I’m going to try to start an African-American lacrosse program in order to spread and expand the sport for African-Americans,” Triplett said. “We can as African-Americans thrive and takeover this sport. He wants to let other African-American kids know that lacrosse is a sport that they can try other than football and basketball.
Triplett, the youngest of three children, says he has a job lined up with Accenture, a management consulting company after he graduates. He leads by example and he fit the mold of whom I wanted in terms of leadership. Due to him coming to practice, his stick skills have gotten a lot better.”Ĭarter added that Triplett was the president of the club team before he was named team captain. “I remember when he didn’t get playing time he complained about it. He was dependable and he progressively got better,” Carter says. I can’t recall him ever missing a practice. “When we first started the club team, he was one of the guys who never played. “If you would have told me that four years ago, that I would be the captain of a Division I lacrosse team, I would have laughed at you.”Ĭoach Carter said that Triplett showed leadership skills from day one. To build a place for African-Americans in an upcoming sport,” Triplett says. “He tells us that we have a legacy to uphold. Triplett also said that his coach encourages him to keep the history of Black lacrosse clubs in mind while playing. Triplett’s coach, Lloyd Carter, was a member of the Morgan State Bears Lacrosse team. Hampton is now home to the first HBCU (Historically Black College and Universities) Division I lacrosse program since Morgan State University dropped theirs in 1981. Jeremy Triplett and Hampton University lacrosse coach Lloyd Carter. Hampton University, located in Hampton, Virginia, also added women’s soccer earlier this year. We had some guys who had never played before and we had some guys who played on the club team.” “It was something I had to get accustomed to. Throwing the ball with the stick,” Triplett said. “Lacrosse is a lot of hand, eye coordination. Triplett, one of three team captains, joined the Hampton University club team in 2011 before moving up to the varsity team.
It was my first time picking up the stick and I grasped it after a couple of practices. “After the first practice, I was one of the most athletic guys out there. “I said to myself, ‘I played sports all throughout high school, so I’ll check it out,’” Triplett said.
Triplett, who played football, baseball, along with cross country running track in high school at Chicago’s De La Salle Institute said that those sports helped him to rapidly learn how to play lacrosse. “My friend told me the school just started a lacrosse team and told me to come out.” I had never seen lacrosse or heard of lacrosse,” Triplett said. “One of my best friends from Baltimore came into my room…threw it on my bed.
Midfielder Jeremy Triplett, a senior and marketing major, had never heard of lacrosse, despite attending college in a part of the country where the sports in prevalent. The team that initially started out as a club team, will be captained by a native of Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. The upcoming 2016 season will be the first for Hampton University’s lacrosse team as a member of the NCAA Division I tier.