The Falcon Girls’ and Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse and Soccer teams have recently played dedication games in honor of the national non-profit organization “Morgan’s Message“. The organization is dedicated to former Duke lacrosse player Morgan Rodgers, who took her life due to the stress of being a student-athlete coming back from an injury and all of the pressure this causes.
According to the website morgansmessage.org, in January 2017, just before the beginning of her sophomore season, Rodgers suffered a dream-shattering knee injury. She spent the next 12 months determined to return to the field, undergoing surgery and dedicating herself to an intensive rehabilitation program. Morgan struggled with this change because she felt she had lost control of her life. As a result, her self-worth plummeted, and while she presented a strong, happy, and resilient face to her community, she could not help feeling that she was not living up to her expectations. Her feelings of isolation from the team and stress caused by other relationship issues accelerated the return of anxiety and depression. Rather than ask for help, Morgan chose to suffer in silence, keeping family and friends in the dark as she battled her mental health. As a result, Morgan took her life in July 2019 at the age of 22.
Girls’ Varsity Soccer and Lacrosse players junior Ava Dove and sophomores Harper Wilbright and Lainey Kimnach are the CHS ambassadors for “Morgan’s Message”, creating the school’s chapter. A few other schools in Virginia Beach have created chapters, including Kellam High School, First Colonial High School, CHS, and private school, Cape Henry Collegiate.
To raise awareness, Dove, Wilbright, and Kimnach collaborated with the school and coaches, designing posters and creating recognition tables at lacrosse and soccer games to spread awareness to players and their parents, promoting the importance of student-athlete mental health in the world of a student-athlete at all levels of sports. “Morgan’s Message” dedication games will be utilized to promote the student-athlete mental health message in the future and look forward to implementing the new tradition.
In addition to shedding light on what “Morgan’s Message” is about, each team was offered the opportunity to dedicate a loved one or friend to be mentioned in remembrance of their life and the impact each of these people had on their community.
Last week the Falcons each played a home dedication game in honor of “Morgan’s Message”. The school’s girls and boys lacrosse teams battled against the Knights of Kellam, while the girls and boys soccer teams played their own games against the Dolphins of Ocean Lakes.
“The Morgan’s Message” dedication game was a great way to play for something bigger than the sport itself, and that night I played for those who don’t have the opportunity anymore,” boys lacrosse senior captain Christian Braithwaite said.
Dove is personally invested in “Morgan’s Message”. Once a talented soccer player rising quickly in the ranks to a young student-athlete with torn ACLs, surgeries, recoveries, and the pressure to return, she was left in a dark place mentally.
“Morgan’s Message is something that I hold very close to my heart and I am beyond excited to be introducing it to all my peers. Seeing everyone come together and wanting to make a change brought such a big smile to my face. Executing the dedication games was the cherry on top. The turnout was so much greater than I imagined and it could not have been done without the help of our volunteers. I cannot wait to have more of these events and continue to break the stigma alongside everyone,” Dove said.
