Armenia Lacrosse's first EVER tournament appearance

Hi all,

My name is Matt Keresteci and I am a 26-year-old Armenian from Toronto, Canada who is honoured to be the first captain of the Armenian National Lacrosse team.

Almost a year ago, I had the privilege to travel to Armenia for the first time through the Birthright Armenia program where I ultimately lived for six months, volunteering in a few areas and living with a host family; I returned at the beginning of May. It was a life changing trip for me to be able to connect with my Armenian heritage, establish relationships with fellow Armenians and to contribute to the country’s continuous development efforts.

One of the most important opportunities coming out of this experience for me is the chance to play for the Armenia National Lacrosse Team (check out our website here)! I got acquainted with the leaders of this effort in January and they have since tasked me with the responsibility of both leading a commission to grow awareness for the effort in Canada as well as play for this first national team. I am also honoured to say I have been elected captain of this team. My degree at McGill was in International Development and this work is closely aligned with my career ambitions.

Since then, we have collected a roster of over 15 Armenians from Canada, the US and Armenia and have recently been invited to our first tournament. It is taking place in Thessaloniki, Greece on October 19th and 20th!

This GoFundMe serves as an effort to assist in the payment of this trip. This is an incredible opportunity to combine both my passion for lacrosse and my passion for the development of Armenia; but it is also an expensive opportunity and one that I have difficulty paying for on my own.

The entire trip looks to cost roughly $3000. This accounts for airfare, accommodation, meals and other activities.

By donating you would be contributing to and aligning yourself with a program that sets out to not only represent Armenia internationally, but has ambitions to utilize the sport to promote youth development within the nation - we have already run a few summer camps around Armenia and have plans to continue that in the coming years.

Thanks so much for any considerations you may have on this! And if you have any questions or are interested in learning more about Armenia Lacrosse, please reach out!!!

Matt