Will Jeffery, the new men’s lacrosse head coach, is increasing the amount of community service the program participates in, with hope to rebuild the foundation of the team. Jeffery is the third head coach the team has had in the last four years.

“The big goal is continuity for these guys,” Jeffery said. “They’ve had a new coach, since I [was a GBS student], every year or two. I can’t [prove continuity] in one year, but that’s the goal to be here for these guys [in the long run].”

Jeffery said that some of the goals of this service include perspective, camaraderie, responsible usage of resources and image. The team packed food at Feed My Starving Children, collected cans for the GBS canned food drive, worked with Outreach With Lacrosse in Schools (OWLS) and volunteered at  Cornerstone Community Outreach.

According to Athletic Director Steven Rockrohr, the athletic office requires each varsity team to “go beyond sports.” Rockrohr explained that this consists of service projects similar to those the lacrosse team has done.

“[Jeffery] is doing this out of the goodness of his heart and for what is good for the lacrosse program and what is good for [the players],” Rockrohr said.

According to sophomore John Casey, an eye opening experience for him was the OWLS event, when they played lacrosse with inner city kids to encourage them to engage in activities such as athletics.

“Coming from the North Shore, we live in a bubble, and being able to leave that bubble was really eye opening,” Casey said. “It showed us the reality of life and that not all people are living in big houses, don’t have to worry about money and can go on spring break vacations every year. Life’s not easy.”

Senior Captain McLain Murphy predicts that the volunteer service will help bring a sense of humbleness onto the field.

“When we go on the field we don’t want to be overconfident, and I think these service projects we went on [helped] us self- check one another and, in a way, become more humble,” Murphy said. “The way we carry ourselves and the way we act [has changed], because we know people live lives that are a lot worse than we do.”