a legend like him. We were practicing one weekend and he just walked on the field. The whole atmosphere just changed. He makes everything better. Everybody is more involved. He brings us together as a whole group.”

In the fall, Pitt verbally committed to play at Virginia’s Ferrum College, a Division III school where he’ll study computer engineering. Erwin Johnson, who plays at Douglass High, was the team’s MVP last year, and a couple of other CCYLL players have made local private school rosters. But for every success story, there are also setbacks: Black players, including Harrison’s own nephew, being called the N-word on the field. The uncomfortable situation when white teammates blast similar profanity-laced songs in the locker room, which Harrison has experienced. Social media posts with direct or indirect racism.

The pushback Harrison got when he and fellow pro Chazz Woodson organized an all-black touring team that also put on youth clinics. More comfortable as an ambassador for black players, Harrison has addressed such incidents—on Twitter and elsewhere—over the past year, and he accepts the broader societal challenges at hand.

And then there’s the deep-rooted, systemic struggles of the city. On the eve of last year’s city Division A championship game, a gunman murdered 17-year-old City College captain Ray Glasgow III in what police say was a case of mistaken identity. Two days later, in the title game, Pitt, on the opposing team, wore his close friend’s jersey No. 10 in remembrance and scored four goals.

Several years ago, Gansler recalls watching a young player effortlessly run around the competition at Carroll Park “like they were trees” and talking to a coach from a local private school who was interested in his potential. “We had him tested,” Gansler says. “The kid was in fourth grade and couldn’t read. You can’t take that child who can’t read and put them into a private school in Baltimore and hope they’re going to succeed. So the promise is often sort of never realized.”

Examples like these lead Harrison to say that diversifying the sport he loves, and in Baltimore, will take time. “It’s going to be a slow, gradual change,” he says. “It’s baby steps . . . years ago, it’s almost like folks felt like there’d be a switch flipped. Like everything would be perfect, minorities everywhere. That’s just not the reality.”

What’s real is what happens moment by moment, interaction by interaction, on lacrosse fields like the one Harrison arrived at on that Saturday morning last year—when all the players of color that he witnessed amazed him. That’s right where he’ll be again this spring, hopefully watching more kids that look like him, excited to be part of what happens next.

If it’s March, then it must be time for what should be Maryland’s state sport (could they really pack 40,000 fans into Camden Yards to watch…jousting?)—and that sport, of course, is lacrosse. It’s one of the fastest—and the fastest-growing—sports in America, but that comes as no surprise to the thousands of Baltimore-area families who live and breathe lacrosse every season, all season. For those families, their only goal in life is to see Junior or Sis make varsity in high school, win the state championship, then get the grades to win a scholarship to some lacrosse-loving Division I college like the University of Virginia, Duke University, The Johns Hopkins University, or the University of Notre Dame. After that, there are adult leagues for the unrecovered grownups, and then, for the über-stars, Major League Lacrosse or an LXM Pro team. What next? They can dream of coming full circle and ending up in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame (on The Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus).

So who are Baltimore’s rising stars on the high-school level for 2014? We interviewed coaches of all the top-ranked school teams and came up with a handful of young lax masters to watch. And with the help of aficionados like Baltimorean, national lacrosse star, and STX athlete Kyle Harrison, we also dug up lots of fun facts about the lacrosse crowd (i.e., a “yard sale” is not where they buy used lax gear).

And for you lucky laxites who made our list? No pressure, kids.

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Why Lacrosse?

Right now, somewhere in Baltimore, a boy is throwing a lacrosse ball to himself off a brick wall—over and over—hoping to become the next Rob Pannell.

Who? Exactly. The leading scorer in NCAA Division I history is hardly a household name. But in lacrosse circles, the former Cornell University star is a legend. Unlike other major sports in this country, lacrosse does not promise a career of fame and fortune. Even earning a college scholarship for lacrosse is difficult: Major college teams can have rosters as large as 45, with only 12 scholarships to dish out among all players every year.

