Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:

1. Chad Toliver is committed to using his platform for change.

The Major League Lacrosse SSDM of the Philadelphia Barrage picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time in eighth grade in Milton, Georgia. Kyle Harrison became his inspiration. Toliver eventually made his way to Rutgers and became a prominent figure in MLL’s conversations surrounding racial equity.

Toliver, Kris Alleyne, Isaiah Davis-Allen and Mark Ellis formed the Black Players Coalition and are determined to bring change to the lacrosse community.

“You want to be able to see a more diverse crowd,” he said. “You want to see more impoverished communities have the opportunity to go out and every time you see a basketball hoop, you see a lacrosse net.”

Read this great feature about Toliver by David Wildman here. 

2. With changes come new opportunities.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has created potentially irreversible changes to the way we approach sports, the lacrosse world at large can come out of this stronger than before.

In our September/October edition of US Lacrosse Magazine, we highlighted 15 ways we think the game can return even better than it was.

Check it out here. 

3. A recap of the first SheCompetes webinar series is here.

Seeking to delve into some of the issues that impact female athletes and women in sports, US Lacrosse launched a three-day webinar series this week that seeks to provide insights from participants and industry leaders.

The first installment, entitled “The Future is Female,”  featured moderator and National Lacrosse Hall of Famer Erin Brown Millon, Jessica Berman (National Lacrosse League), Kristen Kjellman Marshall (WePlayed), Alecia Ivery (Girls in the Game) and Amy Scheer (National Women’s Hockey League).

Read the recap here.

4. Taylor Pennell will remain Columbia women’s lacrosse’s interim head coach in 2021.

Pennell replaced Andrea Cofrin, who resigned March 9 — mere days before the season was canceled. Per a university statement, “the athletic department will conduct a national search for a permanent head coach in the spring.”

WHAT WE’RE READING

• The Saskatchewan Rush have signed four of their 2020 NLL Entry Draft selections. 

• In what became a busy day for NLL Draft signings, the Rochester Knighthawks inked three of their own selections to multi-year deals. 

• Kyle Devitte broke down the Chaos’ offseason checklist in his latest piece for Inside Lacrosse.

• Lisa Beattie Frelinghuysen, a Stanford women’s lacrosse alumna (1988) and former clerk of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was one of the honorary pallbearers while the casket was placed into the portico of the Supreme Court. 

• Members of the Lynchburg men’s lacrosse team assembled 5,000 COVID safety kits for the local community. 

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Myles Jones putting on a clinic on the hardwood.

Oh my @MylesJones_15 pic.twitter.com/NJyTT9kHD6

— TLN (@LacrosseNetwork) September 29, 2020

WHAT’S ON TAP

• The latest from the IWLCA on the Behind the Whistle blog.

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