Randolph College Women's Lacrosse Volunteers at Second Annual LAX-4-Alzheimer's Event

           It has been an exciting start to our fall ball season! In addition to starting fall ball practices, we had the opportunity to volunteer at a local private school. Virginia Episcopal School hosted its second annual charity event, LAX-4-Alzheimer’s, on September 21^st, 2014. At this event, over 100 players participated, representing twelve middle and high school teams from Lynchburg, Roanoke, Forest, Lexington, Salem and Rustburg (Statistics from VES newsletter). All proceeds from this event contributed to researching the cure for Alzheimer’s. Randolph College Women’s Lacrosse participates every year because we believe that spreading the awareness of Alzheimer’s is extremely important, and we enjoy volunteering in our community.

            The LAX-4-Alzheimer’s event consists of a tournament that is refereed and coached by college players, including the Randolph College Women’s Lacrosse team. The tournament itself allows for each team to participate in four games, lasting thirty minute each, with the opportunity to be invited to play in the All-Star game at the conclusion of the tournament. It was amazing to see how many teams attended this event and participated in the tournament, for the purpose of raising awareness of Alzheimer’s, as well as the unique opportunity for college players to be in a coaching position.

            We really enjoyed the opportunity to work with the girls from the community who share the love of the game. These girls have varying experience, ranging from girls who have never played before, to girls who have played their entire high-school careers. We enjoy working with the teams as a whole, focusing on field awareness and the learning of all the field positions. Participating in this helps us learn to break down the game and remember the fundamentals of the sport.

While coaching, our team is not only able to help each girl improve her skills in lacrosse, but is also able to connect with each player personally. As a result, the Lax-4-Alzheimer’s event helps our team foster relationships with young players in the community. We hope to challenge them to be better at the sport, while they challenge us as we learn to be better coaches and leaders. Carrie McCain ’16, a native of the Lynchburg area, had the opportunity to coach a girl who plays at her former high school. She stated, “I really enjoyed bonding with one of the girls from my local high school. With the help of some girls from our team we coached her and were able to help her be more confident in her lacrosse skills. As the day went on you could see her build confidence on the field. She was also really fun to talk to and is just an example of the great girls we have the chance to meet at this event.”
            The experience is a great way to become involved with the community and is something our team looks forward to every year. This year was a great success! It is a humbling experience that shows how sports can help make a difference and be used for opportunities to grow awareness of diseases like Alzheimer’s. We want to thank Virginia Episcopal School for allowing us to participate in this day. Our team not only is able to volunteer for a great cause but, is also able to bond with young athletes and each other for the day. This is our second year that we were able to make a great memory, and have a lot of fun, while raising funds to go to Alzheimer’s research.

 Pictured above is everyone who participated in the LAX-4-Alzheimer’s event. The event raised $2,500 for the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (Quoted from VES newsletter).

Written by: Carrie McCain ’16 and Chelsea Marciniak ‘17