Ashbee Lacrosse, a founding member of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Youth Lacrosse Association, is celebrating its 50th season this spring. Begun in 1974 by Norm Treinish, it was renamed in 1977 after the late Barry Ashbee, who had helped start the program in the area. The program (ashbeelacrosse.com) is open to all Lower Merion Township residents from kindergarten to eighth grade, and is one of the area’s most storied programs — Ashbee alums have won high school state titles and NCAA national championships, and received all levels of All-American honors. Ashbee alumni have also played professionally in the NLL, MLL, PLL, in adult club programs and for the USA National teams for both field and box. What follows is a brief question-and-answer session with Mike Fox, an Ashbee board member who has served as an Ashbee coach for many years:
Main Line Media News: Tell us a little about the start of the program, and the role of Norm Treinish at the start in 1974.
Mike Fox: Norm Treinish was a former college and club lacrosse player who served as one of the Board of Governors on the first year of the Philadelphia Wings, a professional lacrosse team founded in 1974. In addition to his duties as secretary and treasurer for the Wings, Treinish, a graphic designer by trade, created the Wings’ logo. He wanted to pass on his love for the sport and that same year he started an informal but regular game in General Wayne Park in Merion. What began as a two-team pick up program grew into a program with six travel and eight house league teams. Norm used his contacts and had equipment donated as he didn’t want to turn away any child. Norm did it all and soon after those humble beginnings he was running the Philadelphia Area Youth Lacrosse League all by himself.
Main Line Media News: In 1974, lacrosse was not a big sport in this area – what was the biggest challenge the program faced in its early years, and how did the program deal with that challenge?
Mike Fox: The beginning was slow, as it was a true grassroots growth program. There was no social media nor CATV to spread the word for what programs were available. There were no established township programs so athletes came to Lower Merion from other areas during the early years. Norm accepted the growth knowing it would come. He developed a house league to provide a foundation for the program and give everyone a chance to play. He made the game fun, fair and enriching for all children while teaching fundamentals, encouraging teamwork and competition.
His persistence and dedication grew the program and Ashbee became a founding member of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Youth Lacrosse Association. A problem was a lone all-star lacrosse program where Norm asked all the children to make Ashbee a priority whenever there was a conflict. We even had the question on the registration form if they were involved in any other lacrosse programs. Not surprisingly, almost all that were in both programs made Ashbee a priority. That was because they didn’t want to let Norm down.
Main Line Media News: Tell us about the role of Barry Ashbee in the early years, and how he helped the program.
Mike Fox: Barry Ashbee, in addition to playing professional hockey for the Flyers, worked in the off season as a salesman for a sign company where Norm was a graphic designer. Their love of sports and more specifically lacrosse helped make them fast friends. Barry played lacrosse as a child in Canada and gave his friend support as Norm was looking to help establish lacrosse in the area. When Barry grew ill, his passing came fast and in his honor for the friendship and support he had given Norm, the program was renamed Ashbee Lacrosse.
Main Line Media News: Who are some of the best-known players who have graduated from the program?
Mike Fox: Norm would often speak of Bill Miller, who is in both the Pennsylvania and National Lacrosse Halls of Fame and led Episcopal Academy to a state championship his senior year and then led Hobart to four straight NCAA championships. He went on to play professionally with the Wings and coach at Penn. Another is former Main Line Times Athlete of the Year Dave Stilley, who is also in several Hall of Fames and had been a captain on every team he was on. I could list names and accolades of people who went through the program from Chris Dent, Brian Dougherty to John Christmas, Jordy Wolf and Dan Wigrizer but Ashbee has continually produced high school All-Americans every year. The year Norm passed (2000), four of Treinish’s former players landed All-American status, five earned All-Pennsylvania recognition and one became an Academic All-American.
Main Line Media News: Is the program still growing in its 50th year?
Mike Fox: When Ashbee started if you looked at the top 25 college lacrosse programs in the country, one or two people from our region were on their rosters. The Philadelphia region was where coaches drove through to recruit south in the Washington metropolitan area or north into New York/Connecticut. Our area was a pass through. Now almost every roster has athletes from the area. Add to that the number of travel programs that have sprung up both in the area and nationally.
Main Line Media News: What is the biggest challenge you face with the Ashbee program, and how is the program dealing with this challenge?
Mike Fox: The easiest way to explain that is to partially quote a statistic that numerous youth sports programs have researched. Their studies site that around 80 percent of all athletes quit their primary sport by age 12 because of three reasons – the sport isn’t fun anymore, coaches and parents. Norm was always concerned that the program kept it fun for the kids. He only wanted them to play no more than 10-12 games in a season, then play something else. Ashbee held an over 90 percent retention rate consistently. With the greater influx of All-Star and for-profit programs, parents are signing their kids up for those programs thinking that will equate to scholarship money for schools, both high school and college. I know 1 parent who has three sons playing in three travel teams each. At times, their programs play each other and the kids have to determine what team they are playing with at that tournament. When asked why she did it, her response is that it will pay for college. When I point out all the money and time, she has invested in going to all the practices and games, she could easily pay for school. Attending various lacrosse tournaments, I run into programs that play 80-95 games a year. Their playing time is determined by their attendance at practices. That pressure on the kids causes them to drop out. And while they have a qualified coach, there is a different philosophy between a township program and the All-Star programs that also causes the kids to quit. Ashbee, along with the other SEPYLA programs, are working to get the word out to the youth of their townships. We plan to do more parental education on our program, the recruiting process and what is next after middle school. Our success rolls up to the middle and high school programs so we are working to improve the symbiotic relationship with the school programs our youth feed into.
