How One Lacrosse Program Built A Community

By most conventional measures, Brad Ledwith’s life was already a success. A father of four, married for 25 years, and a thriving small business owner, he had built stability long before 2015. But that year, an idea took hold — one that would change not just his family, but an entire town — and ultimately became the focus of the independent sports documentary The Mighty Oaks.

Lacrosse was the vehicle. Community was the goal. The Mighty Oaks is his story.

While many families in Morgan Hill, California, gravitated toward established youth sports like baseball and basketball, Ledwith saw an opportunity. He envisioned a program where children could belong, parents could connect, and a town could rally around something bigger than any single household. To him, lacrosse wasn’t just a game — it was a foundation for resilience, accountability, and shared experience.

“What I love about lacrosse is the five things that connect me to sports,” said Ledwith, who by day is the founder of Ledwith Financial Wealth Management and works as an LPL Financial Advisor. “The hand-eye coordination of hockey, the accuracy of baseball, the moving without the ball of basketball, the contact of football, and the fitness of soccer. You take all five of those sports and put it into one, and you’ve got lacrosse.”

“I learned everything about failure — and overcoming failure — through sports,” he adds. “You bounce back, trust your teammates, and understand that setbacks are temporary.”

Those lessons shaped how Ledwith approached parenting, leadership, and ultimately the creation of the Mighty Oaks youth lacrosse program, which the documentary chronicles in detail.

“I always played team sports,” he says. “You learn what happens when people come together for one goal — working hard in the offseason, showing up on time, listening to others. Those were the values I wanted my kids — and this community — to learn.”

From Backyards to a Movement

Directed by Brendan Harty, co-written by Harty and Erik Swanson, and co-produced by Harty, Ledwith, and Swanson, The Mighty Oaks began in 2015 almost by accident.

“I had a crazy idea,” Ledwith recalls. “I saw these kids playing lacrosse at the sports center three miles from my house and said, ‘Let’s get a team together and just go play them.’ I didn’t know these were all travel-sports kids. That’s how it started. And we got our ass handed to us.”

From the start, Ledwith and volunteers wanted to send a broader message. “We wanted to show that Morgan Hill embraces everybody,” he says. “Lacrosse is for everybody. It’s often seen as a rich-person sport, and we never embraced that idea in California — or even in our little hometown of Morgan Hill.”

What began as a humble, chaotic experiment quickly became a community effort. Kids practiced in backyards, parents volunteered as coaches, and weekend fundraisers kept the program afloat.

Today, the Mighty Oaks fields thriving boys’ and girls’ varsity teams. But the program’s success isn’t measured in wins or championships. It’s reflected in relationships built, responsibility learned, and the pride that comes from belonging to something larger than oneself.

A Sport as a Lens on Life

The documentary follows the 2024 boys’ varsity team through a pivotal season. While the film captures practices, games, and tournaments, its focus lies between the lines — on how sport teaches perseverance, integrity, and the importance of showing up for others.

The Mighty Oaks introduces deeply personal stories: an adopted young man finding his place on a team, a player honoring his late brother on the field, and coaches discovering their most meaningful impact occurs off the scoreboard, through mentorship and consistency.

One quiet moment lingers: a player carries his brother’s memory into each game, and the team rallies around him — not with speeches, but with presence. It’s a reminder that the most enduring lessons of sport extend far beyond winning and losing.

Through lacrosse, Morgan Hill becomes a case study in what’s possible when a community invests collectively. Parents, volunteers, and neighbors discover that shared effort builds trust, pride, and a legacy that outlasts any single season.

Why Streaming Services Should Take Notice

The Mighty Oaks officially dropped in December via Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, and is now available to rent or own on major platforms like Apple TV, Prime Video, and other North American digital HD, DVD, cable, and satellite outlets. Perfect timing for streaming services to pick it up — its universal themes of resilience, belonging, mentorship, and overcoming personal challenges make it compelling, even for non-lacrosse fans.

By combining heartfelt storytelling with relatable, character-driven experiences, the film encourages engagement and sharing, making it the type of content that resonates in today’s chaotic world. Beyond Morgan Hill, the documentary’s themes demonstrate how one community-driven initiative can inspire others nationwide, giving the story both cultural relevance and broad audience reach.

A Love Letter to a Community

For Ledwith, making The Mighty Oaks was not without skepticism.

“As we were doing the movie, there were a lot of questions,” he says. “Why are you doing this? Some people thought it was self-serving. Others worried it would be salacious — teenagers’ lives put on display.”

Earning trust became part of the process.

“We had to explain to the community: this isn’t exploitation. This is a celebration. We’re telling stories. We’re leaving a love letter to Morgan Hill.”

“If you remember the end of Field of Dreams, when the dad is playing catch with his son — that scene always hit me. My dad wasn’t alive anymore. I couldn’t play catch with him. And there are moments in this film that will resonate.”

“I always told myself, if my kids ever ask me to play catch, I’m saying yes,” he adds. “I’m not a very spiritual person, but this game — people call it the ‘medicine game.’ I’ve talked to too many people who say the same thing. There’s something so special about it.”

A Broader Impact

Ledwith’s work has resonated far beyond Morgan Hill.

“What I did here is being done all over the country,” he says. “There is somebody like me in Texas, Virginia, everywhere, creating a sport that matters to their kids. They reach out after watching the movie, asking questions, sharing what they’re doing. And that’s exactly why I made the film — to share it.”

The documentary demonstrates how one idea, paired with dedication and belief, can ripple outward — showing streaming audiences the value of community-driven storytelling, mentorship, and authentic human experiences.

A Legacy That Lasts

Ledwith’s twin sons, Nolan and Ben, grew up in the Mighty Oaks program and now play college lacrosse — one at UCLA, the other at Concordia University. Their journeys, featured in the documentary, underscore how early investment in people and community shapes futures long after childhood ends.

While the filmmakers aim to reach wide audiences, the documentary’s true impact lies in its storytelling. The Mighty Oaks demonstrates that when people show up for one another, teach values through action, and create shared experiences, a sport can become the foundation for belonging, growth, and lasting impact.

On paper, The Mighty Oaks is a story about lacrosse. But more fundamentally, it’s a story about what one idea, sustained by commitment and care, can accomplish for a community — and why streaming audiences and content providers will be drawn to it.