Lax Lacks Numbers

Team set to start season with just 12 players

Published: Saturday, February 13, 2010

Updated: Monday, February 15, 2010 23:02

Last year, the women’s lacrosse had a monumental season that culminated in the school’s first winning record in the sport’s short history. This year, the team is struggling to simply field a full team.

With preseason practices well underway, there are just 12 players on the team’s roster, a far cry from the 18 from last year, and only enough to fill out a starting lineup – with no substitutions.

Of those who have quit, roughly 20 players still attend Wilkes. That group includes last year’s captains Kat Edwards, Analicia Jost, and Shannon McDonald, as well as the team’s top two scorers, forwards Brittney Hodnik and Melissa Polchinski, who combined for 208 of the team’s 357 points.

The sudden exodus has raised questions about why so many players are leaving the program.

Although a concrete reasoning for the substantial drop-off is inconclusive, there are varying explanations all across the board.

“There are many reasons for the lack of numbers,” said athletic director Addy Malatesta. “Retention is always an issue; although this is a drastic drop, it’s a cycle. Class schedules, heart, philosophical differences, and coaching are all possible reasons.”

According to both Malatesta and head coach Kammie Towie, one of the biggest challenges for the program is the lack of high school lacrosse in the area. With so few high schools offering lacrosse locally, recruiting is a tough obstacle.

Malatesta said it’s hard for a program like Wilkes to build a solid foundation because the program is so young and there have been three different coaches in eight years.

“Unfortunately there’s this level of frustration that’s created this dark cloud, and it seems like it has caused a domino effect,” said Malatesta. “It used to be fashionable to play a sport with your friends, now it’s fashionable to leave with your friends and that’s kind of scary.”

Sophomore Carissa Clark agreed, citing an instance where one girl quit and three followed her immediately after.

“It was as if one of them was not on the team, then none of them could be,” commented Clark. “A lot of us who have stayed aren’t very happy with the girls who decided to leave. They left us when we needed them, they were part of the team and it makes it very hard to reunite as a team again.”

Towie stated that many past and recent recruits joined the team because they could see themselves playing at Wilkes University.

Hodnik, a senior who left the team “because of coaching more than anything else,” sees it differently.

“On my recruiting trip people were telling me how fun it was going to be and to come here,” said Hodnik. “I didn’t think that division three lacrosse was going to be this stressful, this much time, and this much of a hassle.”

McDonald also left the team due to difficulties with the coaching.

“The main reason I left was due to the fact that there was no respect for the coaching staff,” said McDonald. “Many returning girls had issues with the specific coaching staff… They didn’t believe in the coaching tactics or their morals.”

Malatesta, however, does not feel coaching is the main issue. Players are given the opportunity to disclose their unhappiness with the program through the player response surveys. These forms are similar to the Student Response Surveys (SRS Forms) filled out by students to leave comments regarding their classes.

“Not everyone is going to be satisfied,” said Malatesta. “It’s an opportunity to write and vent about anything. We have seen negative comments, which are reviewed with the coach, but they are anonymous, and it’s no more than any other sport gets.”

Malatesta feels that the commitment, in some cases, becomes too much, and athletes make a choice to walk away because it is not as meaningful as it once was.

“A lack of love for the game was never part of leaving,” said McDonald. “There were a lot of issues going on in with the team behind the scenes.”

According to both Towie and Malatesta, the struggling economy combined with rigorous academic schedules is partly to blame. With the country suffering from the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, many athletes are taking jobs to help suppress the financial burden of the college education.

“I think a lot of student athletes are obtaining work study or part-time jobs,” said Malatesta. “Parents are having a tougher time making ends meet; if you can alleviate some of the burden I can understand that.”

“Some students may not have a problem managing academics, a job, a team sport, and a social life,” said Towie. “For some it just becomes a pyramid of priorities with the team sport cascading to the bottom.”

Towie ensures that she balances practices around students’ academic schedules, even arranging study halls assuring players time to devote to their schoolwork.

“Sometimes this just isn’t enough and girls feel overwhelmed and leave the team, to focus on academics,” said Towie.

Despite the dwindling numbers, recruiting efforts have not slowed down. As of press time, close to 30 potential athletes have been on campus for recruiting tours. Towie has also hung posters around the school, advertising for women to come out for the team. According to McDonald, players who have left the team have also been contacted via email by the coaching staff, inviting them back to the team for the upcoming season.

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Amanda

Thu Feb 18 2010 13:28

I do not see how it is a problem that this article has been published. There is obviously reasons the teams has fallen apart... reasons that can only be explained by the players. As any true reporter would do, Anthony did not make the article one sided and had sources that spoke on behalf of the former players, current players, and coaching staff. There is no reason to be "appalled" that this story has been published. It's news.

