"There's so many different positives to the camps": Triple Arrow Camps Head Coach, Evie Stephens

Earlier this month, England Lacrosse announced the full Easter and summer 2021 Triple Arrow Camps schedule, featuring 11 camps across six venues placed all over the country.

They will be the first Triple Arrow Camps to go ahead since the summer of 2019 after the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to the 2020 camps schedule (although we did manage to put a few summer camps together during August last year).

Our veteran Triple Arrow Camps Head Coach, Evie Stephens, who has been involved in Triple Arrow Camps for 11 years, says she thinks camps are so important to the children who attend.

“There are so many different positives to the camps but I think the main one would be having the opportunity to meet a bunch of new friends who you then play against in fixtures throughout the duration of the camps and then subsequently during the school year.

“Of course, there is also the amount of lacrosse knowledge that you are able to learn from the group of fantastic coaches.”

Evie, who is a PE teacher/lacrosse coach and a Deputy Housemistress at St Mary’s, Calne, also believes that camps are a really great way for young lacrosse players to try new things and, ultimately, improve.

“The girls can expect a great standard of lacrosse coaching which will help them to improve over the duration of the camp.

“A lot of campers have said to me that they don’t recognise themselves when it comes to the last day of the camp whether they’re a beginner or have been playing for years.

“As I mentioned before, Triple Arrow Camps are a great place to meet new people who often end up being really good friends long into the future.

“Alongside the lacrosse, there is also other fun activities to participate in, making the camps a great social experience as well as an educational event.”

In terms of the possible restrictions that may have to be in place during the camps due to the coronavirus pandemic, Evie is confident that the camps will be as safe as possible for those taking part.

“We obviously don’t know at this stage what exact restrictions will be in place but at last year’s summer camps each camp coach was assigned a group of players and created a distinct pod with them.

“This meant that there was limited potential cross-over between the pods and a reduced risk to the campers.

“We were also on top of the cleaning of equipment used within our sessions and discouraged the campers from touching the cones and balls as much as possible to again prevent any risk.”

Triple Arrow Camps return on 29 March and run across several dates throughout the Easter and summer school holidays until 20 August.

Lacrosse Community Raises a Hand on International Women's Day

Lacrosse Community Raises a Hand on International Women's Day

Yesterday (8 March) marked International Women’s Day and to celebrate the lacrosse community flooded social media with images of themselves raising their hand to show they choose to challenge inequality in society.

The annual event, which first began way back in 1911, aims to celebrate “the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women” while also acting as a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

And this year’s theme was #ChooseToChallenge where every one around the world was challenged to post a picture of themselves with their hand raised to show that they choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality.

“A challenged world is an alert world”, the International Women’s Day website says, “Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day.

“We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.

“From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge.”

The lacrosse community certainly stepped up and showed it was willing to challenge inequality as social media was awash with International Women’s Day posts throughout the day!

Check out the England Lacrosse Instagram page to see the images for yourself!

Apply to be a Summer Lax hub manager

Summer Lax is looking for a number of Hub Managers to be the friendly face at the forefront of each of the hubs across the country and promote the fun and friendly Summer Lax experience.

Following the launch of the social lacrosse initiative, Summer Lax, last week, the leagues now need the people that will make them great.

Summer Lax is looking to recruit five Hub Managers (London x2, Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham) to work with the venues and England Lacrosse to launch the project and run the event on the ground making Summer Lax a welcoming experience for all.

The Hub Manager role is a paid position and will predominantly focus on league administration, people management, problem solving and acting as point of contact at the venues and behind the scenes.

If you think you have the skills to run a hub, coordinate people and be the life and soul of all things hub related, we’d love to hear from you.

You can get a full job description as well as details for applying below!

Summer Lax is coming! Summer social lacrosse leagues launched

Summer is on the way and with it is the launch of the new social lacrosse league Summer Lax!

Launching across four city locations, Summer Lax is England Lacrosse’s new summer initiative aimed at getting everyone together with those friends and teammates you haven’t seen in ages to play some fun, social lacrosse.

