Ben Wise Helmet Sticker

Led by Team Jesse Foundation President and Co-Founder, Kevin Mincio, the squad came together to celebrate a successful first year in existence as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization helping families of the fallen, to share the news about a documentary film about The Ride that will be released in early 2012 and to honor a fallen soldier named SFC Ben Wise.

As the team rallied together on Friday afternoon to prepare for their first game against the Broward County All-Stars, Sergeant First Class Ben Wise was being laid to rest in Virginia Beach, VA.  SFC Benjamin Wise, 34, of Little Rock, Arkansas, was on his fourth deployment overseas when he was injured on January 9, 2012 during an insurgent attack on his unit in Konduz Province, Afghanistan.  He died on January 15, 2012 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany and was laid to rest January 27, 2012.  SFC Wise was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart and Meritorious Service Medal.  He is survived by his wife, Traci, his sons Luke and Ryan, and his daughter Kailen.

SFC Wise served with Mincio in the Army as an infantryman assigned to the 5-20^th Infantry Regiment, 2^nd Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State.  Mincio, SFC Wise and the late SSG Jesse Williams, who is the inspiration for the creation of The Team Jesse Foundation, were deployed to Iraq together as members of the 3^rd Brigade, 2^nd Infantry Division.

As Team Jesse took the field, SFC Wise’s death was a vivid reminder of the ongoing sacrifices of our American troops and their families as they fight for our freedoms and values every day.

LAX Vegas Originals

Knowing of Ben’s sacrifice, and that of Jesse Williams’ too, the team took the field with fire, passion, intensity and extra motivation that carried them to the finals.  With a roster comprised of several Team Jesse originals dating back to its lacrosse creation in 2007, the squad of ”veteran” players had their work cut out for them.  Mike Corry, Adam Hughes, Team Jesse Co-Founder Matt Corry, Sean Monahan, Mincio, Thierry Francois, Kevin Owens and TJ Leadership Team member Matt Sauri all brought the collective age of the team well into the mid to upper 30s.

With the help of returning TJ vets like Chris Deist, Marc Digiovanni, Ian Cadieu, Sean McTernan, Anthony Kelly, Josh Rachman and Jeremy Waks, the team was able to bring the average age down to the low to mid 30s.  When Brett Queener, Chris Manley and Joe Cahill were added to the roster, they brought the age down a bit more, but ultimately Eric Farber, John Harrington, Ken Gaziano and Tom Dunn made it possible to allow Team Jesse to qualify as a Masters team in most tournaments.

The old timers of Team Jesse had an exciting run to the championship.  On Friday afternoon, they beat the Broward County All Stars 13-2.  Kevin Owens and Anthony Kelly handled the faceoff duties and gave a clear edge to TJ on the draws.  The Corry Brothers paced the squad with about 3 or 4 goals and a handful of assists between them, but it was clearly a team effort.  Rachman, Cadieu, Harrington, Deist, Graziano and Monahan kept the opponents at bay and Mincio and Queener kept the ball out the net.  Tom Dunn was all over the midfield and Marc Digiovanni (Digger) and Joe Cahill added firepower from up top, while the attack of Waks, Francois, Sauri, Farber, McTernan and Mikey C kept the poise on offense.

TJ OT Win

Saturday morning saw a closer game for Team Jesse, with a hard fought 7-6 overtime win vs. a tough Head Strong/Lacrosse Wear.  Featuring Bo Lamon and Ryan Burton from Lacrosse Wear, who are the exclusive uniform suppliers for Team Jesse, Head Strong pushed TJ To The Limit!  In a back and forth game, it was a hard charging Mike Corry who took the ball to the cage to seal the win for TJ.  Mid game heroics at the faceoffs by Kevin Owens (KO) and Anthony Kelly (A-Train) helped gain the extra possessions needed, while Brett Queener came up with some exciting saves and created some transition opportunities for the squad.  Another solid display by the defense and keepers, holding a strong team to 6 goals, helped Team Jesse gain the momentum they needed heading into game three of the tournament.

TJ Leadership & Brett Queener

Between games on Saturday, Team Jesse rookie Brett Queener gathered the squad together for a team building exercise that was a special moment for the players.  Each man was asked to talk about why they were playing for TJ and what it meant to them.  The candor of the players and the emotion of the moment propelled TJ into the afternoon.  Special thanks to Brett for his effort.

