Business & Tech
Girls Lacrosse School Needs Votes for $250K Grant
Northville lacrosse school Stacey's School of LAX needs 250 votes to be eligible for the grant.
Stacey Tardich, of Northville's Stacey's School of LAX, is on a mission to expand her business. One way she hopes to do that is through Chase Bank's Mission Main Street Grants.
Stacey's School of LAX is a lacrosse school for girls that serves Northville and the surrounding communities. The business needs 250 votes to be considered for the $250,000 grant.
"Everything is on a shoestring budget," Tardich said. "Even just to have a percentage of that would be great."
As of Monday evening, the business had 36 votes. Voting ends Nov. 15, after which a panel of judges will deliberate on the nominees and the 12 grant recipients will be announced early next year.
>>To vote, search for Stacey's School of Lax or enter zip code 48167 online at https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/search. Supporters must be logged in with their Facebook accounts to vote.
Lacrosse school needs a commercial space
Tardich has big plans to grow her small business and has thought a lot about where the money will go, particularly into awareness, moving into a commercial space, the coaches and equipment."Everyone knows soccer. Everyone knows basketball, volleyball ... but there are still kids that do not know about lacrosse," she said.
She said she hopes to grow awareness through initiatives like tournaments and free clinics.
A permanent location is also high on Tardich's priority list. She rents space at Michigan Lacrosse in Plymouth but said she hopes to move toward getting the school its own facility.
"To have everything under one roof would be just amazing," she said.
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The location would be small but a place that can serve as a haven for the girls and grow as a well-rounded lacrosse school, she said.
Facility will allow for extra activities
With a permanent location, the girls will also be able to use the facility for more than sports. Tardich said she would combine lacrosse instruction and classes in sportsmanship with academic tutoring.
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"The kids would come off the lacrosse field and come in and work on their homework," she said.
The lacrosse girls also do a lot out outreach, she said, like teaching kids in southwest Detroit to play lacrosse. Having a facility would increase their chances to do that.
"I would love to have them come out here," she said.
Tardich said she also dreams of helping the coaches, many who are in or just out of college, with a grant program to get certified for teaching lacrosse, and hopes to get new equipment for use in free clinics and for loaning to girls interested in trying the sport.
"In the end it just comes down to exposing these girls to this game," she said. "It is as much about learning lacrosse as it is about learning how to be a part of a team and something bigger than themselves."
Read more about Stacey's School of Lax, its goals for the grant and how to help.
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