Lacrosse rivals join together for a good cause

On the lacrosse field, Merrick’s Danny Hartman and Wantagh’s Mike McKee are rivals. Hartman, 16, plays for Kennedy, and McKee, also 16, plays for MacArthur. Though the schools play in different conferences, the teams scrimmage each other every year, and the two said they waste no time seeking each other out when they play on the same field.

“I always try to match up against him and see what we do,” said McKee, a defenseman.

“It’s always good competition playing against your friends,” added Hartman, an attackman.

Off the field, however, the two are the closest of friends, having known each other since their days playing lacrosse in the Police Activity League in elementary school. The two also play on the same travel team.

On Sunday, Feb. 6, Hartman and McKee, both juniors, organized a charity lacrosse event to benefit Long Island Cares Inc., an organization that provides emergency food to families in need.

The event, which took place at Turf Island Indoor Sports in Oceanside, united lacrosse players from across Long Island. According to Dave Hartman, Danny’s father, more than 150 people took part in the festivities, 75 of whom were current high school lacrosse players, featuring students from Kennedy, MacArthur, Oceanside, Copiague, Hewlett, Lynbrook and Baldwin. In total, Hartman and McKee collected $1,800 in donations and $1,500 in food donations.

The two juniors said they conceived the idea to organize a charity lacrosse tournament toward the end of last year. “We get so many things handed down from each other. Our parents give us everything,” McKee said. “But we just turned around and looked at each other, and were like, ‘We have all this stuff, and we just want to give to the less fortunate.’”

“We also wanted to intertwine this with lacrosse,” Hartman said. “To get everyone down there and play, that’s a lot of fun. It’s not serious like how it is during the season.”

Hartman and McKee, who play lacrosse year-round, promoted the event during their winter league, called the “Polar Bear Winter Lacrosse League,” speaking to coaches and players from different schools, many of whom agreed to participate. The two boys also went door to door around their communities, handing out flyers.