Can you imagine running down the field in a skirt that goes down to your knees?

Some women athletes almost know what this feels like. In 1926, the first girls’ lacrosse team ever was created. Their uniforms were long, loose pleated dresses that came down to their knees and they wore long-sleeved white shirts under their dresses.

Back in the 1950’s, many girls were participating in sports such as volleyball, soccer, cheer leading, and basketball. Although those are very different sports, they once had one thing in common: Girls were required to wear long, pleated skirts that reached just above their knees.

Today, girls who play sports like field hockey and lacrosse still wear skirts, even in a culture where girls wear shorts and pants. The tradition of girls wearing only skirts and boys wearing pants and shorts hasn’t been popular for decades.

However, at Wilde Lake, the girl’s lacrosse team continues with the skirt-only uniform.

“The thing is, the standard for girl’s lacrosse is skirts. It’s not a county wide policy, but it’s more of an establishment,” said Coach Williams, the varsity coach.

“Every three years, the coach at the time orders new uniforms and he or she decides if they wear skirts or shorts for the next three years,” said Williams.

Kelsey Diven, formerly on the varsity team said, “We never really got a choice with the last Wilde Lake lacrosse coach. He decided that he wanted us to continue the tradition of wearing skirts, so that’s the new uniform we got.”

Victoria Morgan, a sophomore playing on the JV lacrosse team, admits her dislike for the lacrosse skirts and says she wishes that she was allowed to wear shorts.

“They’re uncomfortable. When you’re running they ride up your legs and you start paying more at- tention to pulling your skirt down than to the game,” said Morgan.

Desmyn Stevenson, also a sophomore on the JV lacrosse team, says that even though she doesn’t mind having to wear the skirts, she would prefer not to.

“The skirts give us more of a free range of motion if they’re a bigger size, but if they’re too small you can barely move at all. I would prefer it if we wore shorts, it would make playing easier,” said Stevenson.

Another requirement is that players have to wear spandex un- der their skirt or else they are not allowed to play. If the girls forget to bring their spandex to a game, they have to sit on the bench for the duration of the game.

Some of the girls expressed their dislike for this rule.

“I hate the fact that if I don’t bring my spandex, I can’t play. It’s annoying and it wouldn’t be a problem if we were allowed to wear shorts,” Amanda Daughtry, a sophomore on Varsity said.

If the girls wore shorts , then wearing spandex wouldn’t be as big of a deal. Although spandex are still part of the uniform, you wouldn’t be forced to sit out of the game if you forget to wear them under your shorts.

In girls’ lacrosse, athletes continue to wear skirts because of tradition. However, some schools are allowing girls to wear shorts.

Mt. Hebron is one school that opted to switch from the traditional skirts to shorts.

Tradition is an important part of life. Girls used to wear skirts because skirts were symbols of femininity and modesty, but as the years go on, less and less girls follow this tradition. The assump- tion that because you’re a girl, you should wear skirts, is not as com- mon now as it once was.

Since the last time the lacrosse team got new uniforms was last year, they will have to wait another two years before they can decide if they are going to continue with the tradition of wearing skirts or not.

“If I am still coach when it comes time to order the new uniforms, I will leave it up to the team to decide if they want to wear skirts for another three years or if they want to make the change to shorts,” said Coach Williams.

She admits that she doesn’t want to force the girls to continue wearing the skirts if they don’t want too. “It’s their choice,” said Coach Williams.