Detroit split scrimmages against Notre Dame and Bellarmine this weekend in Chicago -- a 11-9 defeat of the Knights and a 15-7 loss to the Irish -- but, despite the fact that Titans head coach Matt Holtz only talks about those items in the above-video, it wasn't the biggest thing that Detroit did this past weekend. That actually rests on the fact that the Titans, along with Notre Dame and Bellarmine, did some real good in a really tough place:
While the day provided all three teams with a chance to see some game action in the fall, Saturday was more of celebration of the game and giving back to the community. After the Titan-Fighting Irish contest closed out the scrimmage session, each team had a number of student-athletes and coaches put on a free lacrosse clinic for all kids in the 8th grade or younger. The children learned some of the basic skills of the game in the clinic, conducted right on the field.
While certain student-athletes were working the clinic, the rest of the teams took to a community service project involving the up-keeping of the local high school. All three Catholic Universities came together to help clean, paint and perform general projects for the school in conjunction with the Playing For Peace motto. The Playing for Peace initiative seeks to answer this call from Pope John Paul II by using the platform of sport to transcend boundaries and bring people together in the pursuit of peace, justice and human understanding.
College lacrosse takes a beating for being a knucklehead culture, built on a perception -- both rightly and wrongly in various instances -- that has come to surround the game. It's great that these schools went out and did some good this weekend, not only to show these players what life is like for those that are less fortunate, but also to give a little context to the college experience and the value of increasing the strength of the world in totem with just a little bit of effort. These types of things are important for the game -- as important as spreading actual play -- and goodwill, more than anything, is the gospel to which other acolytes will join the movement.