Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/26/23 – From Press Release
Black Bear Lacrosse Club is excited to announce it will be offering Girls’ Lacrosse Travel Teams for the 2023/24 year. The Girls’ Cub Travel Program will hold tryouts in July 2023 for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.
Leading the Girls’ Cub Program is current Upper Perkiomen High School Girls Varsity Head Coach Catie Sobotor. Sobotor brings a wealth of knowledge, passion, and experience to her position as Cub Program director. She lives and coaches locally and believes strongly in growing the game of lacrosse and building better people and players through the game.
Black Bear will be offering two FREE clinics for girls in 1st-5th grades on April 16th and May 21st 1pm to 3pm at Perkiomen Valley High School. This is a great opportunity for girls to have fun, build better fundamentals, and learn more about the Cub Program.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE FREE CLINIC ON APRIL 16
“Black Bear has had a great impact in the local community by developing players, not only skill-wise but as strong individuals at the next level. Being given this opportunity to develop a girls’ Cub program from the ground up is very exciting,” said Sobotor, “The foundations of this program will focus on skill development, sportsmanship, a positive coaching environment, having fun, and continuing to develop a deeper passion for the game. Setting those foundations early and continuing them for years to come will help grow the program into eventually middle school and high school Black Bear travel teams.”
Sobotor is no stranger to the area. She is a 2005 Spring-Ford graduate who played field hockey and lacrosse where she was an All-League performer. She went on to play lacrosse for 4 years locally at Ursinus College from 2006-2009, graduating with a degree in Exercise and Sports Science. From there Sobotor spent 6 years coaching locally for Dynamite Girls Lacrosse Club while also being hired as the Head JV Girls Lacrosse Coach at Methacton from 2011-2017. She took over at Upper Perkiomen High School as Head Varsity Coach in 2019 right before Covid and after two years of building a culture she took the Indians from a 4-9 record in 2021 to a 13-7 season in 2022, reaching the District 1 Class AA Quarter-Finals. Coach Sobotor has also coached 3rd/4th grade girls in field hockey and lacrosse all the way to high school. She maintains the same passion for teaching the game of lacrosse to all age ranges.
“We’ve been fortunate to have someone like Ben Carville who is passionate and loves working with our boys Cub players,” Said Black Bear’s Owners, “Catie has that same fire inside of her, she truly loves teaching kids, she’s passionate about her opportunity to serve this community, and help us instill that same love and passion for the game of lacrosse we have on the boys’ side for girls. That was important to us.”
Sobotor has been busy since she was brought on board to Black Bear with interviewing and assembling a coaching staff of like-minded coaches that share the same values and vision she has for the program. She has also been laying the groundwork for the FREE 1st-5th Grade Girls Lacrosse Clinics on Sunday April 16th and Sunday May 21st 1pm to 3pm at Perkiomen Valley High School.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE FREE CLINIC ON APRIL 16
“It’s been impressive, she has been going out and finding the right people to join us in developing the Girls Cub Program the right way.” Said Black Bear’s Owners, “Catie will be a fantastic leader of the program as she shares the same vision and core values Black Bear is built upon, we’re excited to get started with these free clinics and hope members of the community will come out to get a feel for what they can expect from us.”
So what is Black Bear’s and Sobotor’s Vision for the Girls Cub Lacrosse Program? Sobotor already has the plan written and the concrete is ready to be laid with tryouts set for July 2023 at Perkiomen Valley High School.
“The following core values will guide the Black Bear Girls Cub (BBGC) programming and play, now and in the future. We will have the potential to develop not only lacrosse skills but, more importantly, character values that will develop confident young women capable of handling anything that life throws at them.
- Sportsmanship: to learn a sense of fair play. We will not brag about victory and will be gracious in defeat. We will develop friendships with teammates and opponents alike, and we will respect officials.
- Respect: we will treat all others and all players as we would want to be treated.
- Effort: each member of BBGCP should try to perf
orm to the best of their ability. - Enjoyment: we want the lacrosse experience to be first and foremost FUN, satisfying and rewarding for all participants. We want all players after each season to look forward to playing lacrosse again the following season.
- Teamwork: each team will learn the importance of working together as a team to become successful.
- Commitment: we are committed to our coaches and our teammates. We understand that teamwork and overall success of the team cannot be achieved without mutual commitment for all players to do well.
“Our Focus for this program is to develop the individual players’ fundamental skills in cradling, catching & passing, shooting, and ground balls. Individual offensive skills & individual defensive skills will be developed while going through the program. Players will also be taught team offensive strategies as well as team defensive strategies as they advance in the program.”
Learn more about the Black Bear Girls Cub Program at www.blackbearlacrosse.com .