October 19, 2023 - Javier Silva became executive director of Lacrosse the Nations in 2015. Originally born in Colombia, he moved to Connecticut as a child. After helping start a team at his high school, he played four years for the University of Connecticut (MCLA). Lacrosse the Nations’ (LtN’s) mission is to improve the lives of children across the world through lacrosse.
LtN offers after-school lacrosse programs to youth in Latin America where they use the field as a platform to teach students valuable life skills and improve education, while ultimately bringing joy to their lives. Additionally they offer academic scholarships to both student-athletes and coaches.
LtN partners with high school, youth and college lacrosse teams in the US and coordinates team trips to their international sites where participants assist in youth lacrosse programs each day while completing a community service project with partner schools.
D3 Lacrosse: How did LtN begin and how has it evolved through the years?
LtN started off as a conversation between founders Brett Hughes (UVa MLax ‘04) and Brad Corrigan (Middlebury MLax ‘96) about the power of sports to teach, empower and bring people together regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, or language. And how they felt there was such potential in a game they had both been given growing up.
Brad had been volunteering in Managua, Nicaragua and wanted to get Brett involved. Through their conversations the idea for bringing lacrosse to the community was born. At first our intent was to give the kids an outlet for recreation and a safe space to learn a new sport and just be kids. As we became more involved in the community we realized there was a lot more we could do. Our programs grew organically from unstructured free play to offering scholarships, providing employment opportunities and even supporting our community partners’ nutrition programs.
Now we’ve developed a model that’s about more than just lacrosse and really focuses on using the sport to improve education and create opportunities for young people. We’ve taken that model and expanded from Nicaragua to two other countries (Colombia and Panama) and three new cities (Medellín, Bogotá and Bocas del Toro).
We hope to continue expanding both in the countries where we currently operate as well as targeting other countries in the region.
D3 Lacrosse: With what D3 lacrosse programs have you partnered?
We have strong ties to the men and women’s programs at Washington & Lee, Christopher Newport, Middlebury College.
We’ve also partnered with the women’s programs at Depauw University, Franklin & Marshall, Denison, Hartwick, and the men’s programs at Carthage College. To name a few…
D3 Lacrosse: What is the duration of a typical team trip and when do they usually travel?
Trips are usually 6 or 7 nights. The academic year at our program sites start in February and end in late November. Most groups choose to go down in July/August but we also offer winter and spring break trips for teams that prefer that.
D3 Lacrosse: What do you hear from teams when they speak of their experiences?
For a lot of our trip members it’s their first time experiencing international lacrosse and they love it. Many times they’ll end up wanting to go again, or visit a different country. That’s all we can really hope for. Through our trips, participants get a better understanding of what the world is like outside of the US and how powerful sport can be as a conduit for creating positive change.
D3 Lacrosse: You stop at a gas station, what 3 items are you picking up to carry you the rest of the drive?
A large bottle of water, beef jerky and takis. The road trip necessities!
D3 Lacrosse: What was your pregame song?
Close Your Eyes by Run the Jewels
LtN offers after-school lacrosse programs to youth in Latin America where they use the field as a platform to teach students valuable life skills and improve education, while ultimately bringing joy to their lives. Additionally they offer academic scholarships to both student-athletes and coaches.
LtN partners with high school, youth and college lacrosse teams in the US and coordinates team trips to their international sites where participants assist in youth lacrosse programs each day while completing a community service project with partner schools.
D3 Lacrosse: How did LtN begin and how has it evolved through the years?
LtN started off as a conversation between founders Brett Hughes (UVa MLax ‘04) and Brad Corrigan (Middlebury MLax ‘96) about the power of sports to teach, empower and bring people together regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, or language. And how they felt there was such potential in a game they had both been given growing up.
Brad had been volunteering in Managua, Nicaragua and wanted to get Brett involved. Through their conversations the idea for bringing lacrosse to the community was born. At first our intent was to give the kids an outlet for recreation and a safe space to learn a new sport and just be kids. As we became more involved in the community we realized there was a lot more we could do. Our programs grew organically from unstructured free play to offering scholarships, providing employment opportunities and even supporting our community partners’ nutrition programs.
Now we’ve developed a model that’s about more than just lacrosse and really focuses on using the sport to improve education and create opportunities for young people. We’ve taken that model and expanded from Nicaragua to two other countries (Colombia and Panama) and three new cities (Medellín, Bogotá and Bocas del Toro).
We hope to continue expanding both in the countries where we currently operate as well as targeting other countries in the region.
D3 Lacrosse: With what D3 lacrosse programs have you partnered?
We have strong ties to the men and women’s programs at Washington & Lee, Christopher Newport, Middlebury College.
We’ve also partnered with the women’s programs at Depauw University, Franklin & Marshall, Denison, Hartwick, and the men’s programs at Carthage College. To name a few…
D3 Lacrosse: What is the duration of a typical team trip and when do they usually travel?
Trips are usually 6 or 7 nights. The academic year at our program sites start in February and end in late November. Most groups choose to go down in July/August but we also offer winter and spring break trips for teams that prefer that.
D3 Lacrosse: What do you hear from teams when they speak of their experiences?
For a lot of our trip members it’s their first time experiencing international lacrosse and they love it. Many times they’ll end up wanting to go again, or visit a different country. That’s all we can really hope for. Through our trips, participants get a better understanding of what the world is like outside of the US and how powerful sport can be as a conduit for creating positive change.
D3 Lacrosse: You stop at a gas station, what 3 items are you picking up to carry you the rest of the drive?
A large bottle of water, beef jerky and takis. The road trip necessities!
D3 Lacrosse: What was your pregame song?
Close Your Eyes by Run the Jewels