So why do kids in this region continue to choose a sport with such a seemingly low ceiling?

Shack Stanwick, a senior at The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland, is the youngest of eight kids, all of whom played collegiate lacrosse. And a backyard lacrosse game is to the Stanwicks what football was to the Kennedys. “Lacrosse gives me so many things in return,” says Stanwick, 18, who plans to play at The Johns Hopkins University next year. “I’ve made so many friends through the sport who
I’m still close with today. It’s allowed me to share a special connection with my siblings, and it has also helped me and my dad strengthen our relationship.”

“Some parents are understanding that while there’s not a whole lot of athletic scholarship dollars at the end of the rainbow, lacrosse can help in terms of admission,” says Steve Stenersen, president and CEO of US Lacrosse. “If a child’s academic standing isn’t quite good enough, lacrosse could be a determining factor.”

“It’s just fun,” says Bob Shriver, coach of Boys’ Latin. “It’s a great game to practice; it’s not the drudgery of football. It has more scoring than soccer, more people than basketball. It just gets in your soul.”

Devotees of the game say the lessons learned on the lacrosse field stay with you for a lifetime. To look into that, we tracked down a Baltimore veteran of the sport, Richard Mollett, who was something of a local lacrosse star in his day, playing first at Boys’ Latin, then at Towson State University, where, as a senior, his team won the 1974 college-division national championship. He played or coached club lacrosse for 20 years after that, but is best known as the founder and owner, along with wife Dort, of Antrim 1844, Taneytown’s award-winning historic country inn (and five-star restaurant).

“In business, I’d say lacrosse gave me the ability to know not to ever give up, and to never stop trying to get to the next level,” says Mollett. “And it ingrained in me that once you reach that next level, you can’t be satisfied with that. After you face challenges on the field for so many years, you know you can face challenges in business.”

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HISTORY LESSON

Native Roots

Flash back to the New World, dateline 1636: That’s when a Jesuit missionary first documented the Native American, all-male game of lacrosse. It got its modern name from a French word referring to “a curved stick,” but was known to most Native Americans as “little brother of war.” The first white men to adopt the game were English-speaking Montrealers, who wrote a set of rules, which led to the formation of lacrosse clubs.

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Face Off!

Did somebody say rivalries? Here are the teams to watch in the new season:

GIRLS:

Maryvale vs. Notre Dame Prep

When they meet up, forget the nice-Catholic-girl thing.

Bryn Mawr vs. Roland Park Country

They’re within spitting distance of each other (so to speak).

Anybody vs. McDonogh

They’re the team to beat!

BOYS:

Gilman vs. Boys’ Latin

Both of these teams have deep benches.

Calvert Hall vs. Loyola

Calvert Hall Coach Bryan Kelly: “A healthy rivalry dating way back, but good friends on both teams.”

St. Paul’s vs. Boys’ Latin

“They’re similar in size and compete at the same level in every sport, so it’s a natural rivalry”, says the BL coach.

McDonogh vs. Gilman

There are plenty of Division I candidates on both sides

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LOCAL LEGEND

For local lax intel, we consulted with Kyle Harrison, one of the most recognizable names in the sport. The Baltimore native graduated from Friends School and The Johns Hopkins University, earning just about every lacrosse accolade possible, then played in Major League Lacrosse before co-founding the LXM Pro League. Harrison, 30, also just launched his third-generation STX equipment line called K18.

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OFFICIAL LAXICON

LEARNING THE LINGO ON AND OFF THE FIELD

This sport, like any, has its own slang, and the faithful will find ways to work lacrosse metaphors into ordinary conversation. So, go ahead: Try to make a sentence using all of these.

Illustrations by Peter Mac

Around the world: Taking the stick around your far shoulder and behind your back on a pass or shot.

BTB: Passing or shooting the ball behind your back.

Flow: A term for boy lacrosse players who have hair coming out of their helmet—it is their flow.

Lax bro: Think lacrosse thug, with no other discernible interests or skills.