Playing with mixed teams in a fast 5-a-side format, Summer Lax will be the perfect way to spend the summer evenings with everyone getting involved.

Now the country has a provisional roadmap to reopening, we’re just putting the finishing touches on the dates and times ready for you to get your teams together and sign up.

And while you wait, we’ve teamed up with our charitable partner Oddballs for a free bobble hat giveaway that will keep you warm for now, but that also gives off massive summer vibes!

All you need to do is register for Summer Lax updates, making sure you’re first to know once dates and sign ups are released, and then Oddballs will send you a free Summer Lax x Oddballs hat.

Get all the information on Summer Lax at www.summer-lax.co.uk and follow the Summer Lax socials on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

England Lacrosse Launch New 'Introduction to Lacrosse' Resource Cards

England Lacrosse are delighted to announce the launch of our brand new ‘Intro to Lacrosse’ resource cards, introducing the user to the fundamental skills of lacrosse as well as activities to practise these skills in one simple document! 

The free to access and downloadable cards look at the principles of the game, the technical skills involved, activities & game-based practices and also covers the playing & officiating of a full-game situation. 

They contain predominantly game-based activities, featuring attack & defence principles, and are linked to technical skills.

Every card offers ideas for differentiation, progression, and questions to support the learning and each one can be adapted/developed so that it falls in line with Government coronavirus guidelines.

Our cards also introduce the newly-approved Olympic 6v6 version of the game which we hope will be showcased at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. 

The cards can be downloaded below and we recommend using them in tandem with the World Lacrosse ‘Coaching Fundamental Lacrosse Skills’ course which can be accessed for free and contains a series of helpful videos.

 If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 6s@englandlacrosse.co.uk.

Coronavirus Update - 4 March

England Lacrosse were delighted to see the Government’s announcements last week outlining a roadmap out of national lockdown and COVID-19 restrictions and the long-awaited, and much needed, return of grassroots sport starting Monday 29 March.

It is great news that the country will once again be permitted to pick up a lacrosse stick and step out onto the field but there are still many unknowns and uncertainties surrounding the Return to Play (RTP). As well as waiting for further guidance from the Government surrounding grassroots sport, we are also awaiting further updates around what people will be able to do with regards to travel, sporting facilities and additional rules for the playing of sport. 

The detailed government guidelines will affect the level to which the game can return and as soon as we have these updates from Government and Sport England, we will publish our guidance for lacrosse to return to playing.

Since the Government announcement last week meetings with the Chairs of the Regional Lacrosse Associations have taken place to discuss the RTP of lacrosse and to keep them updated with what we know so far and ensure that lacrosse can start as quickly and as safely as possible.

School sport will restart from Monday 8 March which will include lacrosse being played for the first time in 2021 but this will exclude travelling to play external fixtures.

The rest of the game will be targeting a restart from Monday 29 March. However, we are still unsure of what level of return this will be and what restrictions may be in place. We are awaiting an update of Sport England’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) as well as a detailed RTP outline which we expect to receive any time up to the 26th of March. 

England Lacrosse staff are attending an update session on the guidelines for RTP on Monday (8 March) and this will assist in understanding what the key issues are and what restrictions may be used to address them. 

Our England Lacrosse Medical Panel will meet during the week of 22 March to discuss any and all RTP guidelines prior to their release to the wider game to ensure they allow participants to play lacrosse safely.

Once this meeting has been held, we will then release the approved detailed guidance enabling lacrosse to return from the 29th of March.

Upon publishing the guidance, England Lacrosse will then hold a series of webinars to various parties within the game to keep them informed and answer your questions. We expect these webinars to be held in the week beginning 22 March.

Finally, we will draw up our own RTP roadmap detailing dates in March, April, May, and June in preparation for the easing of restrictions.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began almost a year ago, the lacrosse community has been amazing, respecting all guidance as and when it has come into force, and we thank you for that and this loose roadmap to RTP will undoubtedly bring some hope as well as a light at the end of a very long tunnel.

