Local GLAX Club Helps Send Girls to College

It all started just three years ago with 14 high school girls and a graduate who wanted to provide opportunities for the future.

And with hard work, dedication and an accommodating attitude, Aftershock Lacrosse was born, expanded and now has hopes to thrive.

Jennifer Medaglia created the program as a non-profit girls lacrosse summer clinic. Initially, she was in contact with a boys program that wanted to expand. However, the cost of about $1,000 for two months in the summer was just too high for many area girls to join. Medaglia ran the program for a summer and realized she wanted to make something that was a bit more reasonable.

"I would go to high school games and see all different girls because my daughter was playing at the time," Medaglia explained. "She's at Alvernia now. So, I would see these players and see girls and approach them about the program. The common theme was they'd love to play but when they found out how much, they weren't able to do it."

The next summer, Medaglia recruited 14 high school-aged girls to form a team and play in tournaments. What she didn't know was how successful the recruitment process would be from year one to year two.

"After that summer ended in the fall, we held tryouts and started to get the word around," said Medaglia. "The second summer, we had three teams - 2011 (all girls going into senior year), freshman team, and a middle school team. Within that little bit of a jump, we were able to build three teams."

The next step was to hire coaches to supplement Kristen Mayberry, a Pottstown High School and East Stroudsburg University graduate, and current head coach at Pottsgrove.

"Her and I have been together from the beginning," said Medaglia. "She's always been there to help me coach. The first year, nobody got paid. The second year, I was able to pay the coaches. I hired six coaches and they're all girls from the community."

In that second year, there were about 60 high school girls training with Aftershock and 40 younger girls, ranging from kindergarten through eighth grade.

This year, the enrollment is at just about 70 so far, with the sport really growing in the area. The interesting thing about the program is flexibility in payment.

"That's the idea behind the program, because when I was looking for programs for my daughter, it was like $1200-1300 for two months in the summer," Medaglia said. "Now, I was lucky enough that I could afford that, but there's so many other people that can't afford that, especially now. That was years ago, but now, people are getting laid off and I don't want anyone to not be able to play because they can't afford it."

The total cost of the program for high school kids is $650 for the summer and $350 for the summer for middle school kids. That covers uniforms, three tournaments and the coaching staff. However, the team works on a case-by-case basis. The clinics are held in Phoenixville and Collegeville.

Along with PAC-10 athletes, Aftershock has also seen participants from North Penn, Upper Merion, Souderton, Dallas and Holy Cross (Delran, N.J.).

Another big stipulation to Aftershock is the team cohesion policy.

"I'm a lacrosse parent and I know what high school lacrosse is like," said Medaglia. When you're paying, you don't want to deal with [drama]. You have to deal with it in high school, you don't want to deal with it in the summer. We don't really go for that.

"Our big thing is we have kids from everywhere and they all get along. If they don't get along, because sometimes they don't, we nip it before it becomes a big deal. We do team building events throughout the year. We've done ice skating at Center Ice, bowling at Limerick, Arnold's. So, they're spending a few hours together outside of lacrosse. I think that really helps. We spend the time to make sure they're building team cohesion. All through the year, we want them to get to know each other, because the more they know each other off the field, the better they'll play together on the field."

The girls also volunteer together, including efforts with Cradles for Crayons and clothing drives. There are also talks about volunteering at a soup kitchen in West Chester and even helping out at Open Door in Royersford.

Medaglia and her team even help girls with the college process, assisting with player resumes, references and National Honors Society recommendations. All-in-all, Aftershock has helped 18 girls go to college to play lacrosse, some even getting scholarships.

"I know every single kid well enough that I can do that, even though I don't coach every single team," Medaglia said. "I take the time to understand them as people, because it's important as a teenage girl to have somebody they can go to to give them an unbiased opinion on things. Sometimes you can't go to your mom about things because you know she'll tell you your awesome. We give constructive criticism, but we don't scream at them. That's not my style, because I wouldn't want somebody to say that to my kid. That's a big draw to the program."

Overall, the program is designed to provide a great experience for girls from all walks of life, and Medaglia is excited for even further expansion in the future.

"The drive for me in this program is making the same experience accessible to everybody, no matter what their background is," she concluded. "Today, you have to have somebody providing you with opportunity. That's all there is to it."