On March 20, 2013, before pulling their sixth victory of the season at Old Dominion, members of the Longwood women’s lacrosse team wore ribbons in respect for a death in the lacrosse community.
Three days before, the women’s lacrosse team at Division II Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania experienced a major tragedy when the team bus slammed into a tree, killing the driver instantly and mortally wounding the team’s head coach, Kristie Quigley. Six months pregnant, both Quigley and her unborn child were lost.
Again, the Longwood team showed a collective gesture of care when they held a moment of silence before their win against William & Mary on March 30.
Though Longwood women’s lacrosse head coach Elaine Jones did not personally know anyone involved, she stated reasons for why the Lancers felt compelled to act.
Jones said, “I think when any tragedy occurs within the lacrosse community, everyone is aware of it. It’s a very small community and we all heard about it and we feel very bad for Seton Hill, the players and obviously the coach and the bus driver that lost their lives.”
Sitting at her desk, Coach Jones was very frank about the effect. She simply said, while describing the acts of reverence performed by her players, “I think it's respectful and that's mainly why we did it."
While tragedies happen with a regrettable frequency and news updates flare concerning all the horrible details, acts of humanity appear to clear smoke. Here, it was the wearing of a shoelace, the choice not to speak. In the end, that’s all it was: a solitary action that would probably not be followed by another team. And that was the point. It didn’t need to be publicized. It didn’t even matter if the players at Seton Hill knew. The games following were uneventful and warranted no real elaboration from Jones. It was, in a way, a reflexive act: an unconscious breath of sympathy.
But this was done with the knowledge not so much of the individual tragedy. Rather, it was performed to show a connectedness. Somehow, someway, if not even by knowing names, the action had to be done. Perhaps it serves only as reminder that we don;t need thrilling descriptions or daring feats to do a good think. We only need a conscience and the will to satisfy a little bit when the need comes.