Anonymous

Thu Feb 18 2010 13:27

Anonymous

Thu Feb 18 2010 11:58

all of the people who ar enegatively commenting against the ex players including myself do not understand the things that were said to us. I started and played in every game before I quit and I believe that was around 11 games. My stats were pretty good as well. The day before every game she would call me in her office and tell me that she could not start me if I didnt pick it up, because I was not the player I use to be and that I was slow and she couldnt risk having me on the field. The day of the game before the warm she would say if you mess up once during the warm up you will not start and I would make it through that getting yelled at or personally pulled aside and threathened. Then I would start and she would call me over to the side line during the game and make me cry by telling me how much of a disapointment I was to my parents. I would be in tears on the field because I had to worry about not letting my father down and I had to worry about not letting my team down by playing like shit because this women was constantly putting me down. She could have instead said get out there and play like i know you can, she could have done this during warm up and she could have said I know you can do it. Or she could have not said anything and that would have been fine. She harassed players. And to all th people who think that we are wimps go ahead say what you want. We know what really happened and you only saw from the sidelines at home games where she had to be on her best behavoir cause other coaches were there watching her. And please answer this question if there really wasnt a problem then why did 20 people quit in the past two years????? Do you honestly think that 20 people would make a pact and quit???? And if there was a pact wouldnt everyone have quit at the same exact time????? welll guess what they didnt every one quit at different times cause they were unhappy. This was never a thing against kammie, we quit because we wanted to be happy. Not to mention some of us were dual athletes and did not have this problem with our other sports at all.

Britt Hodnik

Thu Feb 18 2010 11:15

Unless you were on the team, you don't know what it was like. Coach is very good at putting on this mask that makes her appear happy, qualified, and respectful; none of which are the case. It's not at all of a bunch of prima donnas or uncoachables. I've always said I would play for last year's assistant coach Julia Steier.

8 of the the 13 girls from last years team left... i guess we'll see how many of the new girls stick it out (or don't)

Anonymous

Thu Feb 18 2010 10:18

Then why don't people who are still part of the team have the same problems you did with the coach. I doubt the remaining team has to see a psychiatrist to deal with all the mental abuse like you and your angry mob allegedly endured. Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind and those who plot the destruction of others often fall themselves. Grow up get a life and move on!

Anonymous

Thu Feb 18 2010 10:06

You couldn have said it better Emily this whole thing is a "he said she said" pissing match. I have yet to see facts from either side actually. You very well could have told the AD and coaching staff you left for acadmeic reasons and now saying it was due to the coaching staff itself hence a he said she said battle. You girls won't be happy until you completely destroy the program and there will be no more womens lacrosse because nobody will want to coach a bunch of selfish prima donnas (a vain or undisciplined person who finds it difficult to work under direction or as part of a team) like yourself.

Anonymous

Thu Feb 18 2010 10:06

thats my biggest issue, if you weren't a part of the team you don't know what really went on

Emily

Thu Feb 18 2010 09:58

I didn't quit to start coaching, that oppurtunity came while after the fact and I took it. I defined my stance on saying what I meant by being a coach that was a friend. A head coach doesn't need to be texting players, asking teammates to rat others out, and plotting players against each other. The mind games are a he said she said game, as I explained before. She never said hustle, hustle, you did a great job, more like everything you did was wrong, no matter if it was a good play, she let you know you still played like crap. Her style is/was anything but normal. I would explain it more but that would obviously be too much and made into the fact that I am "whinning" so I am going to leave it as this. As for a parent writing on here, I could see that because as stated before they and players have been to the administration and nothing has come out of it. This is all freedom of speech isn't it? As for James Jr. Smith, in one of my previous posts I stated that Wilkes is a great school, just not the athletics for women. I can sit here and argue and let you say I am contradicitng myself but the players that are concerned with this issue know what I am talking about. If you do an article in response to this fine, just make sure you get all your facts. I know what my teammates and I went through, as many others do.

Anonymous

Thu Feb 18 2010 08:53

Maybe some of you can explain why in the past dozen or so Beacon articles about the Womens Lacrosse Prograrm there wasn't a single negative comment posted abou how horrible your coach was or about being mentally and emotionally abused. Is it because many of those commenting on here were in the spotlight then in most of those articles and miss the attention???? Now this is your new spotlight I guess!!! Say CHEESEEEEE.... CLICK

James Smith Jr.

