The Lacrosse Foundation has awarded a grant of £20k to England Lacrosse to provide 24 FE colleges (for age group 16-18) with equipment packs including sticks, balls and pop-up goals, plus funding towards coaching & apparel - enabling them to introduce lacrosse into their curriculum.

The Lacrosse Accredited College Scheme (LACS) initiative is a collaboration betwen England Lacrosse and the Association of Colleges, and aims to bring lacrosse to the FE sector through a coordinated and sustainable programme, increasing the opportunities for more young people to engage with the sport.

The 24 Colleges which applied to be a part of the first year of the LACS are located across the country from Barrow-in-Furness to Weymouth.

The Foundation is also providing funding for in-person Continuous Professional Development opportunities of up to £200 per college, as well as up to £50 per college towards apparel for a Young Leaders programme.

These awards will allow teachers at each of the colleges to continue to develop knowledge and skills in the sport, helping to create a sustainable FE programme, as well as providing young adults with leadership skills in addition to supporting practical delivery of lacrosse.

Read more here.

Background:

Over the past five years, Heaton Mersey Lacrosse Club has been working hard to revive its junior programme. By engaging local primary schools, delivering good-quality coaching, and running weekly sessions, the club has gone from fewer than 20 junior boys to 120 boys and girls across a range of ages.

The Application:

However, such rapid growth comes with its challenges. For the boys in particular, who each need a junior-sized helmet and other protective equipment, playing kit can quickly become sparse. With the U12 programme using most of the kit, there’s simply not enough to go around.

Heaton Mersey approached The Lacrosse Foundation seeking a medium-sized application to help tackle this issue. Their plan laid out an approach to help retain enthusiastic young players, who without access to suitable equipment might be tempted by other sports.

Coupled with their own fundraising efforts, the grant would ensure a steady stream of junior boys into the club over the next five years.

The Result:

The Foundation awarded the club £3,600 to help provide playing equipment for 20 junior U10 boys. With the new kit the boys will be able to practice properly and, most importantly, play competitive full-field games against other local clubs.

Junior Head Coach at Heaton Mersey Lacrosse Club, Richard Smith says “The Lacrosse Foundation has been fantastic in its support of our junior development at the club. We share a passion and determination to grow the game and without their support this would most certainly have been held back or even lost.

“They have given an opportunity for us to give a great and enthusiastic group of under 10 boys the opportunity to play field lacrosse in full kit. You should have seen their faces when they saw it!

“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to TLF. Thank you!”

Background:

Manchester is the UK’s lacrosse hotbed, due in no small part to local clubs having a presence in schools across the area.

However, since the closure of the LDO programme five years ago, it has become more difficult to get coaches into schools – a lack of funding making it less appealing to both coaches and schools alike. As a result, the number of children playing lacrosse in schools has dropped, and recruiting children to local clubs has become far more difficult.

The Application:

Cheadle Hulme LC has been using a self-employed coach in an attempt to replicate the success of the former LDO programme. They approached The Lacrosse Foundation with a large-scale plan to quadruple the number of children taught lacrosse each week.

The proposal was twofold: offer local schools subsidised coaching; and purchase more robust, modern equipment to make sure the children enjoy the highest quality of lacrosse from the outset.

The Result:

The results have been immediate. Since January, Cheadle Hulme’s community coach, Chris Peacock, has introduced 150 new children to the sport and the club is starting to reap the rewards with youngsters joining the club ahead of the new season. Here’s what Chris had to say:

“I'm now teaching 350 children each week in schools. This is a rise of 150 children each week directly because of the funding and the new equipment I have received from The Lacrosse Foundation. Also because of the funding I've now got contracts with all the schools I'm in, until the end of the school year instead of just a term here and there. 

“The sticks I have bought with the money from the Foundation are the Warrior Wrap Jr which are fantastic. The transferable skills from school lacrosse to club lacrosse is now paralleled and the children are so much better prepared when they to come and play at the club level. 

“At Cheadle Hulme we now have 6 new U12's getting ready for next season and I expect at least 10 more before the summer holidays start which will give us a full team going forward into 2019/20 season.”

And here are some of the comments from the youngsters at Lane End Primary School:

“the sticks deliver a perfect, clean throw" (Liam)

"the sticks are hard-wearing - better than the old plastic ones" (Hannah)

"Mr Peacock makes each session fun, and motivates everyone" (Sam)

"Mr Peacock helped me with my aim" (Harry) 

Background:

King’s College London has one of the UK’s fastest growing lacrosse clubs. Since being formed just five years ago, the club gone from 50 members to fielding six teams this season.

The Application:

The club had just set up a new women’s team when a large amount of their equipment was stolen. Having put most of their resources behind the formation of the new team, it looked like King’s would be unable to replace the equipment, which would severely damage recruitment for the year, and possibly lead to a team folding. They turned to The Lacrosse Foundation for help, hoping we would be able to support them through this period of financial difficulty.

The Result:

After reviewing the application, The Lacrosse Foundation was able to cover the cost of the stolen equipment, making sure that a stroke of bad luck didn’t badly affect a club with a healthy business plan and a desire to grow. Here’s what club captain Tristan Fraser had to say following the donation:

“The Lacrosse Foundation were generous enough to help us out in a time of need by donating 30 men's and women's sticks. Without their help our season and recruitment would have been severely affected, but instead we've had our most successful year to date with recruitment of over 100 members, fantastic performances across all six of our teams and even starting to get involved with some charity work, using The Lacrosse Foundation's sticks to teach local children how to play via the university. Their prompt and kind help was truly invaluable to us this year. Thank you!”