Lifestyles: Lacrosse People in Unique Places

Lacrosse Magazine's "Lifestyles" series features people of prominence and human interest who possess ties to the nation's fastest growing sport. These are their stories, as told to Clare Lochary.

Former Washington College goalie Dave Slomkowski has run out of the cage to start a nonprofit organization that helps physically challenged kids compete in races.

Who says goalies can’t run? Not David Slomkowski, a former first-team All-American keeper at Washington (Md.) College who founded Athletes Serving Athletes, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping physically challenged kids compete in marathons and triathlons with adult mentors. He briefly slowed down to talk about it with LM.

How did ASA get started?
Summer of 2006, a few significant things happened. A friend of mine was in a motorcycle accident that left him a quadriplegic. I ran my first triathlon, and then a week later I was playing in the Ocean City tournament and I got hurt for the first time in my lacrosse career. I came out of the crease and this guy just steamrolled me and I separated my shoulder, and I knew my lacrosse days were done. The lacrosse phase of my life was done, and the triathlon phase was the next thing. Then I became aware of the William S. Baer School, a public institution in Baltimore city that caters to kids with disabilities. So I said, “Hey, let’s organize a race and give the money to the Baer School.” It all grew from there. We started with three families, and in 2009 we had over 50, almost 60, that completed races.

Tell me about your racing partner, James.
James Banks is going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated(ital) some day. He’s the man. He’s beautiful. He’s a middle schooler with cerebral palsy and he loves to race. He’s done two full marathons now. He missed the last one because he had to have an operation to give him some more mobility, and I went to visit him while he was recuperating and he kept saying, “Let’s go outside. I want to run. I want to run.”

How does athletic competition benefit these kids?
It fulfills three basic needs: love, significance and acceptance. It gives them heightened awareness of their bodies, endorphins that can help with pain and stress. And it makes you feel alive.

And how about adult volunteers?
It’s the beauty of athletic competition and sports. It breaks down racial, social and economic barriers. Our society needs that, especially these days. We need to get jacked up and feel positive. A guy who recently ran one of the races said to me, “Wow, why would you ever NOT want to run a race with a kid after doing that?”

What’s race day like?
There are helicopters, news cameras, people taking pictures and people lining the route cheering for four solid hours. You don’t get that in lacrosse or football or basketball. I played lacrosse in front of 18,000 people at the Spectrum in Philadelphia and I played in an NCAA national championship, and this is better.

Was it hard to start a nonprofit?
It’s hard, man. It was a leap of faith. It was what I was put here to do. The thing with nonprofits is, you’ve got to be able to build a business. You can have the greatest mission in the world, but if you can’t sustain it, there’s no impact. I started playing lacrosse growing up outside D.C. when no one was playing it, so I understood how that little mustard seed can grow. Honestly, I can’t believe I’m doing this. I’m just a knuckleheaded lacrosse player, you know?

 

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