The Redwood girls lacrosse team has partnered with the One Love Foundation, a non-profit organization aiming to spread awareness about healthy relationships among students with a tribute game dedicated to One Love.  

The One Love Foundation was founded in 2010 after Yeardley Love, a lacrosse player at the University of Virginia, was brutally killed by her ex-boyfriend. Her family created the organization in hopes to educate people on healthy relationships after her tragic incident. 

Nate King, the youth leadership manager at One Love said, “Following the tragedy, her parents and her family decided that they wanted to start this foundation to hopefully educate students moving forward, so that if they find themselves in a similar position they might be able to know who to reach out to and be able to spot the signs of an abusive relationship…”

Each year, Redwood and Branson have a game in honor of One Love to raise awareness and provide a better understanding about the foundation’s motives.

The One Love dedication game was started last year by Redwood Sophomore Riley Buck and Branson Sophomore Lila Spaly. 

After last year’s game, Julie Myers, former University of Virginia women’s lacrosse coach and CEO of One Love, came to Branson and spoke about the organization and its mission. 

A member of the Redwood lacrosse team reflects on this event and shares their experience. 

“I think it’s really cool to learn about this stuff, ” said sophomore, Riley Buck. “We should learn about this too and not just lacrosse. I think it should be taught all over the school because it’s really important because a lot of people don’t know about healthy relationships.”

These topics aren’t taught enough and don’t receive the recognition it deserves. King elaborates on their importance in the education curriculum.

 “The content that we are teaching and bringing into the classroom is just as important as academic content…and the conversations that our workshops bring into the classroom are ones that are otherwise not part of the curriculum,” King said.

In the past 10 years, One Love has grown exponentially, with almost 200 clubs in different areas nationwide.

“We’ve seen the numbers of students that can recognize the signs of an unhealthy relationship go up. If students are able to recognize the signs, then it’s less likely that they themselves will be in an unhealthy relationship in the future,” King said. 

Redwood sophomore Mira Nass said, “I’ve never really learned about healthy vs. unhealthy relationships and it was so inspirational to hear all that she had to say about it. It was empowering for everyone and it built a sense of community around us.”

The organization has sixteen film based workshops and discussion guides to talk about what makes a relationship unhealthy and what people could do differently.

 Over three million people have participated in a One Love workshop and over fifty-eight thousand volunteers have been trained to lead a One Love workshop.

“Every year, the goal is to just continue to have more and more youth interact with our resources,” King said.