Lacrosse took over the playing fields at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center on Saturday April 5, as kids and families joined Denver City Lax in kicking off its second year of offering youth lacrosse to the north Park Hill neighborhood.

"It was a great day," said Rod Allison, director of City Lax. "We have two league teams this year and although we didn't win our opening games it was a good start to the season. To see kids running around all morning playing lacrosse in Park Hill was a wonderful sight."

Formed last year by Allison and Hallett elementary school teacher Erik Myhren, City Lax is a nonprofit organization offering lacrosse to traditionally underserved neighborhoods within the Denver community. The organization provides equipment, league and tournament competition at little or no cost to its participants.

Last season City Lax had a single fifth grade team made up of primarily the students from Myhren's classroom at Hallett. This year City Lax has over 40 kids on two league teams at the fourth and sixth grade level, plus another 10-20 kids interested in learning the game.

"We are growing," says Allison. "Lots of kids are jumping on board. City Lax is now attracting students from five or more schools. Our organizational task is keeping up with the strong interest from kids and families in the community. It is very exciting."

Four talented new coaches are volunteering their time to assist. Mac Freeman and Brad Johnson, friends since their playing days at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, are running the fourth grade team. Freeman is a man familiar with many playing fields. In addition to managing Invesco Stadium for the Broncos, Freeman runs the business operations for the Denver Outlaws, the local outdoor professional lacrosse team.

Johnson was a conference player of the year and All-American attackman at Hampden-Sydney, and is a member of the college's athletic Hall of Fame. He now lives in Park Hill and works as the Director of Sales for the national company Newell-Rubbermaid.

Gregory Crichlow and Karl Wimer have joined returning coach George Moore to help with the sixth grade team. Crichlow has a hockey and lacrosse sport background and works as an architect with in situ Design. As a youth lacrosse coach with the Redhawk organization many of his past players now participate at the collegiate level.

Wimer is well known within both Colorado and national lacrosse circles as a former high school All-American attackman at Cherry Creek High School and Yale University. He has remained active in men's lacrosse leagues since his college days and been a coach both locally and overseas. Wimer has an extensive and varied business background in addition to being an award winning editorial cartoonist.

Moore helped coach last year's initial City Lax team. Now in the business world, Moore was first introduced to lacrosse while at the Navel Academy. His two daughters are currently excelling at the sport at Kent Denver and the University of Denver.

The list of contributors helping City Lax is long. Allison says, "we have parents, students, coaches, lacrosse enthusiasts - you name it - all offering to help. In the last two weeks I've come home to find donated lacrosse equipment on my front porch from people I've never met before."

"We are fortunate to have both talented coaches and generous friends in the lacrosse community," offers Allison. "This program has a chance to make a difference for a lot of kids. Our coaches are people that know the sport and the importance of education. We hope to help open up some doors of opportunity."

Continued help is always needed. "Right now we are doing well with equipment," notes Allison. "While it's hard to put assistance in terms of dollars, we do have endless expenses. League and field dues, transportation, insurance, uniforms, referees and a long list of other items are all ongoing costs. We also want to develop a variety of educational programs that might continue throughout the year. We put everything we receive into the program for the kids."

City Lax's season continues through May, and concludes with a tournament the first week of June.

Please contact Rod Allison with questions regarding Denver City Lax at 720-837-4947 or at rodallison@qwestoffice.net. Address any mail or donations to: Denver City Lax, 1106 Columbine Street, Denver, Colorado 80206.