[ti:Girls Lacrosse Team Raises Hopes at School]
[ar:Christopher Cruise]
[al:Education Report]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English
[00:03.19]Education Report.
[00:05.08]Ballou High School in Washington
[00:09.27]might not seem the mostly likely
[00:12.26]school to have a lacrosse team.
[00:14.86]But lacrosse has grown beyond
[00:18.34]the popular image of a sport
[00:20.43]mainly for wealthy private schools.
[00:23.72]Ballou is a public school
[00:26.50]in one of the poorest neighborhoods
[00:29.44]in the city. In the past six years,
[00:32.78]more than forty students
[00:34.92]have died violent deaths.
[00:37.56]Many were the result of drug violence.
[00:41.24](SOUND)
[00:44.49]Ballou has just had its first year
[00:46.98]with a lacrosse team.
[00:48.57]The team is for girls.
[00:51.06]They lost every game.
[00:53.85]But their coach, Holly McGarvie, says
[00:57.64]this was also the first time
[01:00.17]they ever played.
[01:02.40]HOLLY McGARVIE: "You know,
[01:02.50]I think the goal each year
[01:03.55]is going to change.
[01:04.46]This year, I think, just starting
[01:06.55]and building a foundation
[01:08.55]that we can build from
[01:09.74]and create a tradition of women's
[01:13.23]lacrosse here at Ballou."
[01:14.32]Lacrosse is a fast-moving sport,
[01:17.86]the modern version of a game
[01:20.17]played by American Indians.
[01:22.60]Teams try to make goals with a ball
[01:27.03]caught and thrown using a net
[01:29.82]at the end of a stick.
[01:32.16]School officials decided
[01:35.20]to make changes at Ballou
[01:37.24]after less than sixty percent
[01:39.98]of the senior class graduated
[01:42.07]in two thousand six.
[01:44.42]Since then the graduation rate
[01:48.75]has improved by ten
[01:50.09]to fifteen percent.
[01:52.23]Rahman Branch,
[01:54.38]the school principal,
[01:56.03]says one change was
[01:58.37]to increase activities
[01:59.76]after the school day.
[02:01.75]RAHMAN BRANCH: "We decided
[02:02.45]to take some more approaches
[02:03.79]to add on to them 
[02:05.54]being comfortable being a kid,
[02:07.13]to now making sure they are a kid
[02:08.88]who knows what they want,
[02:11.03]what it takes to get there,
[02:11.97]and then has the stamina
[02:13.27]to go through."
[02:14.06]Mr. Branch says Holly McGarvie
[02:18.59]was a perfect match for Ballou.
[02:21.55]She was on a national team
[02:24.58]and a star player
[02:26.67]at Princeton University.
[02:28.37]She was in her first year
[02:31.21]of teaching.
[02:32.12]She wanted to take the lessons
[02:34.85]she learned from sports
[02:36.55]and use them in teaching biology.
[02:39.83]Coach McGarvie says
[02:42.98]the first practices
[02:44.28]for the new team were difficult.
[02:46.92]Some players got angry
[02:49.65]at one another.
[02:51.10]She helped them learn
[02:53.10]to keep their mind on the game.
[02:55.39]HOLLY McGARVIE: "On our way home
[02:58.07]from our first game, from Wilson,
[03:00.41]and we are all talking about it,
[03:01.72]and the girls are extremely excited.
[03:03.31]Despite the loss of,
[03:05.30]I think, maybe eleven to one,
[03:06.64]you know,
[03:08.47]they were already in the mindset
[03:11.71]of what can we do better?"
[03:13.15]Tylashia Joyner says lacrosse
[03:16.75]has helped her think more
[03:18.58]about her future.
[03:19.72]TYLASHIA JOYNER: "I will want to play
[03:20.73]in college because it will keep me
[03:22.57]in shape and it will help me
[03:24.06]stay focused and want to do something.
[03:26.95]Because if you want to play a sport,
[03:29.79]you have to have your grades up."
[03:34.67]And that's the VOA Special English
[03:37.93]Education Report.
[03:39.42]You can watch a video report
[03:41.76]about the lacrosse team at 51voa.com.
[03:46.69]You can also write to us on Facebook
[03:49.53]and Twitter at VOA Learning English.
[03:52.52]I'm Christopher Cruise.