COVID-19 Guidance Update - 22 February

England Lacrosse welcome today’s Government announcements, outlining a roadmap out of national lockdown and COVID-19 restrictions and the long-awaited, and much needed, return of sport.

We are currently looking at all the new information, as well as liaising with Sport England and the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), and we hope to clarify our guidance soon.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began almost a year ago, the lacrosse community has been amazing, respecting all guidance as and when it has come into force, and we thank you for that and today’s announcements will undoubtedly bring some hope as well as a light at the end of a very long tunnel.

2021 National Schools Championships Cancelled

England Lacrosse are extremely disappointed to announce the cancellation of the 2021 National Schools Lacrosse Championships.

The majority of the 2020 competition was squeezed in just prior to the first national lockdown back in March last year but the 2021 competition has, unfortunately, not been as lucky.

It is with regret that we are cancelling this year’s event and it is not a decision which has been taken lightly, but with the continued restrictions and lack of clarity with regards to when these will be lifted we are left with no option.

The annual National Schools Lacrosse Championships, which is now into its 77th year, pits the country’s best girls’ school teams (across four age groups from under-13 to under-19) against each other with a chance to be crowned champions of their age category.

Last year’s Championships, which were hampered by poor weather, took place just before the first national lockdown in March.

And, after a tough couple of days of competition, Wycombe Abbey School came out on top in the under-19A category, beating Benenden School in the final.

In the other categories, St Pauls Girls’ School (U19A Div 1), Marlborough College (U19A Div 2), Queen Margaret’s School (U19A Div 3), St Catherine’s (U19B, U19C, U15A), and Guildford High School (U14) all excelled, coming top in their respective competitions.

Please be reassured that England Lacrosse are committed to developing a schools’ competition when restrictions are lifted, and we will make sure that we stay in touch with the relevant parties as we move through the coming weeks.

But, despite the set-back of having the 2021 tournament cancelled, England Lacrosse can confirm that the National Schools Lacrosse Championships will be returning in March 2022!

A venue and dates for this competition will be released in due course.

We appreciate how difficult it has been for the whole lacrosse community during the past year being unable to play the game we love but lacrosse will return and we all look forward to celebrating that day soon.

‘Running a Lacrosse club in 2021’ webinar series

England Lacrosse has developed a series of webinars focusing on specialist areas of running a lacrosse club in 2021 aimed at those valuable members of the sport who help to administer their clubs across the country.

The webinars, hosted by EL staff, have been designed to be focused on specific areas of running your club or team and are also a chance for you to ask questions and share ideas on different areas of club life.

The first in the series, held on Thursday 18 February will focus on data; helping your club to understand how best to organise all the information you hold, how technology can help you to manage your information and some top tips for keeping all your data safe in an increasingly digital world.

Following this, the webinars will run once a week covering various areas of club administration including, safeguarding, digital and social media and member engagement.

To sign up to any of the first five webinars available, just complete the registration form below.

Webinar schedule (All webinars run from 6pm - 6.45pm)

Thursday 18 February - Data in 2021

Thursday 25 February - Recruitment in 2021 - Creating a digital presence (Part 1)

Thursday 4 March - The value of your members and volunteers - How to keep them engaged

Thursday 18 March - Recruitment in 2021 - Creating a digital presence (Part 2)

Thursday 8 April - Safeguarding & Welfare in Lacrosse (Rearranged Date)

European Lacrosse Federation (ELF) Launch Inclusion Survey

The European Lacrosse Federation (ELF), the governing body of men’s and women’s lacrosse in Europe, has launched an inclusion survey which hopes to “measure challenges and opportunities related to diversity and inclusion in member countries' lacrosse programmes.”

The survey, which opened in late 2020, asks about individual’s thoughts and experiences around inclusion and diversity within lacrosse “to tackle barriers and empower us to build and celebrate lacrosse environments that are inclusive of everyone”; there’s also a section about discrimination, bullying, abusive language, and COVID-19.

European Lacrosse say the survey will take no more than 10 minutes to complete and all responses will be evaluated anonymously.

You can take the survey now by clicking the button below.

