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[quote=Anonymous]Hey all, Jeremy McGonigle here.  It’s not often I post on these forums, but seeing recent comments on this thread made me feel that someone had to.

My oldest daughter (Jr.) is a Captain at Westfield, refs lacrosse for the younger age groups, and has committed to play collegiate lacrosse in an environment that she feels “fits” into her plan and puts lacrosse in the place she wants it to have in her life.  My youngest daughter (Fr.) is probably best known on this thread as “The Westfield Goalie”.  She has put in a ton of work and earned some accolades along the way, definitely had some games she wasn’t happy with her performance in, failed in her first attempt trying out for the U16 National Developmental Team, and is still working through her long-term plan and where lacrosse fits into that.  They are both productive in the other aspects of their life, and comfortable in their lacrosse journey.  I’m very proud of them both.

For the person who commented that the BF girl “forces the ball constantly” – a few years ago I would’ve agreed with you - when she was a 6th grader.  Last spring/summer, while she was on am 8th grade team with my youngest, I watched her tally nearly as many assists in creating for her teammates as goals she finished for herself.  It seems she saw something in her younger self that she wanted to change, focused/worked on it, and grew from it.  I also saw her not make the Capital teams, which had been a dream of hers for years.  In that moment her dream was shattered - I saw her go through the disappointment and doubt, then find a different club, set a different path and get back to her grind.  Over the last nearly year, she has put in a ton of work to further improve and grow herself into the player she is now.  I can’t help but be proud of how she’s faced the setbacks she’s experienced and stayed at her grind to impact her future.

My daughter and I went to the Madison-BF game on Wednesday, in part for her to see the various teammates she’s played with over the years, and in part just to watch what we felt would be a competitive lacrosse match.  The game did not disappoint.  Two well prepared teams, who both wanted the win equally as bad, battled each other for the entire game.  Both teams made mistakes, fought back, and the momentum swung back and forth.  Both goalies had very good games, making critical saves to keep their teams in the match and both gave some goals I’m sure they’d want to have back.  The parents/fans for both sides were truly engaged in the game, nearly all positive.  Cheers exploded, from the sidelines and stands, as plays were made by both teams on both sides of the field.  It appeared to me that the Madison strategy was to minimize the impact of the BF’s Sr. Commit (which they executed very well) and make the rest of the BF team step up to beat them.  Madison got up by 3 goals at one point, and BF found a way to battle back to a tie and, with less than 5 seconds on the clock, the girl that’s being discussed rose to the occasion and finished the game with an off-handed shot.  It was her 6th of the game.   Make whatever comments you feel necessary, but on that night, in that moment #11, together with the rest of her team, met the challenge together and found a way to get the job done.  Period.  It’s a game that I’m sure the girls who played in it will remember for a long time and, my guess, will all look forward to any re-match that may happen.  That is sports; that is competition.

After the game the Madison goalie, with whom my daughter has played club lacrosse, came up and they were talking.  One of the things she said to my daughter was “#11 was very good tonight”.  Even in that moment, which must’ve been a very tough moment for her personally, the Madison goalie found it in herself to show sportsmanship and respect for the competitors she just faced.  Her actions show a ton of character, and is something we can all be proud of her for.

My point, in what many of you will feel is a long-winded post, is that every post we make here is actually about a moment in, or a portion of, a child’s (or multiple children’s) lacrosse journey(s).  We can either choose to support them, all of them, in their setbacks and celebrate their accomplishments or we can choose to emphasize their setbacks and belittle and minimize their accomplishments.  Every team we put down, every player we talk negatively about, every negative comparison we make between teams is about those kid’s journeys.  We can’t, on one hand say we support our girls and women’s sports in general, and on the other let our behavior minimize the positive moments for them or contradict/tear down the very core values and life lessons that the sport should be teaching them to begin with.

We’ve all heard the saying “a rising tide lifts all ships”.  I challenge all of us to look at our children as those ships and work together, as their parents, to be that tide for them.  If we can’t do that, let’s at least put our names to our posts so that we’re transparent and own our actions openly.  Just my two cents, and I appreciate you taking the time to read it.
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