This Friday April 28th, the 11th annual Woodstick Alumni Game between Manhasset and Garden City will take place at Manhasset High School at 7pm, continuing the support of Monsters Kids and the Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center, a division of Northwell Health. This marks the first game since before the start of the Covid 19 pandemic. Monsters Kids started back in 2009 by former Long Island Lizards attackman Tim Goettelmann who’s nickname was “The Monster” when he donated his salary to the Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center in his final two years of playing in the MLL. Through the course of 10 alumni games spanning back to 2011 between what is the longest and one of the most historic rivalries in high school sports, Monsters Kids has raised over $810,000 and are approaching their goal of raising $1,000,000 in donations.
“This will be our 11th game, and it’s a lot of fun because a lot of guys come back and now more of the younger crew is coming back so it’s going to be exciting.”, Goettelmann said to the LILJ. The thought of raising nearly $1,000,000 over the years wasn’t something Goettelmann envisioned when Monsters Kids first started.
“I’m pleasantly surprised, but with the people in each community, they are such lacrosse rich towns and it’s part of life in the communities. People have wanted to have a golf outing or a cocktail party but I said Monsters Kids is unique. I played the game since I was young… Bill Miller back in the PAL days and the Manhasset fields at Munsey Park and now I’m doing it with my daughters and my son, it’s just such a nice thing to have on top of something special like the rivalry, the longest high school rivalry in the country.”
This year Monsters Kids has raised over $45,000 which Goettelmann attributes to spreading the word through email and social media and the consistent contributions made by various families, friends, teammates, and through the connection of the game of lacrosse.
The importance of community is something that Goettelmann always wants to be at the forefront and for the future generations as they grow older to learn about the importance of giving back.
“The Tradition program that we have is a nonprofit program that’s Garden City girls learning the game, respecting the game, and how to treat the game. We always talk about ‘choose to win’ as our motto and it also goes into Monsters Kids.”
Donations to Monsters Kids will support the the newly opened 35,000 square foot Pediatric Surgical Operating Compex for kids which will help transform pediatric surgery at Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center. To make donations please visit. https://www.northwellkids.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.personalCampaign&participantID=1043
Friday night’s alumni game will prelude the 2023 Woodstick Classic between Manhasset and Garden City which will be this Saturday at Garden City High School at 4pm.