Thu Feb 18 2010 06:32

Wow so who the heck are you miss trying to moderate who belongs here and who doesn't. This attitude only further proves that you girls want this article and message board solely for your very own malicous intent. Very sad that you are destroying the sport you so dearly love at Wilkes. Don't you realize that this article and comments will only discourage new recruits from even considering the school and can potentially drag the marale of the remaining team to rock bottom. As a Wilkes Alumni having a daughter currently attending the University I am apalled that such an article was even published. Over 2 years have past and you are only now stressing your dire concern. Why not through such a fuss when you were contemplating leaving the team so as to provide an oppurtunity to resolve issues and remain on the team. I can only guess that the said reasons for leaving were lies and that you girls wouldn't be playing even if the head coach of Notre Dame or Navy came to Wilkes. This is all childish behavior. I am ashamed to even be affiliated with your school the way you are carrying on about such nonsense. Coaches yell and shout and can be hard on you thats sports for you. If you girs have nothing better to do than harass your ex coach maybe you should look into some other hobbies such as bowling where you can only get mad at yourself if you have a poor game. It is clear by the comments left towards my original post that you the ex players are the disrespecful ones in this equation. You couldn't even take the fact that you couldn't count the number of negative posts left here that was a fact and you couldn't handle it. Whoever Jill is I have to agree with you on the parent comments, if there was a concern at any given time by a parent a professional letter or phone call should and would be the first step. If coaches are yelling at refs it is usually to protect the safety of the players. To all those on the remaining team I hope you disregard all this negativity and focus on having a great season.
GOOD LUCK WILKES LACROSSE

James Smith Jr.

Jill

Thu Feb 18 2010 02:49

Didn't you just contraindicate yourself by stating you quit playing lacrosse to coach a highschool team yet change your story to bash the coaching staff. Which one is it??? Why don't you stick to one story. I would assume with such a large number of highschool players and so little players on the Wilkes team that a clinic would be very inefficient and not beneficial for the young highschool players. You also stated that the old assistant coach was a good friend to players but you condone the head coach for doing something similar so why is it ok for one and not the other. This whole thing seems like a personal vendetta if I ever saw one I bet the number of negative responses will far excede the 20 people that quit and are still on campus how do we explain that. Just trying to get the facts straight since I may write my own article soon. If the current coach is so bad and evil why is there still a team at all? Clearly not all the girls from the previous year quit so the coaching staff must be doing somethihg right or is this a conspiracy. I would aslo like to know what Jedi mind tricks were being done to players. A coach saying "hustle hustle you can do better than that " is this what you consider mental abuse?? I have only seen 2 or 3 lacrosse games and coaches on both teams were yelling such things. This seems like a normal coaching tactic from what I have seen in any sport. If your parents spanked you when you were younger are you physically abused? I also highly doubt that any parents posted on this article. A grown up would or should have enough class to send a signed letter of concern to the AD and Head coach not post an anonymous statement on here. As far as you blaming the coaching staff for leaving comments I'm sure before this even hit the ground they were instructed to ignor such a discussion board if it was even seen by administration. Thanks for the clarification! Jill

Emily

Thu Feb 18 2010 00:57

Here is the res of my comments ....

If you want to know the honest truth, then look at all the comments that have been posted, many are team members (ex or not) that do not wish to identify themselves, which is understandable. If you do not feel that the players of a team are a good enough example, then look at the assistants and previous coaches. I can go into great detail but do not want to get others involved if they do not desire to be. On that note, all I can say is that the assistant coaches were the greatest coaches I have encountered due to the fact that they knew how to be a coach and friend at the same time. When I mention friend, I mean they knew how to teach/make you learn in a constructive way that was insightful and allowed you to be courageous in the game. Although once again, Kammie struck by making sure to put them down along with us at ever opportunity she had. Yes, Wilkes has always had a hard time holding numbers for the program, but as far as my knowledge this many have never stopped playing under one coach. The sport is lacking in the area, but that is just a candid way of avoiding the truth.

To the girls that spoke up in this article, I am proud and glad you did. I know you meant this all out of good intention. Yes, we have been waiting for this to be brought up to the public, not in order to bitch about it but in the fact that it needs to be brought to the public's eye. As stated numerous times, we did what we thought we could as a team to bring changes but nothing has prevailed. I hope this article and comments spark a light bulb in the athletic departments head in order to turn things around. I know this is not the only girls sport at Wilkes that has difficulties.

I may have graduated, but I still care. I believe in: once an athlete, always an athlete.

