US Lacrosse and One Love Foundation Join Forces
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BALTIMORE, April 27, 2015 — US Lacrosse, the national governing body of men’s and women’s lacrosse, and the One Love Foundation in honor of Yeardley Reynolds Love announce agreement on a new strategic alliance to promote positive, healthy and violence-free relationships and a safe sport culture. The two organizations will work together to increase awareness of relationship violence and provide educational resources and messaging for the lacrosse community.
The One Love Foundation strives to eliminate relationship violence by engaging audiences through compelling and powerful educational content. The mission of the organization is to empower young people as the critical leaders in a movement for change and to mobilize a generation towards a brighter future where relationship violence is far less prevalent.
Initial platforms for collaboration between the two organizations include increased visibility and awareness of relationship violence through the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams, utilization of US Lacrosse’s 67 regional chapters to deploy and facilitate screenings of the One Love Foundation’s film, Escalation, and providing on-site access for the One Love Foundation at selected US Lacrosse events, including the annual National Convention.
“Through this partnership, US Lacrosse and One Love hope to further educate and inform players, coaches, parents and all others that are touched by our game about the importance of having positive, healthy and violence-free relationships. We believe that creating educational opportunities and stimulating important conversation on this issue among students and adults can empower both men and women to be catalysts for change in their communities,” said Melissa Coyne, director of games administration at US Lacrosse.
“The entire lacrosse community, from youth teams to Division I powerhouses, has been supportive of One Love since its earliest days, and we are thrilled to expand and fortify that relationship on the national level,” said Sharon Robinson, vice chair of the One Love Foundation. “As a lacrosse coach, I am proud that US Lacrosse is taking a leadership role in addressing relationship violence head on and recognizes this epidemic as an important off-the-field issue. Their efforts will help to ensure that we stop preventable tragedies – like that which cut my cousin Yeardley’s life short – before it’s too late. ”
US Lacrosse is committed to creating a safe sport culture and seeks to recognize and promote One Love’s nationally recognized programs to positively impact the lacrosse community. Expanded delivery of One Love’s powerful Escalation workshop throughout US Lacrosse’s national membership will serve as one of the key strategies in the ongoing collaboration.
About US Lacrosse
US Lacrosse, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, is the national governing body of men’s and women’s lacrosse and the home of the nation’s fastest-growing sport. US Lacrosse has more than 450,000 members in 67 regional chapters across the country. Through responsive and effective leadership, US Lacrosse provides programs and services to inspire participation while protecting the integrity of the sport. Bookmark, like and follow US Lacrosse at uslacrosse.org, fb.com/uslacrosse and @uslacrosse, respectively.
About the One Love Foundation
The Yeardley Reynolds Love Foundation was created in 2010 to honor the memory of Yeardley Love, a senior lacrosse player at the University of Virginia who was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend. The vision of the Foundation is to educate people to recognize the warning signs of relationship violence and to motivate them to step up and take action. The Foundation is popularly known as One Love, with “One” representing the uniform number that Yeardley wore throughout her high school and college career. More information about the One Love Foundation can be found at www.joinonelove.org/.