Baltimore native Kweisi Ehoize began coaching youth sports in 2002 when his son started to play youth football. Initially, Ehoize was just a dad, enjoying the practices and games while sitting in his chair on the sidelines.
“They noticed I was there all the time, so I got recruited to help out,” said Ehoize, who had a football background. “That’s when I caught the bug.”
After volunteering with various youth organizations for 10 years, and seeing the best and worst of each, Ehoize decided he wanted to forge a different path. It was time to start an athletic and academic program that was dedicated to the city’s youth without the sole emphasis being on winning.
“I sat down at the kitchen table with my wife and we put a business model together,” he said. “That’s how it got started.”
Founded solely as a youth football program, the Baltimore Terps took the field for the first time in 2012. Ehoize’s desire was to provide an opportunity for all to participate in quality, competitive, organized sports regardless of size or ability. Initially, the Terps had both a fall and spring football season.
“I realized that was simply too much for the kids,” Ehoize said. “We had to take spring football away, but we had to replace it with something.”
In 2016, lacrosse became that something.
Ehoize soon connected with USA Lacrosse and became a member of the Urban Lacrosse Alliance (ULA), which helped to provide the additional resources that the Terps needed to get off the ground. Through the ULA, USA Lacrosse supports self-sustaining youth programs with education and resources as they provide playing opportunities in underrepresented communities.
“We had the infrastructure in place already because we had almost 250 kids in our football program,” Ehoize said. “But the next step was finding coaches and getting equipment. The ULA makes what we do possible. The ongoing support from USA Lacrosse has been huge for us.”
When the Terps first introduced lacrosse, about 90-percent of the participants were cross-over kids from the established football program. More recently, Ehoize has seen a shift in that pattern.
“We have more kids now who are just pure lacrosse players, and in fact, some of our football kids have transitioned to lacrosse only,” he said.
The Terps’ lacrosse program has steadily grown each year and got a boost in 2019 when the Terps joined the Prince George’s (Md.) Youth Lacrosse League. The PGYLL provides a full schedule of games for four age divisions (K-2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8), and also offers another asset that is driving the growth for the Terps – adherence to the USA Lacrosse Athlete Development Model (LADM).
The small-sided games format, which is played with fewer players per side and on smaller field dimensions, is proven to more quickly improve player stick skills by increasing the number of touches on the ball that all players get during a game. Ehoize is a believer.
“LADM is absolutely perfect,” he said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s the way to grow lacrosse.”
This past spring, two Terps teams, K-2 and 3/4, won their age division championships in the PGYLL. Building off that momentum, last week the Terps’ launched boys’ and girls’ summer league programs for the first time, and will continue with the summer play through the end of July.
“When the spring ended, the kids kept asking ‘what are we doing next?’,” Ehoize said. “They just didn’t want to stop this year.”
Ehoize’s commitment to Baltimore’s youth has not gone unnoticed. This week, as the Premier Lacrosse League brings its games to Johns Hopkins’ Homewood Field, he will be recognized as a “Hometown Hero” as part of the joint initiative between the PLL and USA Lacrosse to honor a local member for outstanding work in the lacrosse community.
As someone who prefers to work behind the scenes to grow the game and run the Terps program, Ehoize was initially uncomfortable with the public recognition of the Hometown Hero award. Encouragement from other Baltimore community leaders, including Anthony “Merc” Ryan, helped Ehoize warm up to the idea.
“I realize that this award has the power to bring more attention to urban lacrosse and might allow others to know that they can grow the game in their cities too,” Ehoize said. “They can do it.”