England Lacrosse Announce 4 More Webinars as Part of 'Cafe Conversations' Series

England Lacrosse are delighted to announce another set of webinars as part of our ‘Cafe Conversations’ series.

The first webinar will be led by former England and current Great Britain Men’s Head Coach, Tom Wenham and will take place on Wednesday 17 February.

Tom, a Senior Lecturer at UCFB as well as an experienced coach, will be presenting a mix of academic and practical examples of how small sided games can be used to develop effective decision makers in team sports.

Tom has used small sided games throughout his lacrosse career in all areas of the game from coaching juniors and seniors at Manchester WACS and Sheffield Steelers, to university coaching at the University of Sheffield and his coaching positions, across 20 years of involvement, with the under-19 and senior men’s England squads.

Small sided games are a way to ignite creativity in players and coaches and, during his webinar, Tom will guide us through the concepts that can work in all areas and at all levels of the game.

Tom’s webinar will be followed by ‘Injury Risk Reduction’, on Wednesday 17 March, as England under-20 physiotherapist, Matt Collier, presents his knowledge of injury risk reduction, focusing particularly on his work on RAMP warm-ups.

Matt, who has a background in occupational physiotherapy, has a wealth of knowledge in his field as well as an in-depth understanding of lacrosse and is keen to share his resources to improve warm-ups and cool-downs at an individual and club level.

A week later on Wednesday 24 March, Director of Sport & Physical Activity at Birmingham City University, Mark Jeffreys, will deliver a webinar about creating a positive learning environment for athletes.

Mark, a member of the England Lacrosse Talent and Performance Group, specialises in talent identification and development and will focus on setting a positive culture within sport where the learner is put first and allowed to thrive without negativity.

Each webinar will start at 6pm and you can sign up below.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact England Lacrosse National Talent Co-ordinator, Martin Cragg, on m.cragg@englandlacrosse.co.uk.

Sue Livock Bows Out as England Lacrosse President After Almost 6 Years

Last week, we officially announced Westonbirt School Headmistress and former England under-21 player, Natasha Dangerfield, as our new President.

She takes over from Sue Livock who has been the England Lacrosse President for almost six years!

Upon the announcement of Natasha as the new President, Sue reacted by saying she was really proud of what she had achieved during her tenure.

“During my time as President, I have truly enjoyed myself and hopefully I have helped to promote a positive image for the game and to be supportive of staff and volunteers.

“The role of President has changed over time and I do think I have a tendency to feel that I could always do better, however!

“One of the highlights for me was the Opening Ceremony of the FIL Rathbone’s Women’s World Cup in 2017 when I was able to welcome a record number of 25 teams to the event in Guildford.

“Also memorable was the medal ceremony at the end of the event which took place in a torrential downpour where we had to empty the rainwater out of the cup before presenting it!

“Overall, I have really enjoyed every moment of my time as President and I always tried to communicate with people in a positive way.”

Sue began her more than 40-year association with lacrosse when she started playing the game at Norwich High School aged 12.

Her love of the game continued as she moved into higher education, training as a P.E. teacher at Bedford College of Education, and then whilst playing for Barnet and Enfield club as she started her teaching career.

“I’m still in touch with my old Barnet team mates and we meet up regularly – once even for a game of walking lacrosse (as we are now nearly all into our retirement), which caused great interest and amusement in the local park!”

Sue also managed to play at county level for Anglia and then Hertfordshire as well as Territorial level in the East and she hopes she’s made a positive impact on the game.

“Hopefully I’ve passed on my love for the game to many of the pupils that I taught. In some way, I am a Jack of all trades having played, umpired, coached and organised events at various levels.

“In over 40 years of involvement in the game, I have held an extensive variety of Committee and organisational positions at local, national and international level; this includes being Chair of the All England Women’s Lacrosse Association Executive Committee from 1993-1996 when we went through the process of joining with the then men’s association to form the single governing body that exists today.”

More recent highlights for Sue have included being a member of the organising committees for both the Women’s World Cups hosted by England in 2001 and 2017 but what keeps Sue coming back for more is the community and the spirit of the people involved in lacrosse.

