After the Delaware State University women’s lacrosse team lost their match to Fairleigh Dickinson University back in March, the players suffered terrible consequences, according to their parents. Following the match where Fairleigh Dickinson beat Delaware State 14-10, coaches forced the players to roll up and down the field during practice as a result of the loss. The incident was caught on video and uploaded to YouTube.

In an anonymous interview with Lacrosse Extras, three parents spoke out about the allege abuse by the coaching staff and the negligence of Delaware State athletic director Alecia Shields-Gadson. Parents claim that assistant coach Jovan Estrada oversaw the punishment and that head coach Pamella Jenkins was present during practice when the incident transpired.

“Coach Estrada, under the eye of Pam Jenkins, allowed a random ‘friend’ of his to come to practice and ‘punish’ the girls,” one parent said. “These were the words used by the unknown party and the coaches themselves. What resulted was physical and verbal abuse over the course of the next 90+ minutes.”

In addition to rolling up and down the field, players had to do planks, sprints, and burpees. One of the parents claims that during the activities, several players collided with each other, resulting in their leaving practice with concussions. Along with the physical abuse, some players also faced verbal abuse. Muslim players who fasted during Ramadan were made fun of for their religion by their coaches. Parents were extremely shocked to hear all of this take place.

When more players began to come out about what happened, parents decided to contact the school but were met with pushback.

“When the school was notified about this (and the fact that a video was made), they tried to first over-talk it, saying such things are allowed,” another anonymous parent said. “When pressed further and told the individual present had no attachment, clearance, or allowance to the program, they flinched. When told that Pam [Jenkins] was present, they immediately went into damage-control mode.”

Delaware State  fired Assistant Coach Jovan Estrada and placed Head Coach Pamela on leave for the remainder of the season, but that wasn’t enough for parents. Many parents and players believed that Jenkins should have been fired as well. One parent even threatened the university with legal action to get a response from AD Shield-Gadson.

Following a team meeting on May 25, 2024, parents and players learned that the university was considering bringing Jenkins back as Head Coach which sparked outrage. Although the university did not bring Jenkins back as Head Coach, AD Shield-Gadson proceeded to change scholarship allotments for several players, which was news to them, and parted ways, according to one parent.

“The AD is trying to clean house with all the current players and start over from scratch and take away current players’ scholarships, which is absurd,” Parent Two said before going on to say that Shields-Gadson is “trying to blame the girls for what happened this season.”

Not much has changed for players since the incident. They have yet to receive any guidance for what is expected of them during the summer. The Delaware State athletics website listed the women’s head coach position as “to be announced” last Friday.