The Colorado College women's lacrosse team hosted a field day for children with disabilities after its win over the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
 
Klohe Bradley is in her second year with the team as a part of CC's partnership with Team IMPACT, which pairs college sports teams with local children who are fighting a serious illness.
 
Established in 2011, Team IMPACT has matched more than 2,500 children with collegiate teams at 700+ institutions in 49 states, improving the quality of life of hundreds of courageous children and touching the lives of more than 64,000 student-athletes.
 
"The idea for the field day happened when we had a phone call with our rep for Team Impact, which matches teams with potential families," sophomore Grace Bean said. "The rep let us know that this spring would be our last season with our current player, Klohe, who will be graduating from CC's lacrosse program. Klohe's mom, Jordan, is super involved. She and Klohe come to a lot of our games and practices, so we thought it would be a good idea to have a day to celebrate them and welcome our next potential match."
 
Bean and CC senior captain Kendall Havill organized the event and decided it would be great to include Bradley and her Challenger Baseball League team and celebrate them all together. Challenger Baseball hosts games every Sunday in the fall for children with special needs and the CC women's lacrosse team volunteers to help run the games.
 
"These past two years with Klohe have been amazing. It's incredible how involved Klohe is with activities in her life - I think she might have the busiest schedule of anyone on our team," Havill said. "Just to name a few- she is a Girl Scout, races in 5ks, plays on a local baseball team, and has been a member of our team these past few years."
 
During the field day, Klohe and the rest of the kids bonded with the women's lacrosse players and coaches, engaging in lively yard games in the Colorado sun. It was a joyous occasion, a testament to the camaraderie fostered by the team and the inclusive spirit of the event. The day was a celebration of Bradley's time spent with the team and a recognition of the other special needs athletes who compete every Sunday through Challenger Baseball.
 
"I think programs like Team Impact emphasize and pay attention to how beneficial this relationship is for the child and family, which is most definitely true," Havill said. "However, it is a two-way street. I want to highlight how impactful and meaningful having Klohe on our team has been for us. It's hard not to have a smile on your face when Klohe is around. She brings so much positive energy to our team, whether it's at practice, team events, or being on the sideline during our games. She is our good luck charm."
 
The original plan for the field day was to play a couple of innings of a baseball game, however, it developed into a fun day of yard games for the athletes and families who attended.
 
"Doing stuff like this kind of makes me teary-eyed! It's super heart warming and it's kind of hard to describe, it's just really nice to know that we have a positive impact on these families' lives," Bean said.
 
Bradley will graduate from Team IMPACT, but she will continue to be an important part of the CC women's lacrosse team. She was honored, along with the other seniors, on Senior Day on April 7th.
 
"Although Klohe has graduated from the team, there's no doubt in my mind that our team will continue to grow the special relationship we have with her moving forward," Havill said.