“Over the years, I have made so many very good friends through my involvement in lacrosse and that is what keeps me coming back.

“Thank you to all of you for making this journey so enjoyable and such fun.”

England Lacrosse would like to thank Sue for everything she has done over the past six years and we wish her all the best in whatever she chooses to do in the future and we’re sure this isn’t the last we’ve seen of her!

England Lacrosse Announce 'Bouncing off the Walls' Prize Giveaway

England Lacrosse are delighted to announce a prize giveaway, in partnership with The Raspberry Pi Foundation, which will see an individual who has taken part in our ‘Bouncing off the Walls’ Wall Ball Challenge win a brand new Raspberry Pi 400 Computer Kit!

The Computer Kit has been gifted by The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s colleagues at Raspberry Pi Trading and is a unique complete personal computer that is built into a compact keyboard.

Featuring a quad-core 64-bit processor, 4GB of RAM, wireless networking, dual-display output, and 4K video playback, as well as a 40-pin GPIO header, the Raspberry Pi 400 is a powerful, easy-to-use computer built into a neat and portable keyboard.

In addition to the fantastic Raspberry Pi 400 Computer Kit, England Lacrosse will be giving away 10 of our branded KeepCups as runner-up prizes.

The prize giveaway is all part of our ‘Bouncing off the Walls’ fund-raising campaign, launched two weeks ago, that aims to raise up to £20,000 for The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s Learn from Home Initiative.

The Initiative was started at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic to buy computer kits for vulnerable young people who are in desperate need of technology to help them to learn from home.

For less than £200, Raspberry Pi can provide a vulnerable young person with everything they need to learn at home, including:

• A Raspberry Pi desktop computer;

• A monitor;

• A webcam;

• Educational software;

• Ongoing support from a youth worker and the Raspberry Pi Foundation team.

Our campaign has already raised over £3,500 which will be used to buy 17 computer kits and any amount, no matter how big or small, will go to help those in need.

To enter our unique prize giveaway, you have to have taken part in our ‘Bouncing off the Walls’ Wall Ball Challenge and entered your details into our online form, detailing how many wall balls you have/aim to have done.

Please note, if you have already taken part in the challenge, you can still enter our prize draw by entering your details below.

Fundraising Campaign for Former England Player, Colin Clive, Raises Almost $800,000

A GoFundMe page for the former England player Colin Clive has raised almost $800,000 in just two weeks after being set up due to the death of Colin’s parents.

Barbara and Dave Clive both tragically passed away within days of one another at the end of January and, as their only child, Colin, has been left with a growing list of living expenses, including the house they all lived in, as well as hefty medical bills.

In addition to this terrible loss, Colin, who was an attacker for the England Men’s National Team between 2012-2014, has also been battling brain cancer for almost two years; recently, he has started an experimental treatment that is successfully fighting the cancer.

Colin, now 28 years old, also played college lacrosse for Siena College, New York, until his graduation in 2014 and helped England to victory at the 2012 ELF Men’s Lacrosse Championships in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, as well as to finish fifth at the 2014 Men’s World Lacrosse Championship in Colorado, USA.

His family live in America and Colin’s dad, Dave, at the age of 70, had remained in employment to ensure his family were eligible for health cover.

After Dave and Barbara’s deaths, Colin’s life-long friends and fellow lacrosse players, Bruce Stegner and Kenneth Carpenter, started a GoFundMe page to help Colin with any money donated being used to ease the burden on him for his long-term care and medical expenses and any unused funds being donated to The National Brain Tumour Society in the Clive family name.

England Lacrosse would like offer our condolences and best wishes to Colin at this extremely difficult time.

If you would like to read more about Colin’s story and donate to the GoFundMe page, click below.

Amended Triple Arrow Easter Camps Announced

England Lacrosse are thrilled to announce a slightly amended version of our junior girls Triple Arrow Camps programme taking place throughout the Easter school holidays.

The programme is based upon the previous version released in Autumn 2020 and now contains seven two-day camps.

