Program

S.T.A.R. Levels

As a S.T.A.R. grows older their responsibilities at the fields grows with them. A volunteer’s level is determined by their grade and their current work experience with the program.

Many high schools in Georgia require volunteer hours to graduate. Likewise, many colleges like seeing applicants who have volunteered in their community. Our S.T.A.R. program provides ample opportunities for students to accumulate a large amount of volunteer hours.

S.T.A.R. levels help our staff mark the progress of each of our volunteers and know which jobs they are best suited for.

There are four levels in the S.T.A.R. program

  • 5,6 grade (Level 1)
  • 7,8 grade (Level 2)
  • 9, 10 grade (Level 3)
  • 11,12 grade (Level 4)
  • College Students (Level 5)

Benefits

Without our S.T.A.R.s it would be near impossible to run Atlanta Youth Lacrosse as smoothly and efficiently as we have done for the past two years. Our S.T.A.R.s benefit extensively from gaining work experience in every level of a non-profit company, learning how to lead others by example, and showing their support and dedication to their local community.

These intangibles cannot be understated for they are the bedrock on which young men and women learn about the world before their school years are completed. Of course not all benefits are intangible.

Because our S.T.A.R.s assist in creating a great lacrosse environment they also receive special benefits including:

  • Access to the Staff area
  • Free Food (usually pizza, chicken wings, BBQ, Hamburgers, Hotdogs etc.)
  • S.T.A.R. T-shirt
  • First access to college players, Major League Lacrosse players, and college coaches who visit us

The Intangibles

  • S.T.A.R.s learn how to behave professionally in a work environment
  • They learn how to properly communicate their availability though e-mail
  • As our S.T.A.R.s grow older their responsibilities grow as well. Many of our older S.T.A.R.s completely organize and run their own camps and clinics.
  • S.T.A.R.s learn how to use criticism to their advantage because occasionally mistakes will happen. We do not shy from critiquing the work of any S.T.A.R. but we do provide an environment where mistakes are okay because they are the only way to learn.
  • These young men and women become part of a giant family. They will look back on these years as a time when they learned a great deal about themselves and the fun they shared with their friends.

Volunteer Hours

Many schools in Georgia require volunteer hours to graduate and many colleges like seeing applicants who have volunteered in their community. Our S.T.A.R. program provides ample opportunities for students to accumulate a large amount of volunteer hours.

For instance, our Spring League is 4 months long with games on Saturday and Sunday. In the course of one weekend there are 8 hours of lacrosse on Saturday and 5 hours of lacrosse on Sunday for a total of 13 hours on the weekend.

A S.T.A.R. who works through the 11 week season on just Saturdays will volunteer 88 hours. If they work the entire weekend they will work 143 hours! In less time than it takes to finish one semester of school a S.T.A.R. can triple or quadruple the amount of service hours they require for graduation.

What’s more is that once S.T.A.R.s accumulate 20 hours of service during a season they earn the opportunity to become paid staff for the duration of that season!

Officiating – Earning Your Stripes

  • Our largest need is always having qualified officials for our games. Fortunately we have a tremendous mentoring staff that guides young officials through the paces in order to become top-notch officials.
  • In fact, reffing is consistently the job many S.T.A.R.s want to be involved in for two reasons. First, they get a really cool neon green Zebra shirt. Second, they get the opportunity to get paid for running up and down a lacrosse field and watching the game. Honestly who could pass that up?
  • Our older Zebras provide excellent officiating but they eventually move on to college so we are always in need of new officials. If you are interested in learning how to officiate please contact our Head Zebra Gordon Corsetti at rules@ayllax.com

Mentoring

Older S.T.A.R.s are expected to teach younger S.T.A.R.s how to work and behave at Atlanta Youth Lacrosse. Our older S.T.A.R.s exhibit excellent leadership skills and we encourage them to impart their knowledge to younger volunteers.

Atlanta Youth Lacrosse is primarily a teaching organization and we make no distinction between lacrosse and work because life lessons abound from either pursuit. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to combine our love of lacrosse and solid work ethics to our program so we get the best of both worlds and our volunteers gain valuable knowledge from those that come before them.

We honestly require that older S.T.A.R.s teach younger S.T.A.R.s because it allows older volunteers to learn how to lead and younger volunteers to learn how to follow, and both are skills they will need as they grow older. The best way to describe the relationships we are cultivating is to use the analogy of camp counseling. Our older S.T.A.R.s are the counselors and our younger S.T.A.R.s are the campers. The younger S.T.A.R.s work diligently in all of the jobs they are assigned but they are inevitably drawn to specific jobs that interest them, this is where our older S.T.A.R.s come in.

Let’s say that a young S.T.A.R. wants to learn how to officiate a lacrosse game an older S.T.A.R. will take the younger one under his wing and teach him the basics of officiating. Over the course of a few weekends the younger S.T.A.R. learns the basics of officiating while shadowing the older S.T.A.R. Eventually, the younger S.T.A.R. is confident enough to officiate games himself with the older S.T.A.R. maintaining a watchful eye over his progress. Over a period of a few years the younger S.T.A.R. becomes one of the best officials for Atlanta Youth Lacrosse and begins teaching another S.T.A.R. who wants to officiate.

This cycle of learning and teaching is the backbone of the S.T.A.R. program and allows Atlanta Youth Lacrosse to maintain a large crew of volunteer kids.

Building a Strong Work Ethic

S.T.A.R.s are expected to be responsible for their work and constantly strive to improve themselves in whatever job they are asked to do. The importance of a strong work ethic cannot be understated. The very foundation of our country is built on the idea that hard work will equal success over time. Atlanta Youth Lacrosse firmly believes that it is our work ethic and commitment to excellent that has created one of the premiere lacrosse leagues in Georgia. We hope to build on the lessons and values that parents have instilled in their children and watch them develop the necessary skills to succeed after they complete school.

There are two central tenets of the S.T.A.R. program that build a strong work ethic. First, everyone must do their best and second, no job is beneath anyone.

S.T.A.R.s are a very visible part of our lacrosse program and they understand that their actions while working reflect the character of Atlanta Youth Lacrosse. We expect all of our volunteers to respect players, parents, and their fellow volunteers.

S.T.A.R.s are expected to do whatever needs to get done when they show up to work. They might have to ref a game one hour and then pick up trash the next hour. The point that we teach all of our volunteers is that it does not matter what needs to get done so long as someone gets it done. As Thomas Edison once said, “there is no substitute for hard work.”