During last year’s National Schools Lacrosse Championships, our England Lacrosse Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Coups spoke to local radio station Radio Victory about the competition, lacrosse, and Olympic inclusion.
Read the transcript below and don’t forget to purchase your tickets for this year’s 2025 National Schools Lacrosse Championships from just £15 by clicking the buttons in this piece.
Presenter: Now, Aldershot in the north of our broadcast area has just hosted the National Schools Lacrosse Championships. Schools from all over the UK came to Hampshire and Winchester were one of the success stories. Well, our breakfast man cut his teeth in sport for the likes of Team Sky and the BBC and he finds it hard to resist going off to investigate. So, Gary Champion went to the muddy playing fields of Aldershot to experience the game for the first time and to chat to the Chief Executive of England Lacrosse, Mark Coups.
Mark Coups: It’s our female Nationals Schools Championships and it’s the largest school-girl event in the calendar year, not just for us but for female sport. We’ll have just shy of about 2,000 school-girls playing here over the four days.
We do have options for everyone to play; we actually have quite a vibrant mixed game which is used for inclusivity and ensuring everybody has got the opportunity to play and it’s also played by adults as well as young people.
Presenter: And for people who don’t know what lacrosse is, how would you describe it?
Mark Coups: Lacrosse is really quite a simple game. It’s a game that’s played with a stick and a ball where you try to get the ball into a goal. So, in normal P.E. terms it would be termed as an invasive, goal-scoring sport but it has its origins way back in North America; it was a game that was played by Native American tribes.
We’ve had a period of growth over the last 25 to 30 years where the sport has been taken around the world and we’re really delighted to be included in the LA28 Olympic Games. We got the news in October 2023 that we would be in that and that’s the first time we’ll be in those games for nearly 100 years and we’re over the moon about that. Fantastic news!
Presenter: How good are Team GB?
Mark Coups: Team GB are pretty good! We are currently fourth in the world in both women’s and men’s categories so we’re very hopeful that we will be able to perform well and hopefully get a medal in LA.
But what’s exciting about the National Schools Lacrosse Championships being here in Aldershot over this weekend and into the beginning of next week is that we’ve got some young players who’ll have been playing who may well be on that team and possibly on an Olympic podium with a medal round their neck in 2028.
The 2025 National Schools Lacrosse Championships is taking place from Saturday 8 to Tuesday 11 March at Aldershot Garrison Sports Centre with U19A & U19B competitions on Saturday and Sunday, U19C & U15A on Monday, and U14 & U13 tournaments on Tuesday.