With the Government’s intentions, made clear last week by the Prime Minister, to open schools in a more regular way on 8 March, we have decided to run an Easter Triple Arrow Camps programme similar to that seen in summer last year.

And, just like that summer programme, due to the on-going coronavirus pandemic and uncertainty over Government restrictions, we have removed all residential camp options.

Each of the seven Easter camps will be two-days long (with no option for girls to stay over-night on-site) and will be operating a ‘pod’ system with campers being allocated a ‘pod’ based on age, ability and friendship requests. Campers will remain in these ‘pods’ in their allocated pitch space for the two days and will be overseen by a coach.

Due to the implementation of the necessary COVID-19 guidelines, camper numbers on the camp are limited and early booking is recommended to secure a place.

Camp Dates and Venues

Monday 29th & Tuesday 30th March - St Swithun’s School, Winchester (Camp 1)
Wednesday 31st March & Thursday 1st April - St Swithun’s School, Winchester (Camp 2)

Tuesday 6th & Wednesday 7th April - Cheltenham Ladies College

Wednesday 7th & Thursday 8th April - Oxton Lacrosse Club

Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14th April - Charterhouse School, Godalming

Wednesday 14th & Thursday 15th April - Queen Anne’s School, Caversham

Please note, the camps will be

For more information about the Triple Arrow Camps Easter programme, please contact Kerrie Lawler on k.lawler@englandlacrosse.co.uk.

Natasha Dangerfield Becomes New England Lacrosse President

England Lacrosse are delighted to announce Westonbirt School Headmistress and former England under-21 player, Natasha Dangerfield, as the new England Lacrosse President.

Natasha, who has been Headmistress at Westonbirt since 2013, will take up her new role today, taking over from out-going President, Sue Livock.

Beginning her career as a P.E. teacher at Downe House, Natasha progressed through a variety of roles at prominent independent schools, gaining significant experience in teaching, pastoral care and leadership.

In the years preceding her headship, Natasha enjoyed success as Head of P.E. at North Foreland Lodge, Director of Pastoral Care at Gordonstoun and Deputy Headmistress at Harrogate Ladies.

A passionate sports-woman, Natasha started playing lacrosse at 11-years-old and went on to represent her county, the Midlands region and ultimately England at under-21 level.

She coached at county level for Berkshire and Yorkshire and admits she often planned her teaching posts around her enthusiasm for the sport!

Over the years, Natasha has enjoyed working with England Lacrosse in a variety of capacities, including chairing the National Events Committee, running the clubs and colleges tournament and managing the under-19 England team for two consecutive World Cups.

Upon her appointment, Natasha said she feels honoured to have been offered this exciting new role.

“As a passionate advocate of school lacrosse, I feel extremely privileged to take on this role. England Lacrosse is a great organisation and one that has been part of my life as a player, a coach, an educator and now also as a mother with a keen lacrosse-playing daughter! 

“I hope that I can continue to support the excellent work the Board undertakes already; the very good work the out-going President, Sue Livock undertook and most importantly to work as an association to develop the players, who we must ensure have a firm foundation and framework to play from, through and excel within.”

England Lacrosse CEO, Mark Coups, remarked how brilliant it is to have someone of Natasha’s background, capability, and knowledge taking on the role of EL President.

"I am delighted that Natasha has been appointed as our new President as we look forward to one of the most important years for lacrosse as we seek to recover from the restrictions of COVID-19.

“To have someone like Natasha to follow our out-going President Sue Livock, who has done so much for lacrosse during her tenure, is fantastic for the sport, the Board and the leadership team.

“We are all looking forward to working with her over the coming months and using her skills to help us with the tasks ahead.

“We hope that you will all be able to meet Natasha in her new role as events open up and lacrosse starts to be played again."

Out-going President, Sue Livock, who has been in the role for almost six years, said it has been an honour to have held the role of EL President and it is something of which she is really proud.

“During my time as President, I have truly enjoyed myself and hopefully I have helped to promote a positive image for the game and to be supportive of staff and volunteers.

