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OF LACROSSE


“I’ll look at it, then just duck my head,” Cummings said, laughing. “That would be the coolest thing ever. If I can hang on the wall with a Michael Phelps or a Tom Brady, that’s awesome.” “But it’s never been about that for me,” she added. “My company is Taylor Cummings Lacrosse, but I want it to be the farthest thing from about me.” Cummings won four IAAM crowns at McDonogh School, earned four All- American honors, hoisted two NCAA trophies and made history as the first man or woman to win the sport’s highest individual honor three times. Face of the game? Maryland coach Cathy Reese says it’s a moot point. “She’s really evolved into that person already,” Reese said. “It’s not something you apply for. It’s not something you’re setting up to do. It’s who you are.”


While many stars have emerged in the women’s game, no name has stuck like Taylor Cummings since the days of Maryland’s Jen Adams, the first


Cummings is one of 25 players vying for 18 spots on the U.S. Women’s World Cup team. Team USA also will compete in the IWGA World Games next summer.


Cummings will give a demonstration and meet with fans at LaxCon Jan. 21 in Baltimore.


Tewaaraton recipient in 2001. But it was a different era when Adams led the way, Reese said. Today, social media presence and grassroots efforts like clinics have become paramount in staying relevant. Paul Rabil, lacrosse’s million-dollar man, is arguably the sport’s biggest name because of that presence. He started small with Under Armour and Maverick deals and now has two companies, Paul Rabil Experience and Project Nine, which rely on fan interaction. He successfully made lacrosse a full-time career, earning an appearance at the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit in October.


“I definitely take notice of what he’s doing,” Cummings said. “He’s definitely someone who graduated college, looked at the lacrosse landscape and said, ‘I want to grow the sport.’ He’s built himself quite an empire in the lacrosse world.”


30 US LACROSSE MAGAZINE December 2016


Cummings wants to build her brand her own way, but views herself as “one of many” growing the sport beyond the East Coast and getting the next generation to fall in love with lacrosse. “When you see one, you know it,” Jones said. “There’s been a little bit of a void there since Jen. Once we started learning about Taylor, we feel like she can be that next one.” Cummings could have the perfect platform next summer at the FIL Women’s World Cup in Guildford, England. She’s one of 25 players vying for 18 spots on Team USA. Being the face of the game requires two main characteristics, said U.S. coach Ricky Fried: the willingness to be in that position and the humility to understand there’s a bigger meaning.


“She doesn’t see herself as bigger than the game,” said Fried, who likened Cummings to soccer star Mia Hamm


with their team-first mantras. “She’s very personable without being about her. We need someone to be the face of women’s lacrosse, just for the game itself.”


Cummings can relate to words once uttered by the former North Carolina and Team USA soccer forward: “Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in the love with the game and never looked back. Play for her.” “At Maryland, on U.S. and in the pros, we all just see ourselves as regular people,” Cummings said. “I don’t think we realized quite the impact we have on little kids. So you know what? If they want to look to me and see me as a role model, I am so honored and I just try to do my best to be a good one for them.” USL


USlacrosse.org


©JOHN STROHSACKER; ©JOSH ROTTMAN


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