Emily

Thu Feb 18 2010 00:51

All I have to say is WOW!!! I can not believe that I was the second comment and it has gotten so far! I don't even know where to begin. I know who many of these anonymous repliers are just from reading their post. As the one mentioned below, I Coached the Back Mountain Lacrosse Team last spring upon my decision to not play for Wilkes my senior year, as I mentioned before. I loved every moment of it and it filled a void of sports but it did not fill the love of playing lacrosse that I still have. It is really unfortunate that Kammie has denied to accept the Back Mountain Lacrosse Team as part of her program. There is great potential there to to expand the sport and interest of girls that are curious what it is like to play in college. I as a coach could not support the fact that they wanted to play for Wilkes because of the abuse I put up with. I could however fathom playing lacrosse and any other sport in college, as it was my dream to continue sports, until I came to Kammie's World.As for you who say this is a bitching fest ... sorry but you have NO idea what it is like to play for her. AND for you who say this is why truly women should not play sports... you are WRONG again! I have 4 brothers and have played just about every sport there is for women offered. I have dealt, been tortured, and sucked up many attitudes, prides, and thoughts. So, please don't tell me this is a mans world. That is a bunch of Bull, and is the nicest way I can put it. My brothers even said it is not worth it when they heard what was going on. I can not tell you how many times I pretended that my ankle/any joint was ok to play with because if you didn't lie you were crucified for it. For the teacher that wrote about the SRS forms, a coach and a teacher are a little bit different. Each are allotted so many mistakes before action is taken. Obviously there is a significant number of complaints or issues that need to be looked at. I have never quit anything in my life until lacrosse and do not plan on deciding to with anything else in the future. I wish I told more girls NOT to join the team. Some recruits I did and others I did not, sorry to the ones I did not openly speak my mind. We all came into this program expecting great things but got a bad end of the stick. Never would I tell someone not to bother unless it is worth it and here it is not worth it. Kammie should have been thankful for the girls that came out only solely based on that fact that we needed girls in order to make a team. Sorry again to those that I told it was a good time. The only thing I can thank this dismantled of a coaching staff for doing is bringing us together and creating best friends I will never forget, due to the lack of their skills.I finally realized that the point to no return came when I would come home and my roommates and friends could see I was not happy. As many mentioned before, the audience, parents and non the less coaches/teammates from other teams asked us how we could deal with her as a coach. It didn't matter if we were winning or losing, we still got chewed out, mentally and verbally. I am going to state straight out that this has nothing to do with physical abuse. I would agree a lot more if she made us run for a mistake but that is not the case. Another factor that played into my decision is the statement that I made consciously yet jokingly in private to my teammates: "Lets face it girls, Coach just does not like me." The response: "Yea, sorry Em but she has something against You." That was enough said and done, to have my teammates see the struggle it brought between us. The mind games of he said she said, the guilt for doing something right, and guilt of going with your gut feeling all come into play. To the Editor.... Although I am on the opposing side of the coaches and AD, I think you did a very GOOD job on this article! You showed many different points of views here and did not take a side. This is clearly true that as many and I believe the Coach herself has written some of these comments. That is her way; manipulative mind games that turns everyone against each other. I have never been undermined and demeaned as a person until I came here. There is just way too many issues to address on here. What the article, the coach, and the AD won't tell you is that many of the players that decided not to play again could have or did graduate early, and may have transferred due to interest of study. Many would think those are good ideas, but in Kammie's World they are terrible and the worst thing you could do. Did you know that if you quit a sport you will become an alcoholic right away and not exceed? I didn't, but that is what I was told. For your information, I did even better when I got rid of the stress that was put on us by the coaching staff and I am currently in a semester of study beyond undergrad.If you want to know the honest truth, then look at all the comments that have been posted, many are team members (ex or not) that...

Anonymous

Wed Feb 17 2010 22:00

When I was interviewed for this article I had no intentions of bashing Wilkes or the lacrosse program. My main priority was to speak the truth. Some may say that we are speaking up a little too late, but I am happy to have the opportunity to tell everyone how it really is. I have played on the team for the past two years and experienced situations that I never thought I would have. Whether I was being verbally abused on the sidelines of the field or watching a fellow teammate cry after a encounter with coach, it was never a positive outcome. As the team developed a play for us not for her attitude we brought the season together. However, the mental and emotional abuse continued. I personally have had many experiences where I was threatened my starting position do to another players actions. Clearly coach could not hold responsibility for anyone including herself. I felt as if I was put into a situation where I felt like a coach as opposed to a player. I was meant to be a leader on the team, not a toy to manipulate.Coach deceived many people and played teammates against one another. Personal problems where carried onto the field and consumed our practices. Often I did not know what was going to happen at practice or the games, were we going to get the cool coach who tried to be our friend or the woman who would scream until her face turned red and brought tears to our eyes. The season seemed like an uphill battle between the coach and the team. At a number of games we were embarrassed by how coach acted whether she was yelling at the refs, screaming at us, or stomping away after the game not able to look at us in the face.The ladies on the team always played with heart from the time the whistle blew to the final count down of the game. No player should have been treated the way we were throughout the season. As gossip is expected on a woman's team, I never expected to hear it from the coach. A coach should be confident, level headed, and a positive role model for everyone on the team, unfortunately we did not receive this on the team.

