Christo's Angels: Ballfield Barristers Find Name of the Game is Poise From: University Currents Date: May 3, 2000 By: Carey Hoffman Phone: (513) 556-1825 Photo: courtesy of Mark Bowen Archive: Campus News, General News Law professor Christo Lassiter volunteered to coach a College of Law softball team when the teammates asked to name the team after him. Players attest the team has become a mechanism for overcoming doubt and intimidation. Outsiders might have a hard time seeing the connection between the softball diamond and law school. But it's there, as convincing as the Constitution, for Suzanne Robinson and her teammates. "There's an aspect in this where you can see the players improving in something they are not sure they can do when they begin," Robinson says. "That is law school." Robinson is on a team of 15 female first-year students at the UC College of Law playing intramural softball on campus this spring. Circumstances have propelled this beyond simple recreation it has become a tool for scaling the wall of doubt and intimidation that stands between so many students and their dreams of becoming a lawyer. Since the start of school in August (the college is on a semester system), the students have struggled under the heaviest burdens of their academic careers. By this spring, many were exhausted and vulnerable to the self-doubt that leads to washing out of school. So why, at a time like that, did they consider taking up softball? They couldn't have realized it at the time, but it was to make their lives easier and better. The idea of fielding a team began with an e-mail sent to the students before spring break about intramural opportunities for the spring. Student Susan Brabenec started a sign-up list and a team was born. When the teammates decided they needed uniforms and a name, student Christine Molnar capitalized on the fact most of the players were in Professor Christo Lassiter's Criminal Law class this semester and suggested calling the team "Christo's Angels." One problem with that: No one knew how Lassiter a former military prosecutor who can be intimidating in the classroom would respond to the idea. The team went to his office as a group. "He just laughed about it," Brabenec says. "Then he surprised us by saying, 'I want to volunteer as your coach.' It was a real surprise. We didn't think he'd be offended by this, but we also didn't know he'd love it." Lassiter's interest has taken the team to another level. He has committed to this as a chance to teach lessons he doesn't always get to address in class -- on competitiveness, teamwork, resiliency. He's instilled an esprit de corps by organizing practices and providing refreshments. He has the team's fielding chart on a marker board next to his desk in his office and even purchased a lineup board that displays the players names according to the batting order at games. Most meaningfully, he has given of himself. "Before our last game, he gave a pre-game speech that FDR had once given about how you find success just by trying," Robinson says. "He's put so much into it and it is so applicable to what we face every day. Whether you walk into the courtroom or walk into the classroom, if you give your best and know it, you've succeeded. He's put his heart into this, and it's touching." Robinson and Brabenec see the softball team as a logical alternative to the tradition of rugby teams among men in law schools. The softball experience has gained attention around the college, as well. A number of other students come to the games as fans, and some of the second- year students have joked about stealing Lassiter to coach them for next year. "We've told them he's locked up in a three-year contract which includes a covenant not to compete, liquidated damages clauses and several other conditions signed expressly made conditional on those clauses," joked Robinson in a bit of law school humor. Many of the players were novices when it came to softball, like Brabenec, who says the experience has helped her be more assertive in classroom discussions. "There are others like me," she says. " We've all really grown. My skills have gotten better but also I think this has been a broadening experience." Robinson says its sometimes hard to explain to outsiders how softball can be making such a difference. "My mom is coming to a game. She asked me what the most exciting thing about law school so far has been and I said, 'Catching a fly ball to make an out.' "I expected law school would be tough, I expected it would be demanding, but I never expected to be with a group of people who you can call a team and a coach who cares. This is so unexpected and that's what's so great about it."