“Of course, I am very pleased to be handing the role over to Natasha as its always good to bring new blood into the organisation and I am really confident that the game continues to be led by such a dedicated and skilful group of Board members and an exceptionally dedicated and hard working team of staff.

“If I had to give Natasha one piece of advice, it would be to bring your own style to the role! Whilst being a figure head for England Lacrosse, and promoting and supporting the organisation as a whole, you can also make your own mark according to your interests and the time available.”

England Lacrosse welcomes new Sport England strategy

England Lacrosse welcomes new Sport England strategy  

England Lacrosse is delighted to support Sport England’s new ‘Uniting a Movement’ strategy, setting out 10-year plan for transforming lives and communities through sport and physical activity. 

This ambitious plan, unveiled on Tuesday, comes at an ideal time for lacrosse as we set out our own strategies for the future and highlight the role we can play in the nation’s recovery. 

As we rebuild from the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, we need to reimagine how we keep sport central to the wellbeing of everyone. 

The global situation has shown that our operations need to be flexible and adaptive, exploring new formats and new initiatives. 

We are committed to taking on the Sport England strategy challenge of making sport more inclusive over the next decade. So, we are accelerating our plans to make lacrosse available to the widest possible audience, ensuring we provide opportunities that meet the wants and the needs of different community groups.  

While the pandemic has restricted us all in our individual activities, it has possibly brought the organisation and lacrosse community closer together.  

Our schools, universities and clubs are the heart of our sport and bring our lacrosse family together to play as soon as possible is important to everyone; we have worked with our communities on the successful Return to Play of lacrosse last year and we will work as one again to guarantee the recovery of our sport and provide lacrosse as soon as possible. 

And as part of that, we must do more to create accessible and inclusive environments to play the sport, within and outside of our current, well-established structures to ensure that everyone feels safe and welcome on the lacrosse field. 

Sport England’s commitment to creating positive experiences for children and young people is also something that has always been at the heart of our organisation’s vision. 

With over half of lacrosse participation in England carried out by Under 18s, a large proportion of which female, we recognise that both the present and the future of our sport is being developed on the playgrounds, on the junior fields, and within our grassroots clubs around the country. 

We will be aiming to strengthen links to bridge the gap between education sectors and community clubs to create a united game through meaningful in-person and digital connections. 

We have all embraced technology, and with our communities unable able to connect physically, this is the time to continue to invest in our digital offering and unite our communities in multiple ways through the shared love of lacrosse.  

Sport and lacrosse have a key part to play in helping people live healthier and happier lives and It is vital that we are all able to work together to help push forward through the recovery and inspire people to enjoy being a part of the sport no matter their background. 

We look forward to seeing you all playing lacrosse very soon.

Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy can be read at www.unitingthemovement.org

Former Lacrosse Player, Issy Bailey, Makes Team GB Paralympic Squad

The former lacrosse player turned pistol shooter, Issy Bailey, has been selected to represent Team GB at the Paralympic Games due to be held in Tokyo, Japan, this summer.

After the news broke last week, Issy, a former pupil at Rendcomb College, said it was great to be selected for the team once again.

“Though it is a little different this time around, as [the team] couldn't all be together, we were still able to mark the occasion via Zoom, talk to the press and spread the good news on social media.

“It's a great confidence-builder to know we've been selected, as other teams and athletes are still in limbo, which is a difficult place to be.”

Initially a hockey player to the core, Issy first picked up a lacrosse stick aged 13 when it was the spring term sport at her new school.

“My heart and soul were in hockey and so I know I aggravated the coaches rather a lot by playing on the ground more than in the air!

“But nonetheless I made the school 1st team, made it through county trials and remember coming second in a schools competition.”

It was only during her rehabilitation at Stoke Mandeville Hospital after a car accident in 2013 that Issy became aware of pistol shooting as a sport.

“We were offered a handful of sports as pastimes, but I had a lot of broken bones and internal injuries, so took to shooting whilst more physical sports were a bit beyond me.

