Brentwood: Out of the box to play in box
Brentwood girls lacrosse players receiving a lacrosse equipment donation from Lacrosse Unlimited. Credit: Lacrosse Unlimited
Francisco Herrera was looking for a way to help jump start the girls lacrosse culture in the Brentwood school district.
The Brentwood athletic director said that after two years without a middle school team because of the pandemic the program was not where he knew it could be.
It started by reaching out to faculty members to see if they had any older equipment or sticks they could donate to the middle school program.
Herrera said that a teacher at the freshman center, Michelle Mendell, told him and members of the Brentwood coaching staff that her brother worked at the production center for Lacrosse Unlimited and that got the ball rolling.
“I couldn’t believe what he was telling me,” Herrera said. “The generosity was amazing.”
Lacrosse Unlimited, which opened its first store in Hauppauge in 1990 and now has nine locations on Long Island, was able to donate about $15,000 worth of equipment that will be used by the middle school, junior varsity and varsity girls teams at Brentwood.
“We had all this product and we teamed up with USA Lacrosse and the Long Island Metro Lacrosse Foundation and we all gathered and pulled together and were able to raise money and donate all this product,” Lacrosse Unlimited creative director Rob Rimmer said.
The equipment was delivered to Brentwood this past Monday. The teams gathered together as the boxes were unloaded with players grinning from ear to ear.
“It was amazing to see,” Brentwood varsity coach Gabby Valela said. “These girls were so happy and excited and so grateful. It’s so nice because we have Brentwood alumni on the coaching staff and they were able to help get everything together. It’s such a big community effort and we want to try to get everyone involved as much as we can.”
Senior Isabella Jahkhah, the team’s leading scorer and a five-year varsity player, can already envision how the new equipment will help the program.
“We always talk about how we’re trying to get the younger girls into lacrosse more and we don’t always have the equipment,” Jahkhah said. “We’ve already started using the rebounders, we put everything together. Some of the girls got the sticks and it’s a really great thing for us. Not everyone has the opportunity here to get equipment so having that source where they don’t have to go out and buy something is so great to see.”
Herrera said the ultimate goal is to add to the middle school teams in the district and eventually start a feeder program for the younger girls in the community.
“The vision is to now instill the love of the sport in the girls that are starting at a young age,” Herrera said. “We spoke to the varsity girls and told them they would be trailblazers and pioneers growing the game here.”
Gene Morris joined Newsday's sports department in September 2012 and covers high school sports. He earned a journalism degree from Stony Brook University in 2010.
