For senior Skye Bradley, playing lacrosse is an important part of her life. Inspired to play by her brother, she has trained to play at all levels, from regional to national teams. Signing to play lacrosse at the University of Mount Olive, Bradley has a bright future planned.

Why do you like lacrosse?

“My brother started playing and we started throwing around,my parents got me all of the boy’s gear so that I could play with him and we got a goal and a rebounder. Then my dad asked me if I wanted to try it and I said yes and there were Boulder Valley girls lacrosse tryouts coming up because its a spring sport. They got me all girls stuff and my dad and my brother practiced with me. Then I went out there and played and got on the gold team, which is the varsity team for middle school. I have been playing ever since and I made varsity all four years and went on the spring break trip my freshman year.”

Are you playing after high school?

“I am going to college to play now  I am going to the University of Mount Olive in North Carolina.”

What is your favorite part of playing?

“Definitely I like being on a team, doing something that is bigger than myself. I mean I could go out there and play golf, I have all of the stuff to play, but I don’t have the patience for that and lacrosse keeps you on your feet and you have to think three or four plays a head. Being there with your team, they are my second family, everywhere I go. Being a part of something bigger than myself and when we win it is a huge team win and we can all celebrate together.”

Does playing with other schools help you respect the other teams?

“We are all very supportive of each other, and we will cheer for each other at meets.”

Is it weird being a girl in a male dominated sport?

“Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport. We don’t have a C Team and in Boulder Valley, we don’t have the huge program that we would like to see. We don’t have the depth to our program as [other schools like] Cherry Creek, they can field way more [girls]  than we can. They have more money and time to put into it that we can, so they have a bigger team.”

“I would like to see [the sport]  grow more than it is, and get more girls [playing].”

How is the season looking for the team?

We are ranked 8th on the west coast, and that came out in Lacrosse Magazine, but to me and our team numbers mean nothing. If you threw us in a championship game right now we wouldn’t win; we have never won a championship game and that is our goal, we are just not ready yet. We have a lot of new girls and nine seniors on the team, we are trying to help the freshman and sophomores come up and do well. They have really stepped up their game, today is our third day of conditioning and they are doing well.

What do you want people to know about lacrosse?

“Come support us, try it, it’s nothing like guys lacrosse. They are completely different sports. It requires so much more skill, and people say that it is an aggressive sport and it is, but it is something that is really fun if you give it a shot and you just try I will guarantee you love it.”

Are there Pros for girls?

“There are no pros for girls but we are all there to support each other and send each other off to college and where we need to be. Even though I said that it is the fastest growing sport, and it is, but it is also a very close knit family. [You learn to] never burn a bridge.”

What have you accomplished?

“I have been playing for going on five years and I have made the US National team, I made the Brine Nationals two years in a row and then I made the Brine Nationals All-Star team. That means that I was one of the top midfielders in the nation. I was selected out of my team to represent us and it was just so amazing.”