It’s been almost a year since the first national lockdown began in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and, since then, clubs, teams, and individuals have come up with a variety of different ways to keep active and playing lacrosse while remaining in line with the latest Government restrictions.
Cobham Lacrosse Club is one of those and in this third national lockdown they have continued to hold coaching sessions online via Zoom.
The decision to continue coaching their members was an easy one for Club Chairperson Sheena Macrae to make as she believes it’s more important than ever to look after everyone in the Cobham Lacrosse Club family.
“We understand the important role sport plays (physically and mentally) in our players’ lives and the structure that it can help provide as well as its importance in their development.
“Additionally, we are a junior club (ages 8-18+) and so we aim to help parents by giving an outlet for pent-up energy!
“Our Zoom sessions allow the children ‘contact’ with their fellow players which we feel is vitally important in lockdown when they can’t meet with friends at school or at their various clubs.”
The coaching sessions are run by former head coach of Cobham Lacrosse and current head coach of Loughborough University Women’s Lacrosse as well as associate coach at U19 Lacrosse Scotland, Heather Macrae.
Heather is working with Cobham’s current team of senior coaches to develop their virtual sessions, something which she’s seen used to good effect at Loughborough University Lacrosse and Lacrosse Scotland.
The next step is to roll out virtual coach education for Cobham’s junior coaches too as they feel that, with restrictions and lockdown set to continue indefinitely, it’s important that all their coaches can confidently lead virtual sessions as well as understand the unique safeguarding issues that come with the online world.
As a club aimed at juniors, the online training sessions have been a fantastic way of connecting young people with their friends at a time when face to face socialising isn’t allowed and the demand has been huge.
“We are only at the start of our virtual sessions, but the feedback is already extremely positive from parents and players”, remarks Sheena, “And we had 100 players join in on their age group’s sessions last weekend!
“We’re going to try to continue [the online training sessions] for as long as lockdown lasts and then we will reassess the situation; this pandemic has forced everyone to do things a little differently and think outside of the box and we are monitoring our approach as we go along and will do whatever is in the best interests of our members, coaches, and other stakeholders at every stage in the journey.”
Cobham's online training sessions are tailored by age group and they cover sessions for everyone from the ‘minis’ (ages 8,9 & 10) right up to the under-15s and the firsts.
Each session is carefully planned and delivered according to each age group’s prior experience and ability and, according to Sheena, the online training sessions are just the beginning for Cobham as they try to remain engaged with their players and members during the next few months of lockdown and restrictions ahead.
“We are currently looking into provision of sports science support for our players’ development as well as continuing to enrich the portfolio of our coaches.
“The coaching role has probably changed forever due to the pandemic, so we plan to keep our coaches up-to-date in their skill-set.
“And, we have always offered guest coaching sessions but virtual training offers very exciting opportunities to bring in external experienced coaches to inspire the players and enrich them during this time.”
For more information about Cobham Lacrosse Club, visit their website HERE or their Facebook page HERE.