UILDING FROM SCRATCH
It wasn’t the 20-0 loss to Dowling that most concerned UDC coach Melynda Brown. Nor was it the 23 turnovers or the 23-1 shot ratio between the two teams.
What became apparent as soon her team took the field at Georgetown on March 20, 2014, had nothing to do with the scoreboard.
“I realized I forgot to teach them how to cradle,” Brown said. “It was a boom, shock. You missed something. A big something.”
When Brown took the reins of the UDC program in
January 2013, with just six months before fall ball to piece together the historically black college’s first women’s lacrosse team, she did not realize she would have to teach something as basic as cradling.
Still, the former UMass player and UConn assistant coach wanted the challenge.
Brown saw firsthand how UConn went from a 1-15 team in 2008 to winning seasons in 2010 and 2011. After she moved to Washington, D.C., with her fiancé, she served as an assistant at the Holton-Arms School — which had a seven-win turnaround from 2011 (4-9) to 2012 (11-4).
“When I got the job, I was living on cloud nine,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is going to be easy.’” But Brown soon learned
the difference between a rebuilding project and starting a team from scratch. Most lacrosse players from the high school recruiting class of 2013 had already found their colleges. She signed just three players — one of whom ultimately was deemed ineligible — with any lacrosse experience. She needed to get creative with the rest of the roster. Brown turned first to the UDC basketball and volleyball programs, and then to the general student population, for answers. “I never expected that recruiting would look like that,” she said. “But it worked out the way it was supposed to.”
Brown played the role of teacher and coach. She focused on stick work throughout the fall, catching and throwing with both hands. She spent extra time with players after practice. UDC lost all 10 of its games in 2014 and was outscored 188-21 along the way. Brown was undeterred. “Lacrosse was never about winning a national championship,” she said. “It was never about the wins and losses. Lacrosse to me is more of the atmosphere that goes with it.”
Yara Oudat, 5-foot-11, is a sophomore defender and midfielder for the Firebirds.
36 LACROSSE MAGAZINE » June 2016
Changing the Complexion
WHY DIVERSITY MATTERS AND HOW YOU CAN HELP
Despite proven benefits, diversity continues to be elusive in lacrosse.
According to an NCAA report released last October, 85.5 percent of college men’s lacrosse players and 86 percent of college women’s lacrosse players are white. While those numbers represent a modest improvement from a similar report released in 2010 — the percentage of black players increased to 3.5 and 2.9
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©BRIAN SCHNEIDER
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