Welcome to the Leadership Through Athletics on-line Newsroom. Here you will find articles and television clips on the great things that LTA is doing in the community. Enjoy the reading!

Spot Light on Local Businesses

There are heroes that walk among us. Written by: Karen Bontrager Are business owners heroes? They are when they believe the powerful impact they can have on a community. By utilizing their time, resources, gifts, and abilities transformation begins to take place in small steady steps. Eventually people become united into a force to be reckoned with... In the evening, crowded parking lots, filled with children, parents, and coaches pour into Leadership Through Athletics, located at 2900 Hammonds Ferry Road. Some citizens of Lansdowne may know or not know that this building is a place where basketball tournaments and games occur. Children of all ages, from 4 to 18, have opportunities to learn, grow, and play. But is there more? Yes, there is. This organization's founders are dedicated to improving the quality of the lives of the children of Lansdowne. Their primary objective is to produce the leaders of the future. You ask how? By consistently providing a safe supervised place to play sports with strong male role models, they have the opportunity to learn leadership and responsibility skills. Many activities at the youth center provide them this opportunity. Any child with a Lansdowne school i.d. can play for free from 4-6pm M-F. More volunteers are still needed for an after-school program including: utilization of the computers, play- time, and homework assistance. Other populations could be served as well. Senior citizens or single mothers are a few examples. While the children are in school, the gym could be used by anyone to walk, shoot the basketball, or learn computer skills. During the day, how could this building better serve the community? What programs could be initiated? Senior aerobics, dance classes, seminars, or an adult literacy program; the list is endless. Contact Dawn Wade, operating manager, at (410) 737-2117 or just stop by.

Lansdowne Kicker August 2005

LTA Center Will Give Kids Boost Toward College
The opening of the new education center at Leadership Through Athletics marks the beginning of a new partnership between the nonprofit facility and the Community College of Baltimore County. read more >>>	Arbutus Times May 18, 2005

Pennsylvania Kids Get Pointers From Ex-Oriole
The March event drew 40 boys and their coaches from the Spanish-American Lancaster Sports Association, better know as SALSA. Members of the Pennsylvania sports league spent the day learning to pitch from a retired Oriole pitcher and picking up pointers about other aspects of the game from members of LTA sports leagues. read more >>>	Arbutus Times and Catonsville Times April 27, 2005

Child's Play

"We decided it was wrong just to focus on our own kids," said Patrick. "Now we've created this monster." "This monster" offers a little bit of everything: space for leagues, some organized by an organization the brothers helped found, Leadership Through Athletics, some organized by outsiders; free time everyday for neighborhood kids to use the gym (currently 3-5 p.m.), a free referee school for teenagers, food and clothing drives, the education center, sports clinics for children as young as four, birthday party rentals and programs that seem to pop up as fast as someone can think of them. view the cover>>  page one>>  page two>>

The View (Catonsville) April 2005

Building Dreams In Baltimore

The Grace brothers are back, and that's good news for their hometown of Lansdowne, Md., an inner suburb of Baltimore that doesn't get a lot of good news these days. Crisscrossed by disused train tracks and overshadowed by the access ramps and overpasses of a nearby interstate highway, this once cheery neighborhood has taken on some of the qualities that previously drove residents of downtown Baltimore to seek refuge here: too few jobs, too many splintered families and too many kids with nothing to do. On a recent Saturday, police cars prowled the narrow streets, hunting for yet another suspect in yet another shooting. read more >>>

Recreation Management April 2005

Spring Training for SALSA
SALSA formed in 1999 and is part of the Penn Manor Midget League. It has about 40 players from ages 9 to 14 and plays on Davey Arnold Field behind Washington Elementary School at Chesapeake and South Ann streets, but will also use the newly renovated Roberto Clemente field on South Duke Street when it is completed. read more >>>	Lancaster News March 27,2005

Leadership Through Athletics Throws Open Its Doors to Public
The Dec. 4 opening of Leadership Through Athletics was like a dream come true for Patrick and Michael Grace, who poured their own money into opening the $2.3 million non-profit sports facility on Hammonds Ferry Road in Lansdowne. read more >>>	Arbutus Times 12/08/04

Brothers bring lessons learned to Lansdowne 'gym of dreams'
On one basketball court, a coach teaches her 11-year-old players the fundamentals of man-to-man defense. On the other sidelines of the other court, a parent cheers on a son playing in a scrimmage. The new Leadership Through Athletics gym in Lansdowne is bustling. read more >>>	The Baltimore Sun 12/06/2004

Gym Almost a Reality in Lansdowne
"Our family has invested everything into this program," said Patrick Grace, who talked with neighbors at the October meeting of the Lansdowne Improvement Association. "This has been our dream for the last eight years." read more >>>	Arbutus Times 11/03/04 & The Jeffersonian 11/04/04