Back in October 2019, TLF approved a grant of £5800 to help establish a new community lacrosse club based at Brampton, near Carlisle in Cumbria.   As lacrosse had never been played in this part of England before, this was a pioneering project to help grow the game and introduce the sport to new players.  The grant provided funds for the purchase of a stock of sticks, balls, helmets, gloves & pads to enable a men’s lacrosse team to be formed.  The club enjoyed matches against Newcastle, as well as Scottish clubs from Glasgow, Stirling & Edinburgh and continues to play now, although there are challenges in getting other teams to travel to play in Carlisle.

From the start, a key priority for the club has been junior development, to find new junior players to take up the sport and give the club the best chance of sustainability.   In 2020, TLF approved further grant funding of up to £30,000 (over 3 years) to support the delivery of a schools’ development programme for coaching & equipment costs– This was to be deployed at secondary level [ages 11-16] via the local William Howard School, as well at local primary schools [ages 7-10].  

Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic restricted the access of external coaches to schools, leading to the coaching to U11’s at primary schools being suspended.  But at William Howard, the club gave teachers some basic coaching knowledge, and by loaning them Pop lacrosse equipment, coaching was maintained on an ad-hoc basis until restrictions were relaxed.  Club coaching at William Howard resumed as soon as the school reopened, although this was limited to specific ‘bubbles of students’ during school hours (preventing an immediate resumption of the popular after-school club).

At the start of 2021, the club moved to a new permanent ground at Cotehill Park in Brampton, with improvements being made to the ground and buildings by club volunteers during the course of the year.  It is hoped that by having this local base (ground is near to the school) it will help to stimulate continuing participation over the coming years, with junior interest already evident from the club’s summer sessions.  

From October 2021, the club has been running weekly Saturday morning junior sessions, which have proved popular, typically seeing 10 to 15 youngsters in attendance from age 13 down. The club’s senior players have pitched in to ensure good coach to junior ratios, and many of the kids are now purchasing their own equipment.  

In Kendal, club member Mike Orme has also been running junior sessions and it is hoped to organise a 6-a-side competition between the two groups. This is the very beginning of what the club hopes will one day become a fledgling junior league in Cumbria. 

Efforts have also been made to re-start the club Ladies team with regular sessions recently introduced – along with plans to schedule some mixed lacrosse at the end of the season.

At the beginning of 2022, William Howard School indicated that they can be self-sufficient in lacrosse coaching – which will enable the Club to move onto a new school to continue the development.   To support this TLF have agreed to provide:

• 30 sticks and balls for William Howard School - so the school’s teachers can continue to deliver lacrosse as part of the PE curriculum independent of the Border City club. Their previous supply of field sticks were on loan from EL, who have now asked for their return.

• Another 30 sticks and balls for the Border City club to use in the next ‘education setting’ selected to receive lacrosse coaching. 

We wish them every success in their continuing efforts to establish the sport in Cumbria. 

NB. The driving force behind the club is Dan Clements and you can find out more about the Border City story in his TLF-supported episode of the 'At The Face' podcast by following this link. 

Link to: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1051561/9674805-dan-clements

Brooklands Hulmeians Lacrosse Club

Brooklands Lacrosse Club (based in Sale, south Manchester) already supported junior coaching via an  existing schools programme – but wanted to deliver lacrosse to a new & younger age group (in Years 3 & 4), and improve the Club’s links with nearby primary schools. 

In 2020, they requested £5300 from TLF to provide free coaching and junior equipment, to enable the introduction of lacrosse to girls and boys of all abilities.   The approved grant was used to purchase 50 Mini Warp sticks, and to provide 120 hours of coaching in the schools, as well as the costs of publicity to promote the project (i.e. gym bags & flyers). [NB. The club also funded 10 coaching courses to develop their existing young players to become coaches]. 
Additional TLF funding in 2021 was also provided to extend the coaching into more primary schools.

Although Covid inevitably impacted the delivery of the project, during 2021 Brooklands has been able to:

• Deliver 184 hours of coaching into 11 local primary schools; 

• Enable 860 Y3 +Y4 kids to get a taster of the game of lacrosse for the first time;

• Host 37 ‘new’ boys and 28 ‘new’ girls at the Club’s half-term camps;  

• Run ‘beginners’ sessions with 8 regular attendees, who are now playing members at the club. 
  

Update:  And in January 2022, this Brooklands U10’s side (see photo) took part in the Junior and Schools North U10 Development Tournament at Cheadle LC.   All the players on this team have come from the schools where the club has provided coaching to Year 3 and 4 pupils - funded by The Lacrosse Foundation grant.

It is great to see this schools development programme bearing fruit, recognising the commitment shown by the volunteers at the club who have supported their junior programme. 