Facing a Wave Dog team that looked young and fast, Team Jesse controlled the faceoffs handily.  In a game that featured brief runs by both teams, it was the 2 point shooting of Anthony Kelly and two acrobatic goals by Eric Farber that made the difference.  Francois and Owens and Hughes and Cahill also contributed.  Perhaps others too, but who can remember?  The 11-7 win propelled Team Jesse into the number 2 seed, with 3 wins and a 16 goal differential entering the playoffs on Sunday.

TJ & Keith Richards

Saturday night featured a team dinner and some fun in South Beach for the squad. Amnesia hosted a packed tournament party and Jeremy Waks showed TJ some great hospitality.  It was also nice that Keith Richards was even in town to cheer TJ on.

Sunday morning would bring another tough battle for Team Jesse.  This time vs. Team Buddha, the number 3 seed, who made it to the semi finals with 4 wins.  Buddha had a similar road to Team Jesse into the semis with one big win and three close games.  In the end, Team Jesse prevailed 8-7 in Double overtime.

As last year’s Bump & Grind Champions, the Brine Kings were the clear favorite to repeat and their road to the finals showed it.  Putting up nearly 40 points and sporting a 26 goals differential, the Kings were the odds on favorite.  With Tim Booth and Nate Watkins on their roster, Team Jesse’s 2007 squad was well represented on the Kings.  Throw in Justin Smith who has plays for Matt Suari’s Wimmer Solutions Elite Squad, and 3 of the Kings were members of the TJ family.

TJ Finals Squad

Unfortunately for Team Jesse, the Kings were too tough.  Faced with a quick 5 or 6 goal deficit, Mincio called a time out to regroup.  Making sure to remind the team that they were representing SFC Ben Wise and the families of the fallen, he made sure everyone played with a warrior spirit and with pride and determination through the final whistle.  TJ was able to score a few goals down the stretch but ultimately lost 10-3.  With heads held high and with pride in their effort, Team Jesse truly played To The Limit!

Brine Kings

Congratulations to the Brine Kings on a great game and a second consecutive Bump & Grind Championship.

By placing second in the 2012 Bump & Grind Tournament, representing SFC Ben Wise with honor and integrity, acknowledging and celebrating an initial first year of success with The Ride and a pending documentary film to be released in the spring and making sure to share the story of their mission to provide education and support to families of the fallen, Team Jesse truly over-achieved in the trip to Miami.

Thanks to all those who have asked about Team Jesse, inquired about donating to their cause or playing with their team.  Special thanks to those that have offered to sponsor their efforts in the future.  Without the lacrosse community, Team Jesse would not be where it is today.

Wimmer Solutions CEO Matt Sauri discusses the company’s commitment to community engagement and volunteerism, its Care Creates Community Challenge, and his own experience riding a bike across America in support of the Team Jesse Foundation.

Each player got up in front of the group to discuss their reasoning for picking those charities and the players will be involved in delivering the funds. Obviously the Hawaii championship is pretty competitive in itself, but Wimmer CEO Matt Sauri added a caveat this year for the boys: the donations would go based on the team’s results. So since both the Wimmer Master’s and Elite teams won, each organization gets $5,000.

Sauri describes the all-out effort of his teams as nothing he’s seen, including one play in the championship when Max Seibald got mugged at one end, chased the ball down on the other and turned it all the way back around for a goal.

“It was all effort, and these heroic plays are different than anything I’ve ever seen at that tournament,” Sauri says. “I didn’t have to remind the guys about what we were playing for; they knew it, and they were vocal amongst themselves about it”

Above are a mix of photos of the Master’s and Elite teams, as well as some shots from Wimmer Solutions free clinic. Here are the four charities that Wimmer Solutions will be donating to:

Harlem Lacrosse and Leadership Corporation (suggested by Brett Queener and Connor Martin)

Supersonics Lacrosse (Suggested by Adam Messick)

Starlight Children’s Foundation Mid Atlantic (Suggested by Chris Taylor)

New Beginnings (Suggested by Adam Messick and Chris Taylor)

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Learn more about the man who inspired our mission.

After the casualty officer leaves and support fades, families are left with a loss that forever changes their lives.  Team Jesse has partnered with The Travis Manion Foundation to offer opportunities for children, parents, spouses, siblings and battle buddies to honor their loved one by challenging themselves in uniquely personal ways.

Successful Challenge Grant applicants outline project details, clear goals, and a definition of success – and share with us how their personal challenge will honor their loved one. Applicants receive Challenge Grant funds to help them achieve their goal and honor the spirit, service, and life of their relative or battle buddy.

