Friday Features: UAH's Three Weddings and a Basketball Team
By Chris Megginson
Though the 2017-18 basketball season came to a close Thursday night for the University of Alabama in Huntsville women’s basketball team, they have celebrated three rings this season with the engagements of two team members and assistant coach
Krista Stricklin.
UAH seniors
Loren Foster and
Chandler Elder, who have become best friends and even roommates the last two seasons, each got engaged this season and their teammates were among the first to celebrate with, including being involved with the planning of their proposals.
“It would not have been the same without them, because they are my family,” Chandler said. “Off the court, that relationship still runs deep. There’s no bond like a teammate to me, and to have the support of the coaches as well makes it special.”
It first began early in the girls’ college careers when Loren and her now fiancé Will Martin met at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp. Chandler and her boyfriend, now fiancé, Spencer Smith urged Loren and Will to date, but they didn’t. In the summer of 2016, Will asked Spencer about Loren and the four of them went kayaking on the Tennessee River, thus beginning the story of best friends preparing to marry best friends.
In late September 2017, as the Chargers were gearing up for their season to begin, Will asked for Chandler’s advice on helping surprise Loren with a proposal. Chandler quickly involved her teammates, suggesting it wasn’t uncommon to receive a random text from head coach Andrea Lemmond about a team gathering.
Coach Lemmond bought in. She sent a text to her four seniors to dress up for special senior photos and told them to meet at Monte Sano State Park in Huntsville. Later, Coach sent a text saying her camera was broken and asked if anyone had a backup. Chandler offered her camera and drove Loren to meet the team, or so she thought.
When they arrived no one was there. Loren called her coach, but she was already sitting at Martin’s mom’s house and nervously didn’t answer. She didn’t want to spoil what would happen next.
“I had the camera on sport mode, and I was clicking away,” Chandler said. “I did not lift my finger off that button, because I was not about to miss anything. I got everything from her reaction of seeing Will from when he popped out from where he was hiding, to the proposal, to after. It was really special, because she had absolutely no idea.”
After Will dropped to one knee in front of the scenic overlook, Loren was still waiting for her teammates.
“I thought, ‘Wow, they’re late,’” Loren said. “I was pretty impressed everyone kept it a secret. I had no idea all of it was fake. I didn’t realize it was all a setup.”
They then went to Will’s mother’s house, where the Chargers, family and friends were waiting to celebrate.
“When you play a sport, you bleed, sweat and cry together,” Loren said. “These are some of our closest friends, so it’s real important that they were involved in our engagements.”
With Loren’s engagement the buzz of preseason, Chandler began wondering when Spencer may propose, but decided she wanted it to be after her senior season. Loren began teasing assistant Coach Krista Stricklin, or Coach K, that she was going to be next.
In late December, at the start of Christmas Break, that prediction came true during a surprise trip to Little River Canyon for Coach K and her now fiancé Judson Baldwin. Judson was setting up his GoPro at different locations to take photos of the view as a way to capture the moment without spoiling the surprise. One of the first things she did was text her team a photo of the ring, saying “Check it out, Ladies!”
Coach K says Loren was one of the first to respond, “Knew it.”
“A lot of them were super excited. The day we got back to practice, the first thing they came up and said was “tell us the story,’” Coach Stricklin said. “It was real neat to be able to share that with them, and it is fun to share it with those two seniors.”
The season rolled on and with now two members of the team engaged, Chandler began to wish she hadn’t said she wanted to wait until after the season.
In mid-January, Spencer told Chandler they were going to meet his grandparents for a meal at Connor’s Steak & Seafood after practice.
“At Connor’s you have to dress up pretty nice, put in the whole effort. I can’t just go straight from practice,” Chandler said.
What she didn’t know, according to Loren, is Coach Lemmond had adjust practice times a bit for the day to work out as planned.
Spencer took a turn toward Madison, not toward Connor’s in Huntsville, using the excuse of needing to meet a friend briefly. When they arrived at a gazebo in Downtown Madison, the friend wasn’t there, but a blanket sat on the bench with a book full of hand-written letters, including one from Loren. Similar to Loren’s engagement four months prior, the team was waiting to celebrate with the couple’s friends and family.
“It’s really special. As a team, you’ve already have that close knit feeling, but to go through these things together and to have your whole team come out to an engagement party at a house they’ve never been to and don’t know the other people, they’re sacrificing their time to celebrate with us, that was incredibly special,” Chandler said. “They’ve continued to show how much support I have, and how much love they give, and it makes you feel like a family.”
Loren and Will plan to get married in Monterey, Tennessee this summer, followed by Chandler and Spencer in Toney, Alabama in October and Judson and Krista (Coach K) in April 2019.
After coming in as freshmen together four years ago, to being roommates and ending their careers together, Loren and Chandler are looking forward to being part of each other’s weddings with Chandler as maid of honor and Loren a bridesmaid, and both Will and Spencer a groomsman for the other.
“We’ve been through everything together, pretty much, so being able to go through one of the most exciting times of our life at the same time, it’s a special thing,” Chandler said. “It’s friendship on another level … We’re both really excited for each other.”
Follow Megginson on Twitter @jcmeggs. Email comments to megginsonjc@gmail.com.
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2017-18 Friday Features Archive
September 1 |
Mississippi College
September 8 |
Montevallo
September 15 |
Valdosta State
September 22 |
West Georgia
September 29 |
Alabama Huntsville
October 6 |
Union
October 13 |
West Alabama
October 20 |
West Florida
October 27 |
Delta State
November 3 |
Christian Brothers
November 10 |
Shorter
November 17 |
North Alabama
November 24 |
Lee
December 1 |
AUM
December 8 |
West Florida
Decemeber 15 |
Mississippi College
December 22 |
Lee
December 29 |
West Alabama
January 5 |
Valdosta State
January 12 |
Christian Brothers
January 19 |
Montevallo
January 26 |
AUM
February 2 |
Mississippi College
February 9 |
West Florida
February 16 |
North Alabama