Today marks National Lacrosse Day 2020 and to celebrate we are valuing our dedicated lacrosse volunteers from all over the country who have kept their respective clubs and teams going through what has been a strange and stressful year.
Here, we recognise Liverpool Lacrosse Club’s Treasurer and men’s team secretary, Oli Jones.
Oli, who is 33 and started playing lacrosse while at Liverpool University in 2006 before joining Liverpool Lacrosse Club a year later in 2007, has spent most of his time during lockdown, as Club Treasurer, looking at the club’s finances.
“Unfortunately when the lockdown started we had to stop our coaching sessions in schools and say goodbye to our LDO three months earlier than planned, so a lot of the initial work was involved in sorting those issues out, understanding the financial liabilities to the club, and keeping players/parents informed on training being cancelled etc.
“As we've started to come out of lockdown thankfully I've moved into getting everyone back to training in a safe manner and ensuring we are complying with the latest guidance etc.”.
In normal times, Oli can often be found organising match day teams as part of his role as men’s team secretary as well as managing the Junior Development Programme and coaching the U12 and U16 boys’ teams at Liverpool.
He has been kept quite busy in his work-life too since lockdown, something which he is really thankful for.
“I've been lucky that my job involves working in a key sector, so I have been pretty busy during the lockdown with a number of work projects.
“Since the initial lockdown period ended, I've also been able to get out and play as much golf as possible during the weekends with teammates so that has certainly kept me sane”!
Despite the challenging circumstances we all find ourselves in, Oli believes sport is something that can benefit all aspects of our lives.
“I think Sport during these times is really important not just because of the fitness benefits; it gives you an opportunity to escape the everyday issues you might have personally and just focus on doing something you enjoy to the best of your ability, either for yourself or a team.
“Whether that's as a player, coach, ref or volunteer, sport can be anything for everybody which is a pretty rare thing”.
We’d like to thank Oli for his hard-work and dedication to lacrosse, especially during this year, and we hope he continues as one of our amazing volunteers for many years to come!