WILSON, N.C. — September 24, 2026 — When Berghan Balparda reached the summer before her senior year of high school, she had every expectation that her years of playing lacrosse were nearing their end. College lacrosse had never been part of the plan, but faced with the prospect of leaving the sport behind, Balparda realized she wasn’t ready to let it go.
Three years later, that decision has carried her farther than she could have imagined.
Now a junior at Barton College, Balparda has grown from a freshman competing for playing time into a starter and team captain. This summer, after months of preparation and a demanding national-team tryout, her lacrosse career reached another milestone when she earned a place with Brazil’s national women’s lacrosse program.
Next week, she will take that next step onto the international stage.
From Sept. 29 through Oct. 4, Balparda will represent Brazil at the 2026 Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championships in Oshawa, Ontario, where nine women’s national teams will compete for five places in the 2027 World Lacrosse Sixes Championships.
When she takes the field, one detail will be familiar: the No. 9 on her jersey, the number Balparda chose to carry with her from Barton to Brazil’s national team.
“I could never have even imagined making the team in the first place,” Balparda said. “I’m proud to even have made it to this point.”
Oshawa also marks the first stage of Brazil’s qualification pathway toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. There, lacrosse will return as a medal sport for the first time since 1908, ending a 120-year absence from Olympic medal competition.
For Balparda, representing Brazil carries significance beyond where the qualification pathway might lead.
Her connection to the country begins with her father, who was born in Brazil. Although he came to the United States when he was young, Balparda grew up with that heritage as part of her family. Her experience with Brazil Lacrosse has since given both of them new ways to reconnect with it.
“He speaks Portuguese with me more often and teaches me sayings,” Balparda said. “I think this experience has opened a newfound appreciation and reconnection to the culture for him as well.”
That connection became tangible as Balparda worked to secure the documentation she needed to compete for Brazil, relying on family members and the national program to help her navigate the process against a firm deadline.
“This was an opportunity for me to put my passion into something bigger than myself and be able to use my sport to reach a larger goal,” Balparda said.
Balparda spent much of the summer preparing for Brazil, training intensely before joining the national program for an in-person camp. There, she found something she had not necessarily expected from a group of athletes competing for limited roster spots.
Rather than allowing that competition to define the experience, Balparda said the players encouraged one another and quickly began building relationships around their shared goal of representing Brazil.
A few weeks later, Balparda learned she had made the team.
The demands of college lacrosse have taught Balparda to view progress as something earned incrementally. Extra work matters. So does consistency, particularly when no immediate reward is guaranteed.
“Since I have started at Barton College, I have not let off the gas pedal,” Balparda said. “Each event, each game, and each practice has been a stepping stone in making it to where I am now.”
Serving as captain during her sophomore season broadened that perspective. Leadership, she learned, could not be reduced to performance on the field. It required knowing when to use her voice, setting an example through her own work and understanding how to support teammates as individuals.
That team-first mentality now extends across two programs. Balparda believes individual effort matters most when it contributes to something shared, whether she is competing for Barton or preparing to represent Brazil.
“Ultimately never letting up is something I live by,” Balparda said.
Balparda credits Barton Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach Ciara Burud as one of the people who has consistently encouraged that growth.
“Coach Burud is one of my biggest supporters,” Balparda said. “She believed in me from the start when she gave me a scholarship and has helped me on and off the field.”
Her teammates have celebrated alongside her, while Balparda points to her family as her largest source of support throughout the process. They helped her navigate the practical hurdles of joining Brazil’s program and shared in the moment when she learned she had made the team.
The demands on Balparda’s time have only increased. She is balancing Barton’s lacrosse schedule with training for Brazil, international travel and a full academic course load as a Biology major with a concentration in organismal biology.
Balparda does not describe that schedule as a burden.
“Balancing academics, Barton lacrosse, Team Brasil training, and travel has not been easy, but I am privileged to be in this position,” she said.
Los Angeles remains two years and multiple rounds of international competition away. Balparda’s immediate focus is Oshawa, the teammates who will take the field beside her and the work still required of Brazil if the team is to keep advancing.
For a player who once expected lacrosse to end with high school, there is plenty to appreciate in simply seeing how far it has already taken her.
“I am grateful for everything that has come my way and am trying to take it day by day,” Balparda said. “I hope that all of our hard work takes us far and we can accomplish so much for Brasil and for the sport of lacrosse.”
Fans can follow Balparda and Brazil throughout the Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championships from Sept. 29 through Oct. 4. Games will be streamed on World Lacrosse TV, with a $30 event pass available for the championship, and live statistics will be available through the World Lacrosse website.
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