Women’s Lacrosse confirmed a partnership with Nike to supply their uniforms next year. They may switch from skirts to shorts. Under Armour supplies the team’s uniforms through CMU Athletic’s wholesale-partnership with BSN SPORTS.

The current uniform is a jersey and skirt in either maroon, black or white. The Men’s Lacrosse team uniform includes a jersey, shorts, helmet, cleats, gloves, elbow pads and arm padding. Women’s lacrosse teams at other universities have already made the switch to shorts according to senior midfielder Ella Freemon.

“I really like the teams that have made the switch, it feels more inclusive,” Freemon said. “[It is] also just more focused on the game itself rather than the looks of the players, which is how it feels with skirts being a large part of women’s lacrosse uniforms.”

The Women’s Professional Lacrosse League (WPLL) allowed its players to wear either skirts or shorts during its operation from 2018 to 2020. 

CMU played Northern Michigan University Wildcats on March 2, and the Wildcats played the game in shorts. Other teams CMU competes against wear skirts, including the Florida Tech Panthers.

Freemon described the different standards for uniforms across men’s and women’s lacrosse:

“I see the traditional aspect that is being upheld from when women first started playing the game, but, on the other hand, it doesn’t quite make sense why a high-intensity sport with more running than most is wearing a short skirt that flies around at all moments of the game. It feels like it draws attention, once again, to the differences between women’s and men’s lacrosse, in terms of women’s not being as significant, or looks being important to how the game is perceived. I’ve never played a game in shorts, so I’ve never had the option to experience what it would be [like], but obviously playing in shorts when I wouldn’t have to worry about anything else other than playing the game, as opposed to how my skirt is sitting and if I’m exposed, would be so nice.”

Senior Attack Justine Anderson believes the Maverick’s switch from Under Armour to Nike will allow shorts to become a viable option.

“I think, for a while, the Under Armour shorts were poor quality or not super comfortable. I never got to try them on, it’s just from seeing them on other teams and that was another deterrent from switching to them. I think, with Nike, their shorts are a little better, so we might switch,” Anderson said.

Anderson explained that the university uses BSN SPORTS to supply the team’s uniforms, rather than Under Armour directly.

“Under Armour is the main brand and BSN is under it as the cheaper, off-brand one. A lot of our stuff is [BSN] just to save money,” Anderson said. “I don’t know what Nike’s is, but I think Nike’s contract says you have to have all Nike’s stuff. All Nike’s stuff is really nice, and I feel like all our stuff will look super cool.”

When asked for a preference between skirts or shorts and about uniform differences between men’s and women’s lacrosse, Anderson said:

“I personally wish we had shorts. You have to wear shorts or spandex underneath the skirt anyways because it’s a skirt and you’re playing a sport. It doesn’t make sense to be wearing a skirt playing a sport. It’s also for comfort’s sake and athletic ability’s sake. It makes more sense to me to wear shorts. I mean, I guess when you have the shorts underneath, it doesn’t totally matter, but I personally, and I know a lot of girls, would choose shorts. I feel like that has always been the option for the [Men’s Lacrosse team] to wear shorts. I think that it’s just always been how it was: the girls wore the skirts and the boys wore the shorts. I do feel like, in the last couple of years, especially as women’s sports has progressed so much, I do feel like they’re advocating more and we don’t need to be held back by this 100 year old tradition of wearing skirts.”

Anderson will graduate before the switch from Under Armour to Nike and believes the majority of the women’s Lacrosse team would like shorts as a part of their uniform next year. Freemon expressed excitement about the possibility of wearing Nike shorts in the future.

“Most schools that are Nike all have their players in Nike shorts, which honestly look much cleaner and more athletic,” Freemon said. “This provides a great opportunity for giving athletes the chance to wear shorts when they play, something the team talks about often when we compare to those schools that already have them.”