4 The Future Foundation practiced with the inaugural Cherokee High School club lacrosse team at Ray Kinsland Stadium on the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 8. They are shown, left to right, back row – Richard Bottchenbaugh, Ella Sokol, Sara Toineeta, Brandon Santiago, Christian Malloy, Jeremy Thompson, Lucas Wildcat, Journey Watty, Jonattan Escobar, Johnathan Saylor, William Ellwood, Kaimare Eaglestar; front row – Ayla Ross, Addi Taylor, Ayosta Lossie, Julia Gonzalez, Kyle Wilke, Dominic Williams, and Javon Long. (BROOKLYN BROWN/One Feather photos)
By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather Reporter
CHEROKEE, N.C. – On the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 8, Jeremy Thompson of the Thompson Brothers’ 4 The Future Foundation (4TFF) and Stacy Smith Ledford, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and executive director of 4TFF, stepped onto the field at Ray Kinsland Stadium for practice with the inaugural Cherokee High School (CHS) club lacrosse team.
Thompson is a professional lacrosse player for Georgia Swarm in the National Lacrosse League and New York Atlas in the Premier Lacrosse League. He is the vice president of 4TFF alongside his brothers Lyle Thompson, President of 4TFF; Jerome “Hiana” Thomspon, Secretary of 4TFF; and Miles Thompson, Treasurer of 4TFF, all of whom are professional lacrosse players from the Onondaga Nation. The foundation works to grow the game of lacrosse, particularly in Indigenous communities where the traditional roots of the game were forged.
Jeremy Thompson and Johnathan Saylor
In serving as executive director of the foundation, Ledford felt it was only right to bring 4TFF home to her tribal community. “I know the natural talent that we have with our Cherokee students. We have students that aren’t football players, we have students that aren’t basketball players, but almost every single one of these kids wants to play stickball. In our partnership with US Lacrosse, when they approached me, they said, ‘Do you have a community in mind?’ And I knew exactly where I wanted to be,” she said. “I wanted to find a way to connect our stickball game with lacrosse, knowing that they’re similar, but they’re different. When we had our workshop in April, it was important for me to help the students and the community understand that we’re not trying to replace stickball, we’re not trying to take over our medicine game, but we want to provide an outlet for our students to have another sport that they could potentially take into college, or even professionally.”
Thompson is excited for the future of lacrosse in Cherokee. “The goal is always to field a team and build some type of league around that. It starts with a team, and the more you can develop that in these communities and help aid that, it helps to grow the sport of lacrosse. I’m excited to be in this part of lacrosse where it’s still developing and still young, and I’m just excited to be a part of a small piece of that.”
Thompson led the team through a series of drills alongside Head Coach Kyle Wilke, CHS SPED Occupational Course of Study teacher, and Assistant Coach Richard Bottchenbaugh, CCS Cherokee Language instructor. Wilke played club lacrosse at Western Carolina University and was an assistant lacrosse coach at William Penn University.
Bottchenbaugh has never played lacrosse, but he was immediately intrigued by the game. “I was on board just because of all the opportunity it can bring. It’s not replacing our game, but in a way, it is our game and what better way to implement this into our school system and get us closer in touch with our roots,” he said. “We have a professional athlete here right now working with us. How blessed we are to have that kind of opportunity, and not to mention a Native American professional player taking time out of his busy schedule to help us.” As a language instructor now coaching many of the students in his class, Bottchenbaugh is finding ways to incorporate the language into the game. “We are already giving commands like line up, hustle, move, catch it. Even when we break, instead of ‘1, 2, 3, braves’, we say, ‘Sogwo, Tali, Tsoi, Tsalagi’!”
Javon Long, Brandon Santiago, William Ellwood, and Journey Watty go for a ground ball.
Jae Winchester, director of the Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center, appreciates the cultural roots of the game and the new opportunities it provides CHS students. “Along with the cultural connections that we obviously have to the game of lacrosse, we’re also hitting a demographic of student athletes who may not typically play football, baseball, things of that nature. We’re able to get more kids involved in something they can look forward to; it’s a new activity to keep them busy and productive.”
With 50-60 middle school students interested in playing, Winchester and Wilke anticipate developing a CMS team as well. For now, the CHS teams are preparing for their inaugural spring season, which will feature exciting travel to Georgia Swarm for “Grow the Game” night and American Indian Heritage night at the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Ga.
The roster is still open. CHS students are encouraged to come to practice at the soccer field on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:05 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Lacrosse sticks will be provided. Contact Head Coach Kyle Wilke at kyle.wilke@ccs-nc.org for more information.
