Over the past few years, George Roycroft and his wife, Vontia, have made a habit of creating makeshift photo backdrops with college logos plastered on them. They’re proud of their craftsmanship, if only for what it represents — progress in their mission to use lacrosse as a vehicle to send Baltimore’s inner-city girls to colleges.
Roycroft welcomes the extra workload now that he’s coaching the Baltimore City Gators. The backdrop treatment has been used multiple times, like when Gators’ player Diara Harrison committed to Bethany College (WVa.) in 2017.
“He just put a lot of time into it,” said Harrison, who had been with Roycroft’s program since its inception in 2012. “They planned out my whole ceremony to sign and everything and told my mom ‘We can have it wherever you like.’”
The Roycrofts even did it for daughter, Gemera, when she committed to Ottawa (Kansas) earlier this year.
“They are so extra. I love it though,” Gemera Roycroft joked. “It looked like it was professional, but it was definitely in my living room, and my mom took the picture. She basically cut it out and put it on the window outside. I was like, ‘Did you really do that?’ It was really neat.”
If George Roycroft has his way, he’ll be setting the stage for more impromptu signing ceremonies in the coming years. Roycroft started the Baltimore City Gators as an extension of a boys’ program by the same name. He had no experience with lacrosse before Gemera began playing. He helmed the middle school program while he taught at the Stadium School and then transitioned to the high school level when he moved to Edmondson-Westside in Baltimore.
Roycroft set out to position these girls, some of whom did not have the resources to buy equipment to play lacrosse, for success high school and hopefully college. With the help of Urban Lacrosse Alliance and US Lacrosse, which provided sticks and funding for trips to tournaments, Baltimore City Gators is fulfilling the promise set forth by Roycroft.
“It’s just a godsend that US Lacrosse always helps us out,” he said. “The experience that those girls got is bar none the best. College coaches came after every game. I didn’t see that coming. I want these girls — the inner-city girls that don’t have the opportunities — to be part of the growth.”
Roycroft entered into this mission with plenty of confidence. His Baltimore City Gators middle school team had 60 girls show up for tryouts. Many had never played the game.
Once he whittled the roster down to 20, Roycroft’s team was ready to compete. The Gators started playing in the Baltimore City league, going undefeated for four straight seasons. They joined the Maryland Youth Lacrosse Association Midget C Division and won the middle school championship. Players ranged from ages 8 to 13.
Roycroft knew the next step was to evolve his program from recreation to travel — the Gators were headed to the county to face local club teams.
The first tournament was LaxMax, a club tournament a short drive outside of Baltimore’s Beltway. Players paid Roycroft $20 for uniforms, which his wife pressed in the days before the tournament.
“We were just a put-together team from the city,” Roycroft said. “Girls that wanted to keep playing. We went out there just to have some fun.”
That was just the start. The Gators, comprised entirely of black players from the city, performed well in many of the state’s most prestigious tournaments.
“We would often be the only full-black team,” said Rebecca Green, who later walked on at Delaware State. “We’re all all-black girls’ lacrosse team and we’re doing something. We weren’t just going to play around. We were serious about what we were doing.”
What started as an opportunity for girls in Baltimore to play lacrosse has turned into a pipeline for college commitments and a chance to help change the complexion of the sport.
“The Gators have shaped me as a player, a student and a person,” said Aleah Scott, a rising senior at Edmondson-Westside who is considering playing college lacrosse. “I’ve become so disciplined at this sport, and Roycroft has become a mentor.”
