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Date: 6/13/2022
BELCHERTOWN – On June 24, the Belchertown Lacrosse Association and Owen W. Sedlacek foundation will be sponsoring the annual Belchertown Lacrosse Alumni game at Belchertown High School.
Starting this year and for years to come, event coordinator Amy Nee said the game will be played in honor of Owen, who passed away earlier this year.
“The BHS class of 2021 lost one of their own on January 16, 2022, when he died unexpectedly. After consulting the Tharion family and a representative of the class of 2020, we all unanimously agreed that this year’s alumni game, and all future alumni games, should be played in his honor and in his memory,” she said.
Carissa Sedlacek, Owen’s mother, discussed over email who Owen was and why the foundation was created.
“Owen demonstrated commitment in everything he did; determination in getting the job done; and character by being a role model to others. Owen’s hard work paid off by being recruited by Nazareth College to play lacrosse – his lifelong dream,” she said.
According to Carissa, the purpose of the foundation is to “Remind our young people to be strong and speak up if something doesn’t look right, make good choices and be there for their friends and teammates every day.”
Carissa said the foundation will give out scholarships to two students each year and this year the fall recipient was Francisco Moreira, and the spring recipient was Kiernan Corish.
Nee said the game will be free to the public, but donations will be collected for the Owen Sedlacek Memorial Fund. Nee added that the first alumni game was hosted in 2016.
“I would like to add that the Alumni game was originally started in 2016 by then head BHS lacrosse coach Patrick Nee at the request of then team player Mark Tharion. Mark lost his mother to cancer and he and his brothers (who had also played lacrosse for BHS) wanted to do something in her memory. We called it Stix for Chix, and all proceeds were sent to Dana Farber,” she said.
Along with honoring Owen, Nee said the plan is to celebrate the players who graduated in 2020.
“I remember personally promising the moms of our 2020 seniors that we would do everything in our power to bring back the game so that they could see their sons take the field one more time. The class of 2020 (Owen Palmateer, Jake Condon, Ethan Fellion, Landen Pease and Matthew Talbot) never got to take the field again after their junior season – and those families never got to enjoy their senior night. We hope to rectify that on June 24,” she said.
Nee said half of the proceeds from the 50/50 raffle would go directly into the memorial fund while the remaining half will be awarded as a cash prize for the winning ticket holder.
Belchertown Lacrosse Coach Nick St. George said this year’s alumni game is the first time it is happening since he became the coach after it was hosted in prior years by former Coach Patrick Nee. He also detailed some of the specifics of the game as well.
“The format for the game is going to be even years against odd years and the current high school players can play if they want to, and they would get matched up with the alumni by year also. I think it’s a great way for younger kids to meet some of the alumni and hear some stories about how the program started and where it’s come from,” St. George said.
St. George said more and more alumni are reaching out to sign up for to play in the game.
“Right now, it looks to be a good turnout, I would imagine we are going to be in the 20 to 30 range. I keep getting emails and text messages on an almost daily basis. We don’t have everybody that we’d like to have right now but people are speaking up in numbers,” he said.
After just two years with the program, St. George said he is looking forward to meeting players that came through the program before his time.
“From my standpoint I think it’s going to be a real interesting experience for me to connect the past to the future, I’ve only been the head coach for two years. There’s been a lot of progress in the program and a lot of players that have come through and I’m really looking forward to meeting people that were there before I was there,” he said.
Carissa said the game serves a couple of purposes.
“We hope to have as many lacrosse alums there as possible. Alumni games serve two purposes: reunite former BHS players for a fun night of lacrosse and fundraise in memory of those we love but lost,” she said.
Alongside the game there will be candy and drinks for sale along with pizza provided by Antonio’s. The festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. before the game itself starts at 6 p.m. at Belchertown High School.