As part of England Lacrosse’s monthly guest column, legendary volunteer at Cobham Lacrosse Club, Sheena Macrae, who has been involved in lacrosse for over 10 years now despite never having played the sport, speaks to us about player retention at club level.
Retention.
One of those words: with connotations of hospitals, sleazy contracts, and even cramming for an exam.
It’s fast become one of those areas in lacrosse too: angsty and antsy in the post-pandemic sporting world.
Retention.
Will my team survive? Will we have a league in which to play?
Across the board in post-COVID sport, it seems that many of us have found other ways of spending Sundays than on a pitch.
Our Club is essentially a junior club, but we have a small Senior section, fielding a team in the South-East Women’s League Division I. Not bad, considering our players are mostly 16–18-year-olds.
However, and here we come to the dreaded word ‘retention’, some 16+ players simply give up (perhaps because of peer pressure, schoolwork or other interests) while some are attracted by clubs with a more elite pathway. While we do retain U18 Seniors as playing members, some choose to stay on as training members and junior coaches only, playing for other clubs in matches.
The Women’s Leagues, sadly, don’t permit players to play for more than one Club, unlike the Men’s where teams can play ‘unattached players’.
Retaining a viable Senior section is quite a headache. Yet, senior clubs would suffer somewhat without the junior clubs, and we love to have both sections. We nurture the ‘nursery’ pool of players, some of whom will go on to be elite and, while some may remain at ‘grassroots’, who knows which at age 16-18?
Success is ground-out from playing, training, playing, training - over and over. It’s not instant, it’s physical, it’s mental and it is formed on the field, match by match, with friends. And at least a decent part of retention is a Club grasping that playing a good match is downright fun (often irrespective of outcome).
I believe that all clubs and the Leagues need to retain their U18 Seniors to ensure that young players of all standards keep playing and developing – whether the pinnacle of their eventual achievement is Olympic or a local league. Who knows what the end point for each player will be? She won’t know until she’s played as many matches as she can fit in a busy schedule – probably over time from the teenage years to the twenties and beyond.
My starter for 10, then: while I know that belonging to just one Club can deliver team spirit and team cohesion, I do think that U18 women’s players could be permitted to play in the Women’s Leagues for more than one Club. That could afford choice and greater playing bandwidth to U18 players and their supporting parents, allow competitive lacrosse a development strategy, and give young players the chance to play much more than they can do at present. A win-win for grassroots as well as elite – and a positive take on retention!
We’re always on the look out for guest columnists from the lacrosse community to speak about a topic they’re passionate about. If you’d like to be featured, please contact j.naylor@englandlacrosse.co.uk.