Women’s Lacrosse gives back to Homewood High School
Standing on the green with beaming faces, the Samford Women’s Club Lacrosse Team can regularly be seen running clinics for young female lacrosse players. Though only founded three years ago, the team has been dedicated to giving back to the community while perfecting their craft.
Alabama is known as being behind the nation when it comes to women’s lacrosse.
“Alabama is very far behind other areas like Florida and Georgia–which are pretty far advanced with lacrosse,” said Team President Grace McDonnell. “The local community has really struggled to get girls involved and with (young) girls dropping out of playing.”
As a solution to this, the Samford Women’s Club Lacrosse Team has tried to step in and model the fun of the sport on young girls. Many of the girls have even stepped in as coaches.
“In the fall, we volunteered at Homewood High School and helped out some of the younger players one to two times a week,” said Team Captain Margot Peters.
At another point in the year, the team fundraised with One Love Foundation, which brings awareness of domestic violence in the lacrosse community. Throughout the season the team also volunteers with Magic City Lacrosse Club and had a Youth Day event.
“We had Youth Day where young players came dressed up in their uniforms and we signed posters. I grew up watching older girls play lacrosse and that was very impactful for me– us getting to do that is really special,” said McDonnell.
While giving so much back to the community the team has also given back to the game itself.
This past year, the team joined Southeastern Women’s Lacrosse League (SWLL). Though they started the year as provisional members, they have already been asked to join the D2 level of the league this coming season.
Part of their success is due to the freshman that have joined the team this year. While in the past the team was mainly comprised of girls new to lacrosse, this year many of the women on the team come from highly competitive lacrosse backgrounds.
“This year (nearly) everyone has played club, and some girls were committed to play at the college level before deciding they wanted to go to Samford instead,” said Peters, “They are really good.”
With a 3 and 1 record this season in SWLL season matches, the team hopes to eventually advance to being an NCAA team in the next few years.
The team hopes to end the season with more wins as two games come up against Chattanooga and Western Kentucky on April 12th.
Staff Writer
