The seeds of the Give & Go Foundation were planted in Jamaica, and in Nicaragua, as well as Argentina, and many more locations around the world. Professional lacrosse players Adam Ghitelman (also a Utah assistant) and Scott Ratliff began traveling around the world in 2014 to spread the game of lacrosse — volunteering through organizations like Lacrosse the Nations, Fields of Growth, the World Lacrosse Foundation and Crosse Crosse.

In doing so, each found a passion worth pursuing — giving back to lacrosse programs all over the globe, and being able to experience new cultures along the way.

It was in a rural town south of Buenos Aires that the spark was lit for the Give & Go Foundation.

“We’re staying in a home of some of the guys that started lacrosse down there,” said co-founder Scott Ratliff. “For me, there was definitely a moment where I was like ‘I would have never come here if it wasn’t for lacrosse.’ They brought us in like we were family and treated us so well. That was an eye-opener for what we could create.”

Ghitelman and Ratliff had traveled with fellow pros like Will Manny, Marcus Holman and Drew Snider, and gained something out of every experience. They wanted to make their endeavors official — eventually leading the charge to found the Give & Go Foundation in 2018.

The mission of the foundation is to support underserved communities and through the game of lacrosse. The crew of Ghitelman, Ratliff and Utah coaches Manny and Holman took off on a European tour last summer that included Switzerland and Sweden.

They’re not sure where they’ll go next, but Give & Go is just getting started.

“There’s such a sense of gratitude for the game,” Ghitelman said. “There’s such a sense of excitement about it. We want to do this more. We want to find out more about these communities. We want open up ourselves to the whole world where this is possible, and that has pushed us to go to all these different places.”