NORTH CAROLINA -- It’s a game where logic and physicality are on the same playing field.

“You've got to see the field as if you're playing a chess game,” said coach Bobby Selkin.

While many sports are known for a player or a team, lacrosse is sometimes better known for what it's missing.

Defying the odds might be cliché but if anyone fits it's this lacrosse team.

  • Coach Bobby Selkin started a lacrosse team at Charlotte Secondary School.
  • This past season, just four years after they started, the group of rookies became state champions.
  • Selkin is a coach but he also tutors, comforts and he pushes these kids into college.

“That's a white boys sport,” said Kevin Dean. “What are you doing playing that sport?”

The primarily African-American lacrosse team is not only rare in a sport known for a lack of diversity; these players are rare because of what they don't have, which is experience.

“We were horrible,” Selkin said.

Growing up in Long Island, Selkin was a hockey fan. He didn't know much about lacrosse. He found the sport through his son.

However, four years ago, with the urging of the athletic director at Charlotte Secondary School, he started a team.

“All of a sudden, they get this coach running into the team. You're going to be on my team. You're going to be on my team,” said Selkin, who is also an ophthalmologist.

As time went on the players progressed quickly. This past season, just four years after they started, this group of rookies became state champions.

While these players are amazing on the field, it's what they did off the field that is even more impressive.

“He saved me from going down the wrong path I was going down,” said Brendan Mobley.

Mobley recently graduated but played attack and midfield on the team.

However, when he originally met Selkin, his future was unclear. He said he was selling drugs and wasn't close with his family.

Today, Mobley is a new man with a new home. He's headed to college with a scholarship and he's spent the past few years living with coach.

“He saved my life,” Mobley said.

Mobley is not an outlier on this team.

Selkin is a coach but he also tutors, comforts and he pushes these kids into college.

“Some of the kids on the lacrosse team are in the twelfth grade and the world has given up on them and I haven't,” Selkin said. “This lacrosse team is about more than lacrosse.”

One hundred percent of his players have gone on to college. Half of them received lacrosse scholarship and half received academic scholarships.

“He's made such a large impact on all of us,” said former player Xavier Hare. “He's honestly Superman.”

Selkin proves superpowers aren't just what a person can do physically but what they do to shape those around them.

It’s why Bobby Selkin is an everyday hero.

The team is starting to receive national attention. A documentary crew spent more than two years filming their storm. The film, Crossroads, will air on Aug. 23 at 9:00 p.m. on ESPN.

If you have an idea for Spectrum News’ next Everyday Hero please email us at everydayheroes@charter.com

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