“At the time, the GB team trained at the sports centre that was attached to the rehabilitation unit, so I was lucky to meet the GB coach on my first visit. He recognised my natural ability and set me a training programme almost instantly.

“Within 10 months, I was on the GB team and competed in my first World Cup, so I'm very grateful for the opportunity he gave me.”

Since then, Issy’s rise to the top has been nothing short of meteoric and, in 2016, she competed at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she finished 14th and narrowly missed out on the final, and a chance to win a medal, by just five points!

“Competing at the 2016 Games was an honour; I remember taking a moment on my own in the Village one day, looking around in the sunshine and thinking: "wow, look at where you are, look what you have achieved".

“Being paralysed still felt very new to me, yet the opportunities of Paralympic sport had allowed me to achieve more than I ever anticipated.

“Competing alongside the world's best, some of which had become my idols, was incredible.

“I learnt a lot and took pride in both representing Britain and spreading the message of the Paralympics.”

At the 2016 Games, Issy was joined by her pistol shooting team-mate Stewart Nangle who, she says, gave her a lot of good advice and confidence. Something she will have to be without this year as the lone pistol shooter in the team.

“I've been the lone pistol since [Stewart] retired from sport in 2018 and it feels good to have kept the flag flying to another Games.

“There will be five rifle shooters and one pistol in Tokyo but it's important for the future of the sport that pistol shooting is represented.

“I want everyone to see that it's possible to get there, even in a country in which pistol shooting can be difficult to pursue.

“Shooting is a very mentally demanding sport (I'd say it's 75% psychological), so once the basics have been learnt, it's all about building a solid, consistent technique that holds firm under pressure.”

And, when it comes to disability sport, Issy couldn’t be a bigger advocate of people getting out there and trying different sports.

“To anyone looking to get involved in disability sport, I'd say take every opportunity you can!

“Try lots of different sports, because you never know what you may take to.

“I never would have chosen shooting and didn't envision it would ever go this far - I'm only a Paralympian because I gave it a shot... If you'll pardon the pun!

“Being in the British team has given me a lot of direction and purpose. Alongside my BA and MA, I have been able to make a career out of sport, which I never thought I would be able to do.

“It's changed my life in that it's broadened my horizons, given me friends from all around the world and shown me countries I may never have visited.

“Being part of ParalympicsGB has given me confidence and pride after what could have been a real downturn in my life. It has taught me that a positive mindset can lead to great things.”

The Paralympics are due to take place 29 August - 5 September this year in Tokyo, Japan and you’ll be able to follow Issy’s progress on Channel 4.

New Dates Announced for World Lacrosse 2022 Men's U21 World Championship

Credit: Shutterlax.com

World Lacrosse have announced the 2022 World Lacrosse Men’s U21 World Championship will take place 10-20 August 2022 in Limerick, Ireland at the University of Limerick.

The Championship was due to be held last summer but was postponed because of the on-going coronavirus pandemic and the new dates were approved by the World Lacrosse Board of Directors following a review of possible dates and consultation with the member-National Governing Bodies expected to send teams.

In a statement released earlier today, World Lacrosse said that “ordinarily, the upper age of eligibility for the age-group World Championship would be U20, but on a one-time basis in 2022, in order to make certain athletes are not deprived of the opportunity to compete, it is being raised to U21.”

Upon release of the statement, World Lacrosse President, Sue Redfern, remarked:

“With helpful input from our membership, we are now able to confirm our second World Championship for the summer of 2022 and can begin looking forward to what will be an exciting summer of international lacrosse competition next year.

“In particular, we would like to thank Ireland Lacrosse and the University of Limerick for their commitment in making certain the U21 World Championship is staged and preserving this important competitive opportunity for athletes from around the world.”

The Men’s U21 World Championship will be preceded in 2022 by the World Lacrosse Women's World Championship (29 June-9 July) in Towson, Maryland, USA and The World Games (7-17 July) in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

You can read the full World Lacrosse statement regarding the new dates for the 2022 Men’s U21 World Championship HERE.

And you can keep up to date with everything 2022 Men’s U21 Men’s World Championship by visiting www.worldlax2022.com.