The Metropolitan Police’s Youth Engagement Team (YET) based in NW London use sport to engage with disadvantaged young people from inner city & low social-economic areas. 

They run and support weekly sporting sessions and multisport holiday camps in Barnet, Brent, & Harrow – with the aim of reducing youth violence and offending, and improving school attainment.  The camps are targeted at young people (aged 9-16) who are either on the periphery of criminal or gang activity, have entered the criminal justice system, or have been identified by their school as struggling with negativity.

Sport has been shown to help young people understand and control their anger and aggression at school, and TLF approved a grant to the Youth Engagement Team to fund equipment and coaching courses, enabling lacrosse to be added to the sports offered from summer 2022.  

Over the last three years rugby had been included in the YET programme, which has had a positive impact in reducing negative behaviour and increasing achievement.  The team now want to see if they can mimic this success by using lacrosse to not only change behaviours but also increase participation in lacrosse.

Camps were organised and run from July 2022 where lacrosse sessions were included, with over 250 young people being given the chance to play the game for the first time.  Feedback from those taking part was very positive. 

PC Ben Eynon who is leading the lacrosse involvement told us:
“On the second day of the Harlesden camp, I ran a watered-down version of Box [lacrosse] in a sports hall, which the kids called ‘hood lacrosse’ and they all absolutely loved it.  In the camp at Barnet, there were quite a few kids there that wanted to do more lacrosse; and at the Harrow camp half of those I spoke to at the end said lacrosse was their highlight of the camp”.

“Moving forward, I now have three schools that we are looking to run lacrosse sessions within the next month or so (one primary, one secondary and one SEN school)”. 

Local lacrosse club the Camden Capybaras are involved in providing a link towards competitive lacrosse, and the England Lacrosse Regional Development Officer Nik Roberts has also been involved in providing guidance & support.

We wish the Metropolitan Police team all the best in using lacrosse for positive community engagement.

In January 2022 TLF approved a grant of £5000 to help fund equipment for the newly formed Phoenix Lacrosse Club in Newbury, following the decision by the local St Barts school to cease competitive lacrosse at the school .

Earlier this month, Phoenix LC were successful in winning their first tournament silverware at the South West Schools Tournament held at St Swithuns’ School - including a dramatic last minute golden goal in the Final.

In its first half season, the club now has 53 permanent members. It is continuing to grow, and has set itself a target to ending the season with 100 members.

For more details of the tournament win see the report from their local newspaper

Two weeks ago (13th September 2022) marked the four-year Anniversary since the launch of The Lacrosse Foundation (GB) in 2018.
In those 4 years, we have approved 60 grant applications totalling just over £218,000 of which:

17 to Schools   

21 to Clubs

12 to Universities

2   to FE Colleges [plus 31 Colleges via EL LACS initiative]

3   to Companies organising Games [&/or Coaching]  

5   to Regions or NGBs  [EL & LacrosseScotland]

If you think TLF may be able to help your lacrosse project, take a look at our website to understand:

Our Mission and Objectives   https://www.thelacrossefoundation.co.uk/about-us

Our Grants Criteria https://www.thelacrossefoundation.co.uk/criteria

In July 2021, TLF approved a grant to Lacrosse Scotland of up to £11,000, to help expand the game north of the border.  Following some personnel changes, Rosie Hazell took up the leadership of the programme at the end of the year - to begin the delivery at the beginning of 2022.

In addition to the TLF funding, Lacrosse Scotland received a grant from World Lacrosse, which they used to purchase 6 sets of 30 sticks plus balls, bibs & cones for use in taster/beginner-sessions.  TLF then covered the expenses for the coaches to travel and visit schools & clubs.     

Pupils from Glasgow High School

During the first three months (to April 2022), coaching/engagement visits were made to:

• Four schools where lacrosse is already played [Glenalmond (Perth); St Leonards (St Andrews); Loretto & St Georges (Edinburgh)] to give them support, & ensure they knew how to get help to develop their level of lacrosse;

• Six schools who were new to lacrosse

  • Five High Schools at Edinburgh [Trinity & Boroughmuir]; Glasgow [High School of & Hutcheson’s GS];  & Perth [Strathallan]; &

  • One Primary school [Cargilfield (Edinburgh)].

These visits engaged over 650 pupils across the 10 schools – with over 60% of these being new to lacrosse.

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Since May 2022, a further six schools (3 Primary & 3 Secondary) have been visited by student volunteers from Glasgow, Stirling & Dundee Universities with another 1000 pupils engaged in both school-time and after school clubs.

In May 2022 a Rosebowl Tournament was held in Edinburgh with five schools (2 ‘new’ schools/3 ‘existing’ schools) taking part, and then in June a ‘Summer Series of Sixes’ took place, with a mixture of existing players (schools and clubs), beginners, and even a few ex-players who were looking to get back into lacrosse.

The contributions made by the student volunteers, the involvement of members of the senior National squad, plus the co-ordination & management of the programme have all been key to achieving this initial success. 

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From September 2022, after-school clubs are due to continue in all the schools who were introduced to the game before the summer, and a new junior mixed club is being started in Edinburgh in October with training sessions at the weekends.

TLF have agreed to fund a dedicated coach who, starting in September 2022, will visit the schools throughout the 2022/23 academic year, will continue to support the student volunteers to ensure the momentum can be maintained, and will run CPD sessions for school teachers at the schools taking up the sport.

“I have really enjoyed getting involved in the Lacrosse Scotland development programme. Through volunteering in different schools I have really seen the impact that developing both coaches and players can have on the growth of the sport. I can’t wait to get further involved throughout the next academic year” (Zoe Dickson)