Many Bronxites have played football, baseball and soccer on the borough’s limited number of public and school fields. Kids across multiple generations also have enjoyed stickball on side streets, roller hockey in school yards, basketball in the asphalt parks, boxball on sidewalks, and many other sports and games against stoops and building walls.

Now, a sport long popular on green suburban fields, has moved into NYC’s concrete jungle. Dan Leventhal is the founder and president of Bronx Lacrosse. For the past two years, his program has been a success at two middle schools — Highbridge Green Middle School and Rafael Hernandez Dual Language Magnet School (P.S./I.S. 218).

Dan was inspired to start the program when he began teaching at Highbridge Green during 2015. He realized extracurricular activities were minimal for students. Dan had played lacrosse for 20 years and he was seeking an opportunity to connect with students outside the classroom.

Dan injected a lot of enthusiasm and compassion to “sell” lacrosse to the kids. During just one year, he gathered gear for 30 players and then officially started the lacrosse team at Highbridge Green during the spring of 2016. Bronx Lacrosse was founded the following year. The program at the magnet school began during the fall of 2018.

After a few months of practice, scrimmages and individual tutoring sessions with kids, the parents and teachers noticed the sport provided positive reinforcement among the students.

“I remember the principal calling me in to office and telling me how well the kids in the program were doing,” said Dan. “That’s when I realized we had a good recipe going there.”

Dan emphasized that the initiative is an academic program that uses lacrosse to build student confidence. Tutors assist students with their studies. Players record a 96 percent attendance record and a 100 percent graduation rating. The program also offers incentives for participating students through special outings, encouraging them to want more out of life.

“Lacrosse is so embedded into the school now,” said Dan about Highbridge Green, that “fifth graders coming into the school are excited about trying out.”

This past July, the boys and girls teams at Highbridge Green won the Middle School Athletic City Lacrosse Championships, the first time that a Bronx team won the title. Dan hopes the program will enjoy similar success at P.S./I.S. 218, and then he plans to introduce the game at area high schools.

The growing influence of women in athletics over the last handful of decades has provided significant benefits for women, for men and for our younger athletes who participate in sports programs at all levels. Professional athletes, college and high school scholar-athletes, weekend warriors and millions of boys and girls who are enrolled in grade school and private programs all are becoming better athletes from the improved training, conditioning, dieting and sports IQ insights offered by their men and women coaches and trainers.

An outstanding illustration of the increasing influence and impact of women in athletics is the Class of 2020 induction of four sports pioneers — Dr. H. Jean Berger, Ruth Gracey, Jeannette Rogers and Annamae McKeever-Kress — in the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame. Another example of the significant advancement by women is the inaugural women’s athletics panel that was offered by Fordham University just a few months ago.

Five outstanding women – Fordham Women’s Head Basketball Coach Stephanie Gaitley, Fordham basketball player Danielle Padovano (now business operations manager at Home Team Sports), financial consultant and decorated marathon swimmer Elizabeth Fry, former Dartmouth University director of athletics Josie Harper and Fordham’s Graduate School of Education clinical assistant profession Shannon Waite – dialogued with the university’s student-athletes last November. The panel was formed by the Fordham Women’s Philanthropy Summit, an annual community–building and networking event at the Lincoln Center campus.

Stephanie participated in the 2018 summit and she was inspired to coordinate a similar event specifically for student–athletes. The goal of the gathering was to provide women with the opportunity to meet and learn from athletes who created successful careers in various fields.

Shannon’s path to a rewarding profession in education was not a straight line. Her plans changed dramatically after she tore her ACL one week before she was to finalize plans to play volleyball at the collegiate level. She now is training principals and other aspiring school leaders.

Josie spoke about her experience as the first woman in her position at Dartmouth and in the Ivy League. She acknowledged that more doors are opening for women and she urged students to learn key skills, including humor, to address challenges.

Elizabeth said swimming continues to influence many areas of her life, including her volunteer commitments. For more than five years, she has been the marathon director for Swim Across the Sound, an annual fundraiser for St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The event raises funds to offer cancer prevention education and screenings to the community, and to provide financial support for people affected by the disease.

The event that brought together these athletic-minded and successful women resonated positively with the student athletes. An outfielder on Fordham’s women’s softball team plans to major in Italian Studies and now has decided to seek a mentor. Her teammate, who is majoring in digital technologies and emerging media, realized the importance of surrounding herself with positive influences offered by both women and men.