Big Dog Lacrosse Uses Sports to Further Company Mission

Big Dog Lacrosse owner Jim Davis never played the game growing up. He was a football player and track athlete for Marlington High School. In 2001, a friend and local hockey coach introduced Davis to lacrosse.

"It looked like a combination of basketball and football with a stick thrown in," Davis said. "It appealed to me as a good off-season sport for my three sons."

Davis started Big Dog Lacrosse in 2009 and has turned it into a full-time career since closing his concrete leveling business in 2010. The business model is unique and of great benefit to local youth and the community.

It offers lacrosse leagues and off-season training sessions for youth and their parents in Stark County and currently serves youth from 4th to 8th grade.

"I get to help kids and make a living at the same time," Davis said. "I try to provide local kids in Northeast Ohio the chance to improve their lacrosse skills in the off-season."

The inspiration to use lacrosse as his business and community platform was his son Reed.

"Reed is destined to be a lineman in football with his size," Davis said. "Lacrosse allows Reed and every other player the chance to touch the ball and potentially score."

The company name was even selected by a panel of young people. Twenty prospective names were submitted to a panel of 15 youth and Davis agreed to go with whatever they selected.

Big Dog Lacrosse's reach is extensive. It manages leagues and tournaments, offers beginner programs, runs camps, fields travel teams and gives back to the community. It offers a lacrosse player every step of the development they need.

Davis is especially proud of Big Dog Lacrosse's impact on the community and the local economy. Davis is executive director of Lacrosse On 3, Inc., a nonprofit organization that launched the beginning of this year to lend financial support for inner-city boys and girls to play lacrosse.

"We try to team up with foster kids, group homes and hardship cases in the city of Canton to help kids change their lives," Davis said.

Lacrosse On 3 works out of the Southeast Community Center and offers lacrosse enrichment programs and clinics. The goal by 2012 is to field a competitive inner-city club team.

Davis has an even bigger dream five years down the road.

"I would like to offer an entry-fee, two-day tournament for any boys' or girls' school team in the area," Davis said.

Big Dog Lacrosse will host a regional tournament and three additional national youth lacrosse tournaments at Diamond Community Park in Plain Township during 2011.

If the growth of the regional tournament in May is any indication, the national tournaments could be huge for tourism and the local economy.

"Our North Coast Championship attracted only 10 teams three years ago," Davis said. "This year we expect 120 boys' and girls' teams to participate."

"We estimate the regional tournament to attract at least 10,000 visitors," Davis added.

Davis is working on marketing the "Big Dog" name also. He currently has merchandise in five Play It Again Sports stores and utilizes an online store. His lacrosse stick wraps were voted the hottest item for female players in 2011 by Team Insight Magazine.

Future plans for Big Dog Lacrosse include expanding to an upper-level program for older athletes. For now, Davis is enjoying using a game he has only known for 10 years to reach out and help youth.

"When I had to close my other business last year, I felt a calling to help youth full time," Davis said.

What started as something to keep his sons busy in the off-season has turned into a business with a tremendous return on its investment — the local youth and community.