The Georgia club women’s lacrosse team isn’t afraid of a little rain.

But that may not matter if the Georgia Athletic Department won’t let them use the football team’s turf practice field this weekend as the lacrosse team tries to host its A-Town Throwdown tournament this weekend.

With a high likelihood of showers this weekend, the lacrosse team asked the Athletic Department if it could use the practice field, across from Stegeman Coliseum, if rain forces the team off the Intramural fields.

According to junior lacrosse player Bethany Kotun, the Athletic Department’s response was no for Friday and Saturday.

“I talked to [Assistant Athletic Director, in charge of Facilities] Charlie Whittemore Wednesday morning and I explained our situation,” Kotun said. “We never really came to them asking for that favor before.”

Kotun said Whittemore gave the team a no-go for Saturday, since the Gym Dogs have a home meet at 4 p.m., and that parking could be a problem.

“He gave us a definite no for the fields on Saturday, there’s a Gym Dogs meet and parking would be a mess,” Kotun said. “Having that many people in a small area would have been problem.”

With parking a problem, lacrosse team member Aileen Thomas, a senior statistics major, said the team talked with Campus Transit to set up a bus to transport the teams from the Intramural fields to the turf practice field, to help solve the parking problem.

“We looked into transit, getting a bus, but [Whittemore] said people are going to park where they want,” Thomas said.
In addition, Kotun said Whittemore told them Friday was off as well, saying the games – which start at 6 p.m. – start too late and that there wouldn’t be anyone there to supervise.

“I don’t know, I don’t know if he wanted to be there himself or someone on staff,” Kotun said. “I know he wanted custodial workers there, someone to open or close the gates. I didn’t know we had to be watched over.”

Efforts to reach Whittemore were unsuccessful Thursday night.
The A-Town Throwdown is scheduled to host teams from all over the country, including top-ranked Colorado, defending champion Colorado State, Minnesota and Michigan State among others. Kotun said that if it rains, the University’s Recreational Sports department won’t allow them to play on the Intramural fields, due to legalities.

“We even proposed having teams sign waivers that the University wouldn’t be liable for anyone being hurt,” Kotun said.
Club lacrosse president Elaine Kelch said an estimated $150,000 of expenditures have been spent within all the teams traveling to Athens for the weekend.

“[The Athletic Department] may not recognize us as a legit sport but the teams that are coming aren’t going to look at us with a great reputation,” Kelch said.

If the lacrosse team needs a field to play on, rain or shine, it may have to travel to Atlanta or Alpharetta. Kotun, a graduate of Milton High School in Alpharetta, said she was in contact with Milton to see if the team could use their turf field if necessary.

The weather forecast looks worse for Saturday, which has 10 games scheduled, than for Friday, so Kotun said they are going to try to get as many games in as possible. Even if that means beginning the games earlier than the scheduled 6 p.m. start.

Kotun did say that Whittemore told them Sunday would be available if needed. The only problem is many of the teams that flew in have scheduled flights Sunday afternoon.
While this is a pressing matter for the lacrosse team, Kotun said she can only keep her fingers crossed and hope that this all turns into a non-issue.

“I am frustrated because we have no control over the weather, and we were hoping for the best weather possible,” Kotun said. “I’m just holding out hope.”