Learn more about this unique program.

Camp Erin/TAPS is a partnership between the USO (United Services Organization), TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Programs for Survivors) and The Moyer Foundation. The weekend camp serves children ages 6-17 that are grieving the loss of a family member who served in the Armed Forces. Camp Erin/TAPS helps children address the sense of isolation often felt after the loss of a loved one – helping to bridge the gap between military and civilian life for military families.

Watch video to learn more about this amazing program.

Preview highlight photos from The Ride, our Summer 2011 fundraising event.

Wimmer Solutions is perennially one of the top two teams at the Hawaii Invitational, and this year should be no different. They will be without their arch-rival Crease Monkeys, who aren’t bringing a team to the islands, but that doesn’t mean Wimmer won’t have another stacked lineup. And as we learned on Tuesday, it’s a good thing since this new Dirty Lax team looks dangerous.

Wimmer CEO Matt Sauri’s goal with his teams is always to include not just great players, but good team guys and dynamic community spokemen. He says he’s looking for good sportsmen as much as all-stars, and it’s proven to be a successful strategy.

Wimmer has also prided itself on their Elite and Master’s Teams helping each other out in Hawaii, with some of the Elite guys helping to coach the Master’s squad, and a few of the Masters players getting some burn with the Elite group.

Here’s a look at Wimmer’s group for this year’s Hawaii Lacrosse Invitational, which starts Friday at Kapiolani Park in Honolulu. Inside Lacrosse regrettably won’t be making the trip this year but we look forward to making a triumphant comeback in 2012.

Good to see a few new additions to the Wimmer roster: Ben Rubeor, Connor Martin, John Galloway and Kyle Menendez joining what is a great tradition.

And here’s to Sauri and goalie Kevin Mincio resting those weary legs in the sand in Hawaii. After biking across the country to raise money for Team Jesse, those guys deserve some R&R.

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At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001, Kevin Mincio was a Goldman Sachs vice president in a middle of a meeting at the firm’s One Liberty Plaza offices in Lower Manhattan. A little more than two years later he was in Iraq with the Army, not far from where Saddam Hussein was captured by his fellow soldiers. And on Sunday Kevin will ride into lower Manhattan after a cross-country bike trek that is fulfilling a promise he made to a friend killed in action. Mincio is completing a 4,200-mile bike ride from California to the site of the Twin Towers on behalf of the Team Jesse Foundation, which helps families of fallen soldiers in memory of his friend, Army Staff Sergeant Jesse Williams and the thousands who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks and the war on terror.

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The promise I made to Jesse was to look after his infant daughter should anything happen to him in Iraq. At the time, I didn’t think that much about the promise. My mind simply did not want to calculate the probabilities and risk we all faced. Still, a promise is a solemn thing.

When the unthinkable happened less than a year later, 11-month-old Amaya Williams lost her father. My friend Jesse Williams was killed in action and it dawned on me that my promise meant more than I had ever imagined.

I quickly realized that for me to keep my promise, I needed help. It was my family, my friends and my wife Heather that made it possible for this lifelong promise to begin to be fulfilled. And while it will never be ok for little Amaya to grow up without a father – she can grow up knowing who her dad was and without having to “worry about a thing” as her father used to say.

The Team Jesse Foundation and The Ride were created as an extension of the promise I made to one young soldier who was my friend. The Foundation and The Ride were developed as a way to extend care to all of the other families of fallen soldiers out there – and finding ways to help them “worry a little less”. And once again, I found myself asking for help. Remarkably, people have come to my aid once again. Some are people I know well, old friends, friends from work, the lacrosse community and my family. Others are new friends I have just met and who believe in the mission.

It’s not about me and it’s not about a bike ride. It’s about commitment and staying true to your word. It’s about family, about friends and about the community that has come together to say thank you for what our nation’s heroes, the fallen, have sacrificed to allow us to live free.

The Ride does not end today. The promise is not fulfilled. In fact, it is bigger than ever. There is more work do – and once again, I am asking for help. I want to thank those who support and believe in me and in our Team. I will not let you down. I promise!

There was something in Jesse’s eyes that day in June 2006. I wonder if he knew how much placing his trust in me meant and how far it would go. Looking back, I think he did.

To the limit of our abilities,

Kevin Mincio
President and Co-Founder
US Army Veteran