GRANDVILLE, Mich. — Whether it’s with a person or a passion, you never know when you might fall in love. For 18-year-old Brianna Trepins, she’ll never forget the moment it happened to her.
“My freshman year, we got pretty far, and you know after our last game, everyone was crying,” she remembers. “We were one really big team and I was like, ‘this is it, this is like an amazing sport.’”
For the former Grandville star, lacrosse had it all: action, fun, comradery. She thought it was a game everyone should play, but there was just one problem.
“It’s kind of a sport for the richer kids,” she says matter of factly.
The soon to be Aquinas freshman is not wrong about that. A brand new stick costs more than $200. Cleats are another $200. Proper head protection can be more than $100, and don’t forget the costs of joining a travel team, which could take you well past a $1000.
“I was like, there has got to be something I can do,” Trepins says. “My sophomore year I had the idea, my junior year I started kind of working on it more, and then this year it kind of took off."
The fruits of her labor is “Lax Zoo.” It’s her small business she started in 2019. While it hasn’t made a profit yet from selling t-shirts, it has resulted in getting dozens of sticks to kids in West Michigan looking to get in the game.
“I first talked to all of the local college coaches and I got some of them to kind of help me out and send in a couple sticks.”
Trepins actually strings each stick by hand. Each one takes about two hours and yes, there is an art.
“A lot of people ask, ‘are you just doing this for the money? Are you just trying to be famous?’ No! I just want to be able to make lacrosse accessible to everybody,” she says with a smile.
It’s a lofty goal but just like in an actual game, Trepins isn’t afraid to take her shot.
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