Mike Panepinto is Going Lime For HEADstrong

By: Jennifer Hoffman 

At some point during an athlete’s lacrosse career, whether it is during their club days, high school or even college journey, they will likely hear about the HEADstrong Foundation. It could be the infamous lime green laces, ditching the razors and participating in lax stache or going lime and pledging ground balls for cancer. For Mike Panepinto it was not until he and his teammates from Brown visited Nick’s House that the impact of HEADstrong became real.

The team visited Nick’s House in 2016 prior to a game against Villanova. It was there that Mike and his teammates learned about Nick’s story and this history of HEADstrong. “When you hear about Nick’s story, it’s like wow that’s me, that’s my friends,” he said.

“It was powerful going there and being able to see what kind of direct impact they have on families. I wasn’t really all that familiar with Nick’s story either and sometimes you hear about stories secondhand and things like battling cancer it can feel distant,” Mike said.

Fast forward four years later, Mike is currently a member of the MLL’s Chesapeake Bayhawks. He also participates in triathlons and coaches at Holy Cross. Now in his post collegiate career, he wants to continue to have his play make an impact on others and carry out Nick’s legacy.

Not only is he going to pledge every win for the Bayhawks in a weekend series in Baltimore, he’s also going to join Team HEADstrong, a campaign that encourages endurances racers of all kinds to be part of something bigger, as a way to make his miles matter.

“I love doing things like that, things you can train and compete for and to be able to do it for a good cause is even more of an incentive,” he said.

Visit Mike’s Pledge it page https://pledge.headstrong.org/fundraiser/2819427

To learn more about Team HEADstrong and the upcoming opportunities to run for a reason, please visit www.headstrong.org or contact Jeff Baxter [email protected]