By Sara Page, Midlothian Exchange
spage@midlothianexchange.com

Talk with Sue Murphy and it’s easy to see she’s passionate about the sport of lacrosse, particularly girls’ lacrosse. The former All-American player and Division I coach clearly gets a little frustrated when talking about the lack of girls’ programs in local colleges and high schools in the state, but she’s determined to help grow the game in the area. She’s doing it one camp, clinic and team at a time.

Murphy started Premier Lacrosse three years ago while coaching at the University of Richmond. The idea was simply to spark an interest in lacrosse for girls in the area though competitive opportunities, world-class coaching and just putting sticks in their hands. Interest grew fast enough that Murphy now concentrates full time on the club teams and on putting on camps and offering clinics in three different areas including Richmond.

“Obviously, with the hours I was putting in as a full time coach, I wasn’t really able to focus on this, so I ran it as more of a summer time type program, but I’m actually with my club team [year round] now, so I run club, camps and clinics,” Murphy said.

The goal behind all three ventures is to expose girls to the sport as economically as possible while providing them the best learning environment possible. All coaches for Premier Lacrosse are folks who either played or coached with Murphy at the Division I level.

“I have my four-time, All-American, who’s on staff, I have my assistant, who was a two-year captain for me … A lot of them are All-American [players]. They’re great players and they’re great girls. They’re great teachers. It’s a beyond-quality staff, and I like to keep it that way … I think it’s important that people get what they’re paying for,” Murphy said.
Murphy herself boasts a pretty impressive playing and coaching record.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Murphy was a four-sport athlete in high school and was recruited to play field hockey and lacrosse at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She earned All-American lacrosse and field hockey honors in both high school and college. She left sports for a while after college but eventually came back, first as a high school coach, then eventually as a Division III coach at Muhlenberg College. From there, she jumped to Division I where she started the women’s lacrosse program at Boston University.

“In three years we were top 10 [in the country],” Murphy said. “I stayed there for seven years and then moved down to [the University of] Richmond and started that program, and we were top 10 within three years as well … I think the biggest sell here is the staff, the quality of the staff at a very reasonable price.”

Most of the programs in the Richmond area use the Steward School athletic facilities. The club team is run like an AAU or travel team where there are regular practices and travel to tournaments out of state. They also hold four of their own tournaments in the Richmond area and there are no try-outs for the team.

“No try-outs, not yet … I’m not cutting. I want these girls to play and I will develop them and that’s my line. You will be different when you end the season with me and I’m confident in my ability. If girls have a passion and they want to play, we’ll make it happen,” Murphy said.

Murphy has also been busy this lacrosse season running camps and clinics at schools and other clubs around the state.

“I put a lot of volunteer miles on my car this spring,” Murphy said. “I think that if you want people to understand you and what you’re about, it’s important for you to go work with the girls … The coaches in the area, I’m very open. ‘Here’s playbooks, here’s drills, what do you need?’ They come to camps for free.”

Murphy makes Premier Lacrosse very flexible. She works with kids and families, who have other commitments, by giving prorated fees for the time they are able to attend camps or be part of the club. She even lets teams that want to organize for her in-town tournaments borrow coaches. Bottom line, she just wants girls’ lacrosse to grow in the area, and she’ll do whatever it takes to get the word out and sticks in hands.

“It’s like basketball, if you’re going to be more than OK at basketball, you’ve got to play more than three months a year. You’ve got to get out in the driveway and shoot … I think that the girls in the area are really starting to find that same passion for lacrosse,” Murphy said.

“I broke through in Boston,” she added. “When I started this in Boston, I even ran a summer league there, and I remember in my summer league, we had two teams and by the time I left, we had 350 girls and women playing lax on a given Sunday, all ages, and it was amazing. Camp went from 30 kids to 300 … People want information; they want to learn and grow, so I think we can do the same thing here. It takes a little time. You can’t expect a lot in the beginning. If it means I run a camp of 20 or 30 kids, so what? I’ll run it, and those kids will get a lot out of it.”

For more information on the camps, clinics and club teams at Premier Lacrosse visit their Web site or call Murphy at (804) 385-9842.