Southampton Girls Lacrosse, Shinnecock Indian Nation Come Together To Celebrate The Sport

Earlier this season, Southampton girls lacrosse head coach Chelsea Reimer and sophomore Sa’Naya Morris spoke about the possibility of putting something together with the Shinnecock Nation, some sort of celebration to share Morris’s culture, not only with an opposing team, but with her own teammates.

After Reimer and Morris met with Shinnecock Council of Trustees Chairman Bryan Polite over Zoom to discuss the possibilities, it was finally set — the Shinnecock would come down prior to a game and speak about the sport that was created by the Iroquois Nation, but played by tribes throughout the country, and also perform an honoring song.

That game ended up being the season finale for Southampton on Thursday, May 12. Polite led members of the tribe to the center of the turf at Southampton and both teams, visiting Port Jefferson and Southampton, encircled them. Polite and multiple members of the tribe had a few words to say, then they performed their song.

“Lacrosse is a great game. I was actually a member of one of the first lacrosse teams around 1999, 2000,” Polite said in his opening remarks. “They asked us to speak about lacrosse and how it ties to our culture on Shinnecock. One of the biggest things is just acknowledging the land that you’re standing on is Shinnecock. That’s the first thing, is to acknowledge that we’re all on Shinnecock territory right now, so it’s an honor to be here with you guys again.

“The game of lacrosse originated with the Iroquois Nation, but all tribes on the East Coast played the game,” he explained. “Sometimes it was ceremonial, but also in preparation for battle. It was a game of intense rigor and teamwork and making sure that you as a team played as one. That was very important in battle, but also as a community to come together. So the game you guys are playing today is a community-building game, just remember that — that your team is a community, and you’re building it, not just to win, but to strengthen each other.”

Morris was unable to be reached for this article, but Reimer thought it was a great experience and eye-opening for girls on both squads.

“The look on some of their faces, from both teams, was very confused by what was going on, and that’s why we wanted to do this,” she explained. “A lot of them have never seen this, have never seen someone from the Shinnecock Nation and they don’t know the history behind it.”

What Reimer may have appreciated the most was Polite and fellow Shinnecocks’ messages during the ceremony, especially how, win or lose, you play for family and each other. The Mariners had a rough go of it in their first season back on varsity in 14 years, even in their final games of the season, suffering a 10-9 loss at Hampton Bays on May 10 before losing that final game to Port Jeff, 17-4, last week.

“We went through some crazy losses this season and as hard as those losses were, the girls did play with such honor and it was such an amazing thing and I’m so proud of them.”

Reimer said some of their issues stemmed from never really having a full squad, for whatever reason, for most if not all season. That meant the team’s midfielders were largely running up and down the field without being able to get substitutions or take any type of break. But that will only make the team better going forward, Reimer said, with a large portion of the team returning.

Only three starting seniors — Victoria Bennett, Isabelle Palumbo and Autumn Wilson — are graduating. Reimer specifically mentioned Palumbo as a big loss.

“Isabelle was a starter for me last year and that girl is amazing,” she said. “Being a senior with her confidence, she’s just an amazing person and athlete, and she gave me the confidence that we would be okay on varsity because I knew she would be there to help me out and getting the girls excited and wanting to win even in their first varsity season.

“But the seniors overall did a great job in keeping everyone positive amid some crazy losses,” Reimer continued. “It is our first varsity season and we tried our best to keep our chins up, and losing by 16 goals is not easy. But the girls never once didn’t want to be there. The seniors helped keep it fun, they organized team-bonding stuff with us. They were just great players and I’m definitely going to miss them, but I think they helped create something special by sticking around even through all of the losses. They helped us create a program that will hopefully down the road start to see some winning.”

The biggest thing going forward, Reimer said, is for the girls to stick with the sport year round, and she’ll be introducing offseason clinics and leagues in the coming weeks to help with that.

“I think our girls adjusted throughout the season to what it means to be a part of a varsity program — showing up no matter what, coming to practice ready to play,” she said. “If we had the numbers, we could have held our own with Port Jeff and Hampton Bays, but this summer I’ll be running a whole bunch of stuff to try and keep those sticks in their hands. There’s no reason why we can’t get more wins. The team is basically all juniors now so they will all be seniors and they’ll be coming in hot with something to prove.”

A video of the full Shinnecock Nation’s ceremony can be found with the article at 27east.com — Ed.