Sportsupdate Sammy Macy Is Sticking Around
By David Perry
Photo: Bob Ellis
Field Hockey Standout Remains With UMass Lowell
Sole Man
By Chris O’Donnell
Runners Collect Shoes for Third-World Countries
When UMass Lowell junior Steve Fitzsimmons cleaned out his closet earlier this summer, he was overwhelmed by the number of old running sneakers he found. He counted 26 pair from high school and his first two years of college. Fitzsimmons didn’t want to just throw them away. By a distance runner’s standards, they were tired, flat. But surely someone somewhere could use them. So he did a search online for donating used running shoes, and found a website called www.soles4souls.org. He was moved by the videos and photos. “There was one child who was wearing his mother’s shoes because those were the only shoes they had for the whole family,” Fitzsimmons says. The images stuck. The biology major thought about it more and did some math. He runs 85-90 miles in a typical week. The longevity of a pair running shoes is about 500 miles, so he figures anywhere between six to eight weeks, he needs a new pair. “And I’m just one of 20 to 30 athletes on the men’s [cross country] team,” Fitzsimmons says. The Methuen native factored in the 11 other women’s and men’s teams at UMass Lowell. The potential was overwhelming. Over the summer, Fitzsimmons brought the idea to Joan Lehoullier, UMass Lowell’s senior associate director of athletics who oversees the Athletic Department’s fundraising and community service efforts. Usually, Lehoullier is the one pitching the community service ideas to UMass Lowell’s athletes. “I’m always excited when a student-athlete comes to us with an idea for community service,” Lehoullier says, adding that she immediately registered the University as a drop location via the Soles4Souls website. Soon after, the collection boxes arrived. At the 2011 annual River Hawk Games on Sept. 11, Lehoullier introduced the effort to UMass Lowell’s 250-plus student-athletes: “A lot of kids came up to us right away and said it was a great idea,” she says. “Once you get them started, they’re on board. They’re all looking for a way to help.” Four days later, the on-campus boxes were overflowing with everything from Tevas to Bostonians to Nikes. Lehoullier and Fitzsimmons will pack them up and send them to one of the 10 Soles4Souls warehouses nationwide where they are cleaned and reconditioned. “It is something that is relatively easy and does a lot of good,” Fitzsimmons says. “These shoes are going to people in third-world countries, in crisis relief situations, people who have never owned a pair of shoes in their lives.” ! 20
UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE W I N T E R 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 2
Sitting in a downtown Lowell caffeine emporium, Sammy Macy pushes her sunglasses up onto her long brown hair and takes a sip of her iced coffee. Though the 22-year-old is a new graduate of UMass Lowell, she says she’s doesn’t plan to stray far. Macy, recently named the nation’s top collegiate Division II female athlete, isn’t leaving the University or its field hockey team despite graduating with a 3.12 GPA in criminal justice last spring. The three-time first team All-American worked with the River Hawks as an assistant coach this past fall, after a summer of slinging ice cream at Dandelions in her native Tewksbury. Macy is the first-ever New England recipient of the DII female athlete award, “which makes it even more special,” says Athletic Director Dana Skinner. He credits Macy’s “exhilarating play during the team’s record-breaking 2011 season” with a large part in the River Hawks’ 24-0 record, but also believes the “level of excellence she sustained over four years” was hard-won, the result of great dedication. In February, she will begin a six-month stay in Australia to play field hockey with a team in Queensland. Macy says her rifle-like field hockey shot—one of collegiate field hockey’s most feared trajectories—was the result of years of playing softball and hockey. Her sharp, quick swing came from softball, while her stick-handling skill sprung from ice hockey. She sometimes played on three teams simultaneously, rendering her father a virtual taxi service.
Macy discovered field hockey as a high school freshman, shortly after she tired of soccer. Field hockey was, she says, “new and fun,” and allowed her to put to good use her strong sense of competition. At 5’9”, speed and reach are among her offensive weapons.
The 2005 Tewksbury High School graduate nearly didn’t become a River Hawk. She was set to follow her older brother, Brian, to Northeastern, where she would play field hockey with scholarship money, but she opted for UMass Lowell the March before classes began. She sensed she would want “more balance” in her collegiate life than she’d get at Northeastern. Her high school coach suggested she talk to Shannon Hlebichuk, who was all too happy to make Macy a River Hawk. “She’d come to some clinics I’d run, so I knew her a little bit,” says Hlebichuk. “Sammy is such a hard worker, but she also wanted a balance between her work, social and academic lives. We could offer that.” “I found the perfect balance here,” says Macy. “I am so glad I came.” !