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Michael Perez
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Stick It To Hunger Host Youth Clinic To Honor Michael Perez

Tomorrow kicks off the 5th annual Stick it to Hunger Lacrosse Classic and this year the event is featuring the inaugural Kids First Youth Clinic in memory of the late Michael Perez.

The clinic is set to honor Mr. Michael Perez, the grandfather of the Triad Blackhawks most loyal coach and long time Lacrosse All Stars reader, Hugh Fiery.

Mr. Perez, who did so much for lacrosse in the community of Maplewood, NJ, passed away last spring. The Kids First initiative, started by the Fiery-Perez family with the help of the Triad Blackhawks, aims to provide all children for all walks of life with the opportunity to play the game for which Mr. Perez had such a passion.

Hugh was able to fill us in on just a glimpse of the impact his grandfather made on him and the lacrosse community.

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Michael Perez is the reason why I am so passionate about the sport and about coaching. He was the one who talked my mother into letting me play lacrosse in the first place!

My grandfather Mike Perez absolutely loved the sport of lacrosse and he had a true passion for the sport as well as a passion for community. He was part of the backbone of the Maplewood lacrosse club in Maplewood, NJ.

He saw two of his sons play Division 1 college lacrosse.  My uncles would tell me this one story about how my grandfather piled them into the car and drove from Maplewood, NJ to Baltimore, MD, just to go to Bacharach Raisin to get sticks for the whole team for the upcoming season.

They would spend hours going up and down aisles and aisles of sticks, hand picking out all of them, setting aside the best ones for themselves! The guys would load the car to the brim with sticks and other equipment for the team.

This story is the inspiration for “Kids First Lacrosse.”

Kids First Lacrosse is an initiative that is being started by my family, with the help of the Triad Blackhawks to give kids and teams from anywhere and any walk of life the opportunity to play this great game.

This initiative will kick off this year at the hunger games charity tournament on November 22nd in Kernersville, North Carolina with our morning youth clinic.

Moving forward, I would like for the Kids First Lacrosse to be something that reflect the true spirit of the game and the lacrosse community as a whole. If a kid somewhere needs a stick and wants to play, from any walk of life, he or she should be able to at least get the chance to try it! The mission is focused on individual kids as well as teams that are underfunded.

– Hugh Fiery