Program brings lacrosse’s life lessons to inner-city kids

Riverside School principal helps create foundation in memory of PHS standout

By: David Campbell
   William Cirullo, the principal at Riverside Elementary School, knows the true value of lacrosse. More than just the fastest growing sport in America, it has the power to transform young lives.
   Mr. Cirullo is co-founder and current vice president of the Bobby Campbell Lacrosse Foundation, which he and friends created in the memory of Robert B. Campbell, a lacrosse player Mr. Cirullo coached at Princeton High School who was killed in a motor-vehicle accident in 1999 in West Windsor.
   Mr. Campbell played lacrosse at Penn State and returned to Princeton where he owned a successful business and contributed his personal time coaching lacrosse at PHS and running a summer lacrosse league in Princeton.
   When Mr. Campbell was killed, Mr. Cirullo along with John Morris and Chris Cahill, fellow lacrosse tri-captains and best friends with Mr. Campbell at PHS, and friends Cory Easter, Amanda Nichols and Cathy Shillaber sat down and conceived a plan to keep his spirit — and his love of the game — alive.
   "It was all for this wonderful spirit of love for Bobby," Mr. Cirullo said. "We said we would always be with this for life — and we are."
   The foundation started out providing annual scholarships of $1,000 each to a boy and girl athlete at PHS who gave their all to their team, showing a passion for the game and a love of people. Over the years, its activities have expanded to include area lacrosse clinics, play days and teams.
   But one of the foundation members’ longstanding ambitions was to take the game — and the life lessons it has to teach — to inner-city kids. That ambition has now become a reality through the Trenton Bridge Lacrosse Program.
   The program is sponsored by the foundation in partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Trenton and Mercer County, and is open to all Trenton boys and girls grades 3-6 who want to learn to play the "fastest game on two feet," according to the foundation’s Web site. It is a bridge affiliate of U.S. Lacrosse — a high honor given that it is one of only 20 such affiliates recognized by the national association, Mr. Cirullo said.
   More than a dozen clinics were run throughout the Trenton area in February.
   "We’re the coaches, we’re everything," he said. "We bring out sticks and balls and some equipment and show them how the game works."
   Those clinics paid off. In March, they held a team sign-up day that drew about 34 boys and 33 girls who wanted to play the game. "It was beyond our expectations," Mr. Cirullo said.
   Since then, the foundation and its partners have been running regular practices — the two girls’ teams on Tuesday nights, the two boys’ teams on Thursday nights, and a mix on Sundays.
   Not only are the kids playing games with their peers — for example, a team is scheduled to come down from Brooklyn, N.Y., to play on Sunday — but they are also getting exposure to college- and professional-level lacrosse.
   Last weekend, the kids watched a match by Princeton University’s men’s lacrosse team, and after the game got some one-on-one training themselves from Princeton’s varsity athletes and coaches. Later this month, they might have the opportunity to play a scrimmage before the NCAA lacrosse championships in Philadelphia.
   A slogan of the Trenton Bridge Lacrosse Program is "Stick with School," reflecting the program’s emphasis on encouraging the kids to stay in school and do well.
   But the game of lacrosse is also an education in itself.
   "It’s the idea of playing, of getting competition and being successful," Mr. Cirullo said. "Our key term in all of this is to help these kids feel successful early. Success breeds success, and these kids love it.
   "We think this lacrosse community is one of the real jewels of a lifetime," he added. "These people are genuinely committed to this ideal of helping kids become more successful in their lives. We’re saying, this is an opportunity, and with the support of this Bobby Campbell foundation and your family and friends, you’ll open other doors in life."