INFORMED COACHING | ACADEMIC PERSISTENCE | COLLEGE PREP | CAREER PATHWAYS
OWLS Outreach is the entry point into our ecosystem. We actively identify, secure, and build partnerships with like-minded schools that are excited to give elementary-age students more opportunities to learn and play lacrosse.
We focus on developing basic movement skills like running, jumping, landing, kicking, scooping, throwing, and catching in a fun setting. Built around informal play and positive reinforcement, our Outreach programming covers the fundamentals of lacrosse and lays the foundation for a lifetime of learning, healthy choices, and self-confidence.
It is also where relationship-building skills literally come into play, with each other and our coaches. In our Outreach and Partnerships, we create meaningful relationships that influence how and when our student-athletes continue in our organization.
OWLS is so much more than a sport-based youth development organization. We are a place of healthy competition and healthier habits.
The OWLS Competitive Play program focuses on structured competition, consistent lacrosse training, social-emotional growth, and team-building experiences.
Building on the new community partnerships forged through our Outreach Program, the Competitive Play Program establishes lacrosse as an integral part of our participants' general health and wellness while embedding this community sport within our partner schools and communities.
Every coach is trained to understand the presence of stress and trauma in many students' lives, and to use the coach-student relationship to promote resilience, wellness, and self-confidence.
The more we play the game, the more crossovers we find between lacrosse and life. How to handle conflict. How to handle wins. How to lose and how to learn. How to respect boundaries and rules. How to play as a team and show up as an individual contributor.
This is where our student-athletes win the long game—even (and especially) if they lose on the field.
Spring league registration coming soon!
We believe families deserve better (and more!) support systems.
OWLS Academy is a focused, year-round, holistic intervention program for our most active participants. Here is where OWLS Scholars develop skills to help them succeed on and off the lacrosse field. Our scholars, mentors, and coaches all focus on the following outcomes:
Through our program network, OWLS Scholars receive greater opportunities for admission and affordable access to competitive college-prep high schools. To better prepare them for this educational journey and the world beyond, Scholars receive academic support, test prep workshops, career enrichment, and critical life skills training like building healthy habits, executive functioning, setting goals, and prioritizing their time.
Thanks to the generous participation of our community partners, OWLS Academy participants receive career mentoring, subject-based tutoring, enrichment programming, and a space to discuss social justice—in addition to competitive lacrosse experiences and ongoing academic support.
Our student-athletes also get help finding internships, volunteer opportunities, jobs, and careers that support their lifelong dreams while positively contributing to the world around them and/or reinvesting in the OWLS ecosystem as a volunteer, mentor, or staff member.
OWLS Academy Scholars are now enrolled at the following outstanding college preparatory high schools in the Chicago area:
Chicago Hope Academy
De La Salle Institute
DRW College Prep
Lane Tech High School
Loyola Academy
Mount Carmel High School
Saint Ignatius College Prep
Steinmetz College Prep
UIC College Prep
