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Nanette Pigaga makes a positive contribution to the sport of Lacrosse in New Jersey - NJ Lacrosse Outstanding Member 2002

Can lacrosse conquer the world? Nanette Pigaga seems to think so. The Ridgewood lacrosse mom and New Jersey chapter volunteer believes it can and she has joined up to be part of a venture to do just that. Apart from her work as Ridgewood’s boys youth lacrosse scheduler and as team administrator for the New Jersey All Stars Under-13 and Under-15 girl's youth teams competing in the annual US Lacrosse Youth Festival, Pigaga is helping the International Lacrosse Federation's (“ILF”) effort to raise equipment to donate to fledgling lacrosse programs overseas.
 

"At a New Jersey Foundation Hall of Fame banquet I was introduced to Tom Hayes," Pigaga said. "He's the former Rutgers coach and head of the ILF. He told us about some kids trying to play in foreign countries who fashioned sticks out of tree limbs and hollowed out coconuts and made balls out of rubber bands – I asked if the organization could use used equipment."  "I remember when my daughter was in dance class, when old leotards and toe shoes were outgrown we would put them away or throw them out. We live in such a disposable society. Lacrosse players love to purchase the newest and latest equipment each season. (In other countries) they don't care if a stick head has been cracked. In the U.S. used equipment has to be checked and re-certified, and there are significant liability issues in using used equipment."  Last year on Ridgewood Lacrosse Day, Pigaga organized a lacrosse equipment drive among the town’s teams. Pigaga also contacted the teams that were coming to play in Ridgewood that day and they joined in, too. Sticks, pads, balls and other equipment was collected. She also helped set up a similar event in Madison. Hayes was forced to fill up his sports utility vehicle three times to transport all the donated items. Pigaga thought that the town's effort could be the tip of the iceberg and talked to Hayes about it. At this year's national convention, she talked to US Lacrosse's Executive Director Steve Stenersen about volunteering her efforts into taking the program to the next level.
"They always depended upon domestic manufacturers to donate into the domestic market," she said. "Now they are looking for alternate sources. Lacrosse has now been introduced to Austria, China, Switzerland, Italy, France, Argentina, Hong Kong, Tonga and Ireland. We'd like to see it become a world game. One of these days we would like to get it into the Olympics." It would be quite an accomplishment for someone who had never seen a girl's lacrosse game until 1997 when she watched her daughter compete. While growing up Pigaga spent most of her time as a swimmer in her native South Bend, Indiana. She enjoyed the competition even though girls were not encouraged to play sports then. She moved on to other pursuits in her teenage years, but she never forgot how much fun she had participating in athletics.
 

She went to college and earned double degrees in Forensic Studies (a study of the criminal justice systems) and Psychology at Indiana University in 1976 and then moved east to Philadelphia to attend and eventually become an employee of the Institute for Paralegal Training. Her administrative duties included placing paralegal graduates all over the nation. At a college party she met her future husband Ken, a Columbia University graduate, who is currently Managing Director in charge of e-investment banking at JP Morgan Chase. They had two children; Caitlin, now 17, and 11-year-old Conor, and moved to Ridgewood in 1983. As the children grew, they got involved in their children’s local community sports activities. Ridgewood, a Bergen County town, is a hotbed of lacrosse activity.  "It's a very small community with some incredibly talented lacrosse people. Some of them don’t have children old enough to participate in the town lacrosse program, or their children have gone on to high school and beyond, but they are still involved in the game by coaching and helping the Ridgewood Lacrosse Association."  It was around sixth grade when Caitlin put away her dance shoes and began playing lacrosse. She is currently a member of the varsity high school team and also plays for the Metro Lacrosse Club team out of Sloatsburg, New York. Conor picked up a stick when he was six years old and caught on immediately. He plays for the Ridgewood fifth grade youth team his father helps coach.
 

Among the Ridgewood parents Pigaga met while becoming active in the sport was Pat Jester. She got Pigaga involved in New Jersey chapter activities and in the administrative side of the Under-13 and Under-15 New Jersey All Stars girl’s lacrosse teams. Pigaga took over administrative duties last year after assisting Pat with the All Stars since 1998. Getting involved in the boys youth scheduling for Ridgewood, Pigaga also helped solve a number of problems that existed before her involvement. "I became the e-mail queen of the boys youth league," she said. "By instituting the confirmation of the boy’s 4^th through 8^th grade schedule a week or more in advance, we have the opposing teams agreement in advance what fields, teams and times are to played and whether they will wear white or maroon jerseys."
 

By confirming information with opponents, Pigaga helped solve a multitude of youth league problems.  "Before I started doing it, people would go to fields and no one was there," she said. "It's worked out really well." And so has Pigaga's work over the years. She's proven that you don't have to have played lacrosse or coached it in order to make a positive contribution to the sport.  "When you see lacrosse, it's a very exciting game," Pigaga said. "A lot of young people are embracing it. New programs are starting all over the United States and all over the world."