All those lessons about accountability and responsibility seemingly were for nil. Here was

Brent Nowicki, spending hours and hours blending lacrosse and life together, and five kids

show up more than a half-hour late. No, this was not the message of City Lacrosse.

"You can't let your teammates down," Nowicki told the kids. "You guys can't be late."

"Sorry coach," one kid said. "The buses were late."

Nowicki paused. "Buses?" As in plural?

Well, two buses and one train to be exact. Nowicki was speechless. These kids sincerely did

want to learn the game. And they'd do anything to keep learning.

"It hit," said Nowicki, an associate at the law firm Hodgson Russ and a former college

lacrosse player. "If these kids are willing to do this, they must really like it. We need to

keep going."

Lacrosse is going where it's never ventured before — into the city of Buffalo. With

the funding of US Lacrosse and help of the Buffalo Police Athletic League, City Lacrosse has

held weekly clinics for kids in Buffalo Public Schools.

Lacrosse thrives in the suburbs, not the city. It's a dominant prep school sport, not yet

mainstream in the Buffalo Public Schools. But Nowicki knew the reason wasn't apathy, it was

opportunity.

Anybody can pick up a basketball and play in the park. Lacrosse takes time, money, and

somebody to introduce you to the game.

Now kids in the city are addicted, willing to take any mode of transportation for more.

Next up is a camp at All High Stadium on Aug. 3-7. For more, log onto www.bufcitylax.com.

"This is the start of great things to come to the city and the sport," Nowicki said. "The

opportunities for the kids are endless. The opportunities for the program are endless."

Nowicki, Jordan Jason, Mike Haven and Joe Smith — the program's primary coaches

— saw interest snowball.

At the first clinic, 18 kids showed up. Two of them had basketballs lodged under their

armpits. They set the balls underneath a nearby tree and strapped on funky looking lacrosse

gear. Coaches wondered if it'd last. The next week, those same two kids returned. Only this

time, instead of bringing two basketballs, they brought four relatives.

"People are bringing people," Nowicki said. "We're growing without even trying."

One of those kids toting a basketball was 12-year-old Antonio Hill from Waterfront School.

He was nervous that first day.

"I thought I wouldn't be that good enough to play," he said.

In an instant, Hill fell in love. The shooting, the passing, and, oh yes, the hitting fused

lacrosse into some mega-sport. With his new teammates, he watched a video of Smith playing for

the Buffalo Bandits in the 2008 NLL championship game and learned the game through hands-on

drills and instruction. Already athletic, he found the sport came easily to him.

After two weeks of clinics, Antonio just had to spread the love. He told his 10-year-old

brother, Donte, and 8-year-old cousin, Jacquez, about this wild sport. Naturally, they were

skeptical.

"They said, "all right, if lacrosse is better than football then we'll keep coming,' "

Antonio recalled.

Within days, Jacquez told his Pop Warner football coach he was quitting the team and

switching to lacrosse.

This is the theme. Kids from City Honors, Waterfront, Grover Cleveland and Discovery are

coming in droves. The grant from US Lacrosse netted 20 sets of equipment. Over time, the

coaches had to rely on a "first-come, first-serve" system. There weren't enough sticks for

everyone.

"As frustrating as that was, that's a great problem to have," Haven said. "It puts the onus

on us to work for donations and find more funding."

This was the only fear. Nowicki and company never questioned whether kids would actually

like the sport. Instead, lacrosse is dependent on players paying it forward. The Bandits'

Smith got into the sport when a football coach at Orchard Park handed him a stick as a 16-year-

old and said, "Give this a try."

Nowicki wouldn't have played at Fairfield College, Jason wouldn't have played at Johns

Hopkins and Haven wouldn't have played at Canisius if somebody else didn't reach out to them.

"It's like a social responsibility," Nowicki said. "What has been done to me, I must do

onto others."

The five-year plan is for this group of kids — a melting pot of African-Americans,

Latinos, Native Americans and Caucasians to field the first-ever high school lacrosse team in

the city of Buffalo. And the long-term plan is for City Lacrosse to lift kids off the street

and into college. Nowicki and Smith visit schools throughout Buffalo to show gym teachers the

game's basics. They're carpooling kids to practice.

Eventually, Nowicki hopes to incorporate education into the program. He'll give out a test

full of questions on the history and mathematics of the game. Score above an 80 and get a free

stick to take home. Some SAT prep, too, such as one mandatory hour of studying for every hour

on the field.

Anything that combines lacrosse with education. Lacrosse could be the difference between

kids dropping out and striving toward college.

"There are more scholarships available in lacrosse than any other sport," Haven said. "To

play Division I football, you have the entire country competing against you."

They call Antonio "Batman" now. One, because he has a Batman hat and Batman shoes. And two,

because his speed is driving other players nuts on the lacrosse field.

"My goal is to be one of the most famous lacrosse players to ever play," he said.

Now he has that chance.