Phantom check: When a player drops the ball without being touched by a defender.

Popcorn: When a goalie makes an easy save on a high shot.

Put on skates: When a defender gets outwitted and looks like he or she is slipping on ice skates.

Top shelf: When someone scores anywhere in the top portion of the goal.

Turf monster: Usually yelled out when a player trips or stumbles without being touched.

Twig: It would be easier to just call a thing by its real name, right? Wrong—it’s slang for the stick.

Upper 90: When you shoot the ball and it hits the top corners of the goal

Yard sale: When a player’s stick gets checked out of his or her hands.

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INJURY REPORT

The most common mishaps in lacrosse*

1. Separated Shoulders

Common from a sideways fall directly on the tip of the shoulder, injuring the acromioclavicular joint.

2. Broken Wrists

The natural reflex to break a fall is to stretch out your arm so you don’t fall on your head. If the force is too great, the wrist breaks.

About 40% of lacrosse injuries are non-contact.

3. Concussions

Contact sports always include blunt-force injuries to the headthat can cause concussions.

4. Broken Thumbs

Whacks on the hand from a stick can break the thumb and is one of the most common injuries for goalies.

A broken thumb can take up to 3-4 months to heal.

5. Sprained Ankles

Rapid cuts while changing directions and dodging movements commonly cause ankle sprains.

* Courtesy of Baltimore orthopedist Dr. Spiro Antonaides.

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HANGOUTS

Where do the stick kids of Charm City gather to talk shop?

Photography by Amanda White-Iseli

Towson Hot Bagels

Starbucks

Hopkins Game Days

Rita’s Ice

Smoothie King

Orioles (or Ravens) Games

Chipotle

Bill Bateman’s Bistro

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DRAFT

Which Ravens or Orioles would excel in lacrosse?

We asked area high-school coaches to speculate on which pro ballers would tear up the turf——some interesting answers, and one name came up more than any other!

TORREY SMITH
Baltimore Ravens Wide Receiver

“Torrey Smith, with his speed and elusiveness and his ability to control his body, would make a pretty good lacrosse player,” says Brent Ritz, coach of the C. Milton Wright girls’ team.

LARDARIUS WEBB
Baltimore Ravens Cornerback

“Lardarius Webb would be just incredible because of his speed and his ability to break down opponents,” says Calvert Hall coach Bryan Kelly. “The more powerful, explosive speed you have, the better.”

RAY RICE
Baltimore Ravens Running Back

“Ray Rice is pretty shifty,” says Jessica Vitrano Randisi, coach of Maryvale Prep. “Speed is number one, because you can’t teach speed,” says Becky Groves, coach of the Century High girls’ team.

MATT WIETERS
Baltimore Orioles Catcher

“Matt Wieters has unbelievable hands and a cannon for an arm,” Ritz says. “He seems to react and read things quickly, so I think he would be a
great feeder on the team.”

ADAM JONES
Baltimore Orioles Outfielder

Traded to the Orioles from the Seattle Mariners for the 2008 season, outfielder Jones was one of the coaches’ picks as a potential lax star.

CHRIS DAVIS
Baltimore Orioles First Baseman

His 130 career home runs (he surpassed Brady Anderson for the O’s record of most home runs in a single season) would translate well to the lacrosse field, say coaches.

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TEAMS TO WATCH

2014 IT’S THEIRS TO LOSE

Here are some of the teams that did especially well in the past season in various leagues*

GIRLS

• McDonogh School
• Marriotts Ridge High School
• Good Counsel School
• Mt. Hebron High School
• St. Paul’s School
• C. Milton Wright High School
• Broadneck High School
• Century High School
• The Bryn Mawr School
• Maryvale Preparatory School
• North Harford High School

BOYS

• The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland
• Westminster High School
• Gilman School
• Loyola Blakefield
• Hereford High School
• McDonogh School
• St. Paul’s School
• Calvert Hall High School
• Severn School

* According to Baltimore-based US Lacrosse.