As USA Lacrosse joins with the rest of the lacrosse community in the recognition of April as Celebrate Diversity Month, we're taking a closer look at how increased diversity in lacrosse has opened the door to players, coaches, and program leaders from all walks of life. Throughout April, we are spotlighting a variety of different people involved in lacrosse with the hope of showcasing not only the progress that our sport has made, but also its potential to powerfully impact the next generation of players. 
----

There are many reasons to play sports, including a wide range of physical, emotional, and social benefits. But harassment and abuse, on any level and in any form, can not be part of the equation.

Harassment and abuse can be expressed in five forms which may occur in combination or in isolation. These include psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and neglect.

The following article is part of a content partnership with TrueSport, a positive youth sports movement powered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). TrueSport has partnered with more than 20 sport NGBs to promote a positive culture of youth sport with expert content and programming.

Have you ever wanted to yell at a referee during your young athlete’s big game? Maybe you thought the ref made a bad call or has been favoring the other team for the whole game. But as a parent, how you interact with the referee can make a big impact on your athlete.

USA Lacrosse and the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) have announced four training dates for the College Player Officials Academy (CPOA), a joint venture between the two organizations designed to recruit and train current lacrosse players to become the next generation of women’s game officials. 

Peter Bidstrup has been the head boys’ lacrosse coach at The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts since 1996. Over the last decade, the “Red Dogs” have a record of 153-15 while winning or sharing 8 Independent School League championships. His daughter, Brett, plays lacrosse at Williams College, and son, Larsen, plays at Harvard.

SPARKS, Md. – After helping their teams to undefeated records during the month, Robert Richardson of Brigham Young and Joseph Brant of the College of Idaho have been named the USA Lacrosse MCLA Players of the Month for March.

As we approach the month of April, we know that youth and high school spring lacrosse seasons are now underway, or will be shortly, in almost all regions of the country. In some cases, athletes have prepared throughout the offseason in order to perform their best once they get on the field.

But as an athlete, have you also given thought about the types of foods that will fuel your body throughout the season, and the possible impact of those nutritional choices on your performance? 

As a two-time All-American player, collegiate national champion, and member of the U.S. Women’s Training Team, Haley Warden has battled against a lot of tough opponents in her lacrosse career. Perhaps none more taxing, however, than the diagnosis of a concussion. 

Unfortunately, Warden has experienced concussion a few times, although never on the field. He most recent concussion occurred from a minor car accident last year.

“I didn’t think much of it at the time, but as I tried to get back into training, I felt slow,” Warden said. “I didn’t feel like myself.”

In 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic forced the shutdown of most on-field lacrosse activities, USA Lacrosse began hearing about outstanding efforts being made by boys and girls high school lacrosse players to support their community during challenging times.

In order to more broadly highlight those efforts, and to potentially inspire others to similar feats, USA Lacrosse launched the Impact Athletes initiative. We asked for your stories and shared them with the larger lacrosse community.

Last week, Shelley Sheiner, head coach of the Kean (N.J.) University men’s lacrosse team, toured the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame & Museum with his players. It was his first visit to the museum since its re-location to USA Lacrosse’s new headquarters in 2016, and Sheiner was quite impressed. 

Nevertheless, for good reason, his sentimental devotion will always be to the original museum, adjacent to the Johns Hopkins campus, which he first visited in 1998.