It’s not just stamina and stick work, or draw controls and defensive footwork, that make the Randolph-Macon Women’s Lacrosse program successful. Selflessness through community service is one of the team’s core strengths. 

“One of our team practices is gratitude,” head coach MK Geratowski explained, “and we ask our team to practice that every day. They know, because we talk about it so much, that it is a privilege for them to be able to play on this team and go to Randolph-Macon, and that not everyone has that privilege. Because they are so blessed and able to do all these things, we feel it’s really important for them to give back.”

Geratowski was heavily influenced by the community service she took part in during her own collegiate experience at Elmira College. She and her college teammates cheered local students on as they entered school to get them excited about learning, pitched in at the food bank, and even laid concrete at an animal shelter. The expectation is that giving back will become a lifetime practice for the Yellow Jackets.

“We want players to come out of our program with more than just having had a great four-year athletic experience,” Geratowski added. “We want them to leave here better people. To have done community service in college and have that be the norm, we hope that’s a practice they continue. In their professional life, they can bring that to their office, or, if they become coaches, they can bring that to their next team as well.”

The extensive work of the Women’s Lacrosse Team has garnered notice on campus and in the community, and now, national recognition. The Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) recently awarded Randolph-Macon College the 2021 IWLCA Community Awareness Team Award for Division III. The Yellow Jackets also won the award in 2014 and 2015.

Team Spirit

One service project that has been constant through Geratowski’s time at RMC has been the team’s “We Play for Relay” game to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

“Everyone knows someone who’s been affected by cancer,” Geratowski said, adding that she and multiple athletes have had someone close to them diagnosed with cancer. “We were the No. 1 fund-raising team on campus for multiple years. This past year was our eighth year holding the game. We didn’t skip the COVID year. We did our own relay virtually instead.”

For nearly the same amount of time, the Yellow Jackets have joined Team Impact, adopting Allie Jones as an honorary team member.

“In the fall of 2015 we held Allie’s Draft Day,” Geratowski said. “It’s amazing to think that she’s been a part of the team that long. It’s been a great experience for her and for all our girls as well.” 

“Allie has mitochondrial disease which affects how she makes and stores energy,” Allie’s mother, Amanda, explained. “Not just the get-up-and-run-around energy you think about when you think about kids, but the individual cells’ energy, the energy her cells need to make her organs function for things like breathing and digestion.”

During her time as an honorary member of the team, Allie has had two major surgeries and experienced multi-organ failure and other challenging health conditions. Throughout it all, she has attended practices, games, and activities with the lacrosse team, and her mother credits Yellow Jacket spirit with helping her to push through the pain. 

“We are all obsessed with her,” expressed senior Lily Henderson. “This is so incredible that we are able to have this opportunity to have little Allie on our team.” 

Because she is immunocompromised, Allie was not able to see the team during the pandemic, but they still found ways to connect. This year, this included weekly FaceTime calls and encouraging her to try new foods that might help her to grow. “We all pledged as a team that we would all try a new food as well,” Geratowski disclosed. “We got to send her pictures of all of us trying different things. I even did it. I had collard greens and I’m not saying they are my favorite, but I showed Allie that I was willing to try it for her.”

“Not discounting her amazing and dedicated medical team, her Yellow Jacket team has helped her overcome, thrive, and survive,” her mother said. 

Serving the Community and Beyond

The Women’s Lacrosse Team’s service has extended across the world, in a variety of ways. 

This fall, Henderson credits the experience of collecting toiletries to donate to the Hanover Safe Place for helping the team ease back into a sense of normality after a period of uncertainty. Assistant Women’s Lacrosse Coach Ashley Lizzi came up with the project as an extension of the team’s Galentine’s Day activities.

“It was a great way for us to re-center ourselves, to get back to that team bonding and that value of selflessness that we have practiced,” Henderson said.

Over the years, the team has had the opportunity to partner with many local organizations. This past fall, the players worked with Literacy Nights by selecting and sharing their favorite books. They have volunteered at the Richmond Food Bank, worked with Feed More and the local branch of Habitat for Humanity, and also assisted their Ashland neighbors during The Big Event. 

The Yellow Jackets have even completed community service overseas. On the team’s trip to Ireland and Portugal in 2019, they held a Grow the Game Lacrosse Clinic for nearly 20 athletes with no lacrosse experience, many of whom spoke little English.

“Having been a part of the Women’s Lacrosse Team has allowed us to be involved with and give back to the Ashland and Richmond communities,” co-captain Erin Mattone ’21 said. “As a team, we take so much pride helping our community flourish. Whether we are collecting items for a food drive or working at a local soup kitchen packing food, it allows our team to form closer bonds outside lacrosse while hopefully enriching the lives of others.”