University of North Carolina Athletics
From Fetzer To Finley: The Next Step In Flanagan's Long Road
June 20, 2011 | Men's Lacrosse
June 20, 2011
By Dave Lohse
Associate Athletic Communications Director
A lot has transpired for North Carolina men's lacrosse defenseman Ryan Flanagan since the end of his senior year last month. Since the Tar Heels' 2011 campaign ended earlier than all in Carolina Blue wanted, he's been named a second-team USILA All-America, a USILA Scholar All-America, a Lowe's Senior CLASS first-team All-America and later this week will likely be named to the All-ACC Academic Team for the fourth year in a row.
Oh, and he had foot surgery the week after the season ended. The surgery was long overdue to help correct nagging problems that limited Flanagan on the field but never once led him to complain about the pain he played with. He was the consummate warrior on the field for the Tar Heels during his career. But that was only one side of the West Islip, N.Y., native.
By now Flanagan's travails with Fields of Growth International last fall in Uganda have been well chronicled. Flanagan's commitment to community service was well known. He shared the University's Mildred McCaskill Award as a senior, an accolade which is annually given to the student-athlete who has made the strongest combined contributions in competition, the classroom and community service. Flanagan's co-winner was Joe Kinderwater of the Tar Heel men's swimming team and as the person who served as the sports information director for both recipients, it can be stated emphatically that no more deserving winners have ever been chosen.
So what is next in Flanagan's whirlwind life? Given his love of innovation and commitment to the game of lacrosse, Flanagan recently started a company called Team 24/7 Lacrosse, Inc. Over the next few years, Flanagan's endeavor with this company will include running camps, clinics, fund raisers and travel teams through the company as well as selling apparel in retail stories and e-commerce at www.team247lax.com.
Flanagan will be the first to admit that his idea for the company began in the summer of 2010 when he ran lacrosse camps all across the country in order to raise the funds he needed for his trip to work in Uganda for Fields of Growth International. Flanagan wrote to me, "Running those camps inspired me to combine my passion for lacrosse with an opportunity to make a difference in the world."
Those are sagacious and contemplative concepts indeed for any adult, much less a 22-year-old with a newly-minted degree from the prestigious Kenan-Flagler School of Business Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
One of the projects that most impressed Flanagan during his months in Uganda was his chance to work with the HOPEFUL Uganda School which was built primarily for orphans and children who live in extreme poverty. The children who attend the school can't afford food, clothes, schools or school supplies. The facilities they live in and go to school in have dirt floors and are made of tree limbs, woven mats and aluminum roofs.
But as Flanagan says, "Despite their destitution, they are smiling 24/7." Sounds like that came as inspiration for a company with a brand new CEO.
Flanagan founded Team 24/7 Lacrosse less than a month after he returned to the United States from Uganda.
I'll let Flanagan take if from here. His words best express the vision of the company he has founded.
"Team 24/7 Lacrosse Inc. is about making a difference and using lacrosse as a foundation of the movement. Through our camps, clinics, travel teams and apparel we hope to invoke a drive in our consumers to have a positive social impact," Flanagan said.
"Our mission is to use current superstars to develop the next crop of up and coming superstars, on and off the field, by passing on the lessons we have learned while falling in love with the amazing game of lacrosse."
I encourage you to visit the website at www.team247lax.com. Flanagan's good works and entrepreneurial spirit run deep through his commitment to this endeavor. He embodies what is good in America. He believes in the concept that an individual can make an immensely positive impact on another individual's life and society as a whole. He is not unlike most of his generation, a group of that shares a commitment to community service that hasn't been seen in this country for over four decades. It is the youth of today who will lead and with Flanagan and his Tar Heel teammates as examples, the future is bright. Head coach Joe Breschi's program is as wired in to the importance of giving back to the community as any sports team in the country.
Flanagan's launch of this website will assuredly be a success. That's just who he is. A portion of profits will be donated to charity, particularly his beloved Fields of Growth International.
Best return to health Flanny, glad the surgery went well and Godspeed my friend.
