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FROM THE EDITOR
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More Than a Game A
lie Jimerson’s words hit me like a ton of bricks. What started as
a profile of the Albany-bound midfielder and US Lacrosse Native American Scholarship winner evolved into this month’s cover story on the Iroquois women’s struggle with deeply entrenched cultural views of their role in the Creator’s Game.
Jimerson’s passion for
both perspectives gleamed in an essay that won her $5,000 toward college costs. She plans to study business administration and health studies so she can improve the institutions of her native Cayuga nation. She also plans to play lacrosse, to inspire Iroquois women the way the Thompsons have inspired Iroquois men to achieve great things off the reservation. Jimerson
wrote of the respect she has for the belief that women playing lacrosse spoils the medicine for men and vowed to never touch a wooden stick. But she won’t quit.
She remembers the U.S.
girls celebrating as they ran up to get their gold medals.
Maybe someday when we
do win, it will bring pride to our people.
Lacrosse gave me medicine. Alie Jimerson made me thankful for it.
But her father’s words resonated when she returned to Cayuga. Friends shamed her on Facebook. Some refused to speak to her. Others said she should not attend longhouse ceremonies.
I realized that
my people do not like change. Last summer, Jimerson
Lacrosse is still in my
blood, and I respect the game just as much as a boy or man would.
Jimerson got cold
feet the night before leaving Germany to play for the Haudenosaunee in the 2011 U19 world games. Her parents, neither of whom had ever been overseas, urged her
to go, despite the objections even of her grandfather, an Onondaga chief. She cried.
Then my dad said to me,
“Alie, you are leaving this reservation for two weeks, and when you come back, it will not have changed. You could leave this reservation for four years, and it still will not change.”
She made it to Germany. It was the most beautiful
place I’ve ever been to. 2 LACROSSE MAGAZINE August 2014>>
How many of us take lacrosse for granted? I do. But Jimerson made me
think more deeply about the unexpected gifts this game gave me: lifelong friends, lessons about picking yourself up when you get knocked down, a rewarding vocation at US Lacrosse and as a result, a wonderful wife whom I met here. (Think Jim and Pam from “The Office.”) She in turn gave me the gift of a son whom I cherish. In a way, lacrosse gave my
life new meaning. It gave me medicine. Alie Jimerson made me thankful for it. LM
was back in Haudenosaunee purple, this time playing alongside her mom, Claudia, for the World Cup team.
For once, it felt like people wanted to watch us play.
PUBLICATION
Lacrosse Magazine August 2014 Vol. 38 No. 8
LaxMagazine.com
Senior Director, Communications Bill Rubacky
Director, Communications Brian Logue
Editor-in-Chief Matt DaSilva ( @mdasilva15)
Deputy Editor Corey McLaughlin ( @Corey_McL)
Art Director Gabriella Ferraro O’Brien
Graphic Design Manager Heather Hughes
Staff Writers TJ Buchanan, Jac Coyne, Lane Errington, Emily Gibson, Paul Krome, Charlie Obermayer, Paul Ohanian, Megan Schneider, Bill Tanton
Advertising Sales Colette Dixon
Chief Photographer Kevin P. Tucker
Staff Photographer John Strohsacker
LaxMagazine.com Editor Sean Burns ( @burnsiah)
LaxMagazine.com Asst. Editor Jac Coyne ( @Jac_Coyne)
PERIODICAL ID STATEMENT
Contents ©Lacrosse Magazine 2014. Reproduction in whole or in part without written consent of US Lacrosse and the writer, photographer or artist is prohibited. LACROSSE and Lacrosse Magazine are registered trademarks of US Lacrosse, Inc. Lacrosse Magazine (ISSN: 1069-5893) is published 12 times per year in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December for $25 per year for youth players (youth players receive six issues), $35 for players age 18 and under, and $50 for adults 18 and over by US Lacrosse, 113 W. University Parkway, Baltimore, Md. 21210-3300. Periodical postage paid at Baltimore, Md., and additional mailing offices.
Postmaster: Send address changes to Lacrosse Magazine, 113 W. University Pkwy., Baltimore, Md. 21210-3300.
— Matt DaSilva
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Phone (410) 235-6882. Fax (410) 366-6735.
A Publication of US Lacrosse
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