By Angelica Acevedo
When Demian DeViccaro and Ken Stubbolo first had the idea of creating a lacrosse team in Queens to recruit high school boys about seven years ago, they had no idea it would grow to become what it is today.
With more than 150 kids — ranging from the third-graders to high-schoolers — the Bombers Lacrosse Club is making a name for itself in Queens.
“It’s a community thing. It’s about being around people and their kids and I’m also watching my kid grow up — what better place to be than hanging around him,” DeViccaro said.
DeViccaro, the director of the Bombers and a Queens native, said that recruiting high school boys and training them in lacrosse so that they could receive college scholarships was their main goal at first.
Once his own son started to get older and he wanted to introduce him to the sport, DeViccaro found that the drive to and from Long Island along with what he believes are expensive fees gave him and his partner the idea to start a youth club.
They soon built a relationship with other lacrosse teams across the five boroughs, including Brooklyn Lacrosse Club, Brooklyn Crescents, Lacrosse Club of Rockaway and Docs New York City Lacrosse. “Docs New York City is one of the founders of lacrosse in the five boroughs,” DeViccaro said. “So we’re kind of following their lead, they’ve been doing it a lot longer than I have.” Two weeks ago, they officially kicked off New York City’s first lacrosse league.
DeVicarro acknowledges that because of this exposure, the Bombers now have a girls’ high school team and are training more girls. He’s also working on establishing a middle school girls team.
Although the group has been around for a few years, DeViccaro admits it isn’t easy to maintain it — especially considering this isn’t his full-time job. His partner, Stubbolo, is more of an advisor and financial backer, being that he also has a full time job.
“He’s where I get all my information from because I didn’t grow up playing lacrosse; I grew up playing baseball,” DeViccaro said.
Parents of the Bombers’ players step in and help DeVicarro, who is a broker at the New York Stock Exchange by day. Lauren Ackerman, one of the parents of the team, is in charge of collecting sponsors.
“We have a sponsorship program because everything we do here is pretty much grassroots,” Ackerman said. “Businesses, parents, friends, family, anyone, can sponsor a team or a child to play, so there’s different levels each with different benefits.”
Ackerman has two kids in the club, one boy and one girl.
In fact, her daughter, Brianna Ackerman, is the only girl on the 10U boys’ team. This is her first official season, but she’s been playing with the boys since last spring.
Brianna, 11, said she “feels special” being the only girl in the team.
“I love lacrosse because it’s very active, you can play with different people and it’s a lot of teamwork and strategy,” she said.
According to DeViccaro, the only real challenge they have found has been securing fields in Queens to use for practice. He said that because they’re a nonprofit, that is where most, if not all, of the money from the registration fee goes toward.
When asked about DeVicarro’s concerns, Parks Department spokeswoman Meghan Lalor, said that the Bombers haven’t applied for a permit this year, but that they would be “happy to continue the conversation with him.”
“Parks does not have an official lacrosse field in Queens,” Lalor said. “The Bombers applied for a permit in 2017 and were denied because of this reason.”
In response to this, DeViccaro said that they don’t need a lacrosse field for practices.
“I explained this to them and they said lacrosse is really not a Queens sport,” he said. “There are no cricket fields in Queens, yet they permit baseball fields and soccer fields out for cricket.”
Despite this, the Bombers continue to expand.
Now a travel team, DeViccaro emphasizes that he’s been able to offer the Bombers a lot of what they would get in Long Island for less.
“When you look outside and you look at what Long Island is charging, I’m charging only a fraction of the cost,” DeViccaro said. “I don’t turn kids away. My partners help me get sponsorships through companies and local stores so I can help some kids out.”
Jonah Resnick, 10, who is on the 10U team, said he loves the sport because it gives him the chance to play with friends.
“When we win, we celebrate and when we lose, it’s okay. We’re not going to make fun of each other. We’re not going to scream at the other team. We’re just going to try our best next time to do better,” Jonah said.
John Simendinger, a Long Island native now in college, coaches the 8U and 10U teams. He started playing for the Bombers as a junior in high school and believes it’s important to bring the sport to Queens, since it can offer more scholarship opportunities in the boroughs.
“After I was done playing for three years — I love lacrosse and I love Demian — I wanted to continue doing something with the Bombers,” Simendinger said. “It’s good to see a few of the kids who started out with kindergarten stuff grow over the years. It’s all about having fun.”
