In collaboration with the Wellbeing Council and the Athletics Department, the One Love Club hosted a dedicated lacrosse game on March 19 to raise awareness about unhealthy relationships. The game was played at home against Notre Dame High chool, with Marlborough taking the victory with a score of 19-4.
One Love is a national non-profit foundation dedicated to educating young people on healthy and unhealthy behaviors within a multitude of different relationships in order to help prevent emotional and physical harm. The organization was founded in 2010 by the family of Yeardley Love, a lacrosse player at the University of Virginia who was killed by her ex-boyfriend. The family learned that there were signs Love was in an abusive relationship that could have prevented her death. Therefore, they designed the non-profit to help teach and empower youths to recognize the signs of abusive relationships early on.
With hopes of spreading the message of One Love, Marlborough student representative and One Love club leader Maniya ’26 introduced the idea of a game-day dedication within the School community.
“One Love’s mission with any event that we host is to raise awareness and educate the community around us,” Maniya said. “We hope the Game Dedication Day event will remind people of why encouraging and fostering healthy relationships in all forms is so important.”
With the help of Health Education Department Head Nicole Beck, the Wellbeing Council and the lacrosse team, the plans for the dedication game came to life. To honor Yeardley Love and bring direct attention to the cause, the Marlborough lacrosse team, the visiting team, Notre Dame and the audience wore One Love merchandise while playing. Following the end of the game, there was a short broadcast to all attendees that described the organizations involved and their missions. Then players had the opportunity to sign a group poster with their name and one way they could support their teammates.
“The dedication game brings healthy relationship education to a different context because so often when we are only learning about it in health education or advisory, it typically stays in those spaces,” Beck said.” “If we bring it into a community event, like a lacrosse game, people can connect with it more.”
The game is not the only form of awareness that the One Love Club planned. They teamed with Morgan’s Message Club, which works to eliminate the stigma around mental health for student athletes. The clubs collaborated to host a workshop for the whole lacrosse team.
Maniya, co-Representative of Morgan’s Message Club Abby ‘26 and 10th Grade Wellbeing Representative, lacrosse goalie and co-Representative of the Morgan’s Message Club Aubrey ’26 led the workshop and informed players on healthy and unhealthy behaviors that can show up on teams while also providing real-life examples.
“All of the coaches were very receptive and engaged during the workshop, and asked great questions about how they could support their athletes,” Abby said.
One Love, Wellbeing Council, Morgan’s Message and Athletics Department members foresee the continuation of events like the dedication game and workshops with the players as a means to continue raising awareness for this topic.
“As far as sustainability of events like this, to me, my job as the advisor for both the Wellbeing Council and the One Love Club is to ensure that students feel empowered enough to continue to grab on to these events,” Beck said.