Shout out to: Rick Summers (Junior Dev Manager), Ryan Sweetman (Juniors coach), Alison Cara (Publicity & Comms)

Brooklands LC’s juniors programme aims to provide an immediate pathway from the schools to the club.  They play at a multi-sports club, and within their local [Trafford MBC] area, there are professional cricket, football & rugby union teams – all of which are supported by paid development officers who go into schools free of charge, and provide a strong attraction to children to watch and play.  Lacrosse is therefore at a ‘funding’ disadvantage, and whilst there is some awareness of the sport, it does not have the profile of these others.  To meet this challenge, they are targeting this younger age group, and following up by encouraging the parents (along with their children) to come and see what the Club has to offer by running school tournaments and free coaching sessions. Running girls and boy’s programmes means more families get involved, with parents taking the opportunity to try lacrosse and other sports available at the Club (squash, cricket, bowls, hockey and tennis). 

St Bartholomew’s School (‘St Barts’) in Newbury has been a non-selective local comprehensive school since 1975, and is now a co-ed state-funded academy school – AND is one of the few state schools offering girls lacrosse.   However, in early 2021 the school decided to end ‘competitive’ lacrosse due to the additional staff time & cost of providing weekend fixtures, although the sport continues as part of the PE curriculum.  

In response to this, a parent-led campaign was started to try to get the school to reverse this decision, but as that was unsuccessful the Phoenix LC was formed in late 2021 to support the continuation of competitive lacrosse for pupils.  

In December 2021 TLF received an application from the founders of the Phoenix LC for funding to support the set-up costs for the new club.  A grant of £1000 was approved in January 2022 which provided:

• Goalkeeper equipment pack (i.e. Helmet, Chest pad, Gloves, Stick, Goalie Pants & Shin guards)

• 120 x balls

• 5 x sticks (STX Crux 100)

• Level 2 coaching course

Lacrosse remains a popular part of the school’s PE curriculum, and the new club provides an outlet for competitive matches.   

This new junior club will initially be providing girls’ lacrosse for teams formed by St Barts pupils, but has a longer-term ambition to create a schools' outreach programme which TLF hopes will help to grow lacrosse in the area. The club will also support players selected for England Lacrosse (EL) Talent Pathway.

St Barts have traditionally played in the EL National Schools’ tournament, and the Phoenix Club is engaged with EL Regional Manager Nik Roberts to enable them to compete as a club.

Update part 1:  Having formally launched in January 2022, they had a great response and were successful in fielding three teams in competitive matches at the end of the month - U12/13, U14/15 and Seniors.

One of the Club founders Alan Moon told us:
“Our plans for the rest of the season are to continue to focus on building the teams, getting the girls motivated with matches and providing them with excellent coaching. 
Post season, we plan to run some outreach programmes to the junior schools to start to introduce the game at an earlier level and also work with some of the local state secondary schools that have dabbled in the game. Over the Summer we will take stock and map our next season out”.

See the gallery of photos on their website https://phoenixlax.co.uk/ 

Update part 2: Several members of the club joined the rest of the St Bart’s Senior Team at the National Schools Competition in Aldershot in March, where they won U19A Division 3. Their success story has also been covered in local press and had lots of attention on social media. See the story in Newbury Today (online) here.

Harris Academy Wimbledon is a co-ed academy school located in south-west London – which has only recently opened (2018), and moved into its new buildings in November 2020.   The school PE staff wanted to introduce lacrosse as a formal part of the PE curriculum, and hopefully create an after-school club with fixtures against other schools. 

In March 2021, they applied to TLF for a grant to fund the purchase of some start-up equipment - and we approved a grant of £1830 which provided:

• 40 sticks

• 60 balls

• 4 goals (suitable for 6v6 format)

Lacrosse was introduced at the start of the 2021-22 school year and has made a positive start and been enthusiastically received by the pupils. 

By the end of November 2021: 

• All 130 students in Year 10 have had a taster session in a PE lesson. 

• Around 50 students have selected lacrosse as their Year 10 option for PE – and in the first term have received 8 hours of lessons to learn basic skills and match play. 

• The school hired a new PE teacher who played lacrosse at university so have some subject specialism in the department to plan and lead on the delivery of sessions, and help up-skill other PE staff members.

• An afterschool club (open to all year groups) has been started, and around 25 students have attended for the 1.5 hour sessions each week.

• The lacrosse club is regularly promoted with announcements around school (in newsletter & via twitter), and is included in the daily lunchtime ‘multisport club’ where students have the chance to have a go and practice some basic lacrosse skills. 

With the chance to practice & play some matches, along with the continuing commitment from the PE staff, we hope this early progress can be maintained and built upon.

The school have already made contact with nearby Spencer Lacrosse Club to set up links between them; and also with SEWLA (South East Women’s Lacrosse Association) to support them in the lacrosse community. 

The Harris Federation has over 40 institutions across London (includes Primary, Academy, Sixth Form schools), https://www.harrisfederation.org.uk/36/our-academies# .  Hopefully Harris Wimbledon’s introduction of lacrosse to their curriculum may lead to other opportunities to grow the game at other academies.