As for Carissa I only hope that if you truly have any issues with the girls who have left the team that you would address them properly and not immaturely.

As for the excuse of lack of interest in lacrosse around the local areas, I personally know this is false. Coach has just denied Back Mountain Lacrosse and Dallas High School from participating in a lacrosse clinic. While both programs have participated in the clinic for the past two years. I know this information because I was offered to coach at Dallas. The coaching staff, school district, and more importantly the girls on the team are all extremely upset about this decision. The team is filled with 26 girls 7 of which are seniors who would like to play lacrosse in college.

For all the girls who remain on the team I wish you the best of luck in the upcoming season.

Anonymous

Wed Feb 17 2010 21:50

i bet freedom of speech asshole is carissa.

Brittney Hodnik

Wed Feb 17 2010 20:46

I know who you are anonymous below, and actually hosted me on my recruiting trip. I wish I could have known how bad it was going to be here or I may have chosen another school. Your story sounds eerily similar to situations still going on. The "don't play for her, play for us" mentality has continued every season since then it seems.

I agree with almost all of the complaints that have been posted here. I feel so much better explaining the situation and getting my thoughts out rather than just complaining aimlessly. Hopefully this time, the problems will be addressed. I know that the majority of the girls (including myself at first) were too intimidated or soft spoken to present the real reason they quit lacrosse: Because of the coaching staff. Whether those who have quit, graduated, or transferred have admitted it or not, coaching staff has been an issue since I started playing in the fall of 2007, and apparently, even before then.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side................. but it is when you're looking from a desert.

Anonymous

Wed Feb 17 2010 19:56

I am a former member of the 2007 lax team and have to agree with all the negative comments said about the "coaching staff." I have never played lax before in my life. The only reason why I played was because they needed players. We did not have a goalie so I tried it once or twice and liked it so I figured I would give it a try and ended up being the goalie the whole season. I enjoyed myself while playing and would have played the following year if it was not for the "coaching staff." Instead, I wanted to quite half way through the season because of the stress and the mental abuse I received every day by the coach. It was so bad sometimes I would actually be crying while the game was going on because I was not doing this right and not doing that right. How could I even focus when this was going on? Remember I have never played before so I was not going to be an all American like she was. There were two reasons why I stuck it out. One was the team and the second was Coach Julie Smith. The last 3 weeks I did not play for Kammie, I played for the team. I had made friends from the team and promised them I would stick it out. From there on out we would never listen to what she said. Instead we would pick one of the 5 of us to be the “coach” and whenever she would start to yell, we would look at each other and say remember, were doing it for us. If it wasn’t for those 4 girls, I would have quit. Coach Julie helped me to grow as a goalie. She was there for me every time Kammie would scream at me. She would help me to understand what I was doing wrong instead of standing on the side line screaming at me. If Julie was the coach I believe things would be much different. Instead, Wilkes lost Julie to a program where she would not have to put up with all the b/s she did when she was at Wilkes.
As for the AD and the SSR forms…I do not believe anything is being done at all with this. If they were truly being looked at Kammie would not still be the coach. I know personally in 2007 she did not receive good reviews and from the sounds of it she did not the following two years so if three years in a row there are bad comments, why isn’t something being done? This is not some kind of bitchfest at all. All of the comments that have been said I am sure are brought up in the SSR forms but the lax players are never heard from. We have even talk out AD about these problems but never any action happened.

My only hope is in the year to come something is done about this. I hate to these things happen to more girls. I am a coach now and I would never even think about treating my team the way she treated us. There is a fine line between yelling at a team for bad play/behavior and screaming at a team for this and Kammie is way over the line.

Anonymous

Wed Feb 17 2010 19:45

Dude at least I can count maybe its a good thing you people did quit the team so you can focus on your math. haha freedom of speech baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous

Wed Feb 17 2010 19:39

who the f are you, "dude you must be blonde"? get off this website because you are clearly not involved in this situation

Anonymous

Wed Feb 17 2010 16:03