Grace Weigand (#17): WLL and PLL in Brighton, MI

The California Palms’ No. 17 helped turn a summer PLL Play camp into something bigger than training, a connection between young Michigan athletes and the future of their sport.

BRIGHTON, Mich. 2026 - Before a young athlete can imagine reaching the next level, it helps to meet someone who is already there.

For children attending a PLL Play training camp in Brighton this past summer, Grace Weigand provided that connection. The California Palms’ No. 17 joined several PLL players in bringing the professional game to a local field, giving campers an opportunity to learn from women whose careers show what can come after youth, high school and college lacrosse.

Her presence made the next level tangible. Professional women’s lacrosse was no longer just something to watch. It was represented by someone standing on the same field, participating in the same training environment and sharing the game with its next generation.

That is what made Weigand a difference maker in Brighton: Access.

At a time when lacrosse is pursuing larger audiences, attracting investment and preparing for an Olympic return, its future still depends on personal connections, including the kind that happens when an established professional shows up to work with kids.

A Professional Jersey, a Personal Connection

The Michigan Day Camp was scheduled for June 22–25 at Scranton Middle School in Brighton, with programming for boys and girls from first grade through high school. Organizers designed the four-day experience around professional instruction, skill development, competition and confidence-building.

Within that setting, Weigand brought an important dimension to the experience: a visible connection to women’s professional lacrosse.

For young girls, meeting a WLL player can expand the picture of what belonging in the sport looks like. There is the team they play on now, the older players they watch at school and the college programs they may eventually follow. A professional athlete adds another possibility to that progression.

For boys, her presence offers an equally worthwhile perspective: the women’s game belongs in their understanding of lacrosse, too.

A professional jersey attracts attention. The person wearing it can turn that attention into a relationship with the sport. In Brighton, Weigand’s California Palms affiliation gave campers a team to recognize and a player to remember.

Why the WLL Connection Matters

The California Palms are one of the WLL’s four teams, alongside the Boston Guard, Maryland Charm and New York Charging. All four competed in the 2026 Lexus Championship Series, which ESPN+ carried as part of a combined PLL and WLL event.

Those broadcasts give women’s professional lacrosse a platform. Camp appearances give it a local presence.

The two serve different purposes. A broadcast can show children how the game looks at an elite level. An in-person training experience can help them connect that level to their own development.

PLL Play describes its camps as opportunities to train alongside PLL and WLL professionals in a competitive, supportive environment. Its training programs emphasize skill development and understanding the game, not simply being in the company of recognizable athletes.

Weigand’s role in Brighton brought those ideas together. She represented both a professional team and a possible future in the sport, while participating in an experience centered on children’s improvement.

The significance does not depend on every camper aspiring to a professional career. It lies in making the game feel worth pursuing, whatever level comes next.

From Brighton to the Olympic Stage

That local connection comes at an important moment. Lacrosse will return to the Olympic medal program at Los Angeles 2028, with women’s and men’s competitions played in the sixes format. In April 2026, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee formally certified USA Lacrosse as the sport’s national governing body ahead of that return.

The WLL’s 2026 Championship Series also used a six-on-six format inspired by Olympic lacrosse, connecting the professional women’s game to the sport’s expanding international ambitions.

The opportunity is substantial, but visibility alone is not participation. Children who become interested in lacrosse still need places to play, people to teach them and reasons to return.

That is where a summer camp in Brighton belongs in the larger story. It links the excitement surrounding elite competition with the everyday work of learning the game.

Weigand helped make that link personal.

A Difference That Starts Close to Home

Not every meaningful contribution to a sport happens during a professional game. Some happen when an athlete steps into a youth training environment and makes the next level feel less distant.

In Brighton, Weigand gave the California Palms a local connection and women’s professional lacrosse a human face. Her presence helped turn a league into someone campers could meet, learn from and follow.

Lacrosse’s growth will be measured in audiences, participation and opportunities. But behind those measures are individual decisions: a child who wants to keep practicing, a family that starts following a team, a young girl who sees another place for herself in the sport.

This past summer, Grace Weigand helped bring those possibilities onto a field in Brighton.