This week IYL Co-Presidents Matthew Balkman and Scott Wiley announced a transition in IYL leadership in a letter to friends of Issaquah Youth Lacrosse. Stepping into their new role as Co-Presidents Emeritus, Matthew and Scott set the stage for IYL's continued growth -

In their words [partial excerpt]:

"When we assembled a group of a dozen middle-school boys for their first Lacrosse clinic six years ago, we had no idea how or even if Lacrosse could take root and grow in Issaquah. It wasn't until the next clinic – a couple of months later -- when nearly 100 kids attended that we knew Lacrosse was destined to be the next great thing in youth sports.

Issaquah Youth Lacrosse was born in 2004 to foster the growth and development of our youth through the fun and fellowship of a great team sport. IYL as an organization has experienced steady and exponential growth, we have had many IYL players go on to compete in HS State Championships, some go on to play at the collegiate level, and the overall awareness and love of the game expand tremendously in our community. It has been very exciting!

Now, as we look forward to our sixth full season having served nearly a thousand boys and girls, and grown a program which now feeds four boys HS programs (Liberty and Mt Si in ’10) and one girls HS program, it's time to turn to the next chapter for IYL.

With our registrations on track to deliver the largest group of participants ever in our Spring 2010 season and with a strong transitional leadership team in place, IYL will surely continue to be the leading youth Lacrosse program in the state. And with the vision and energy that the new leadership is bringing to their work, we expect IYL to go places we could never have dreamed of back in 2004 with those dozen 8th graders awkwardly picking up Lacrosse sticks for the first time.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement over these six wonderful years!"

You can read the Full Letter on the IYL website. You can join in with our IYL Lacrosse family in thanking Matthew and Scott for everything they have done to make Issaquah Youth Lacrosse one of the most successful youth LAX programs in the western US.