England Lacrosse is delighted to announce the appointment of Sam Patterson as Head Coach of the England Men’s Performance Squad.
Patterson takes charge off the back of a successful coaching career across club, university, and international level, following an equally distinguished playing stint spanning more than 20 years.
Since 2016, he has been Head of Lacrosse at Nottingham Trent University, overseeing the transformation of the institution’s lacrosse programme to firmly establish NTU as one of the top lacrosse programmes in the country.
Patterson has taken the NTU Men’s performance squad to the BUCS National Championship final five years in a row, claiming the title in both 2018 and 2023.
He has also had success with the Women’s performance squad, leading the programme to the top tier of BUCS lacrosse, as well as picking up the BUCS National Trophy in 2022.
In addition to team success on the field, through his time at NTU he has also overseen the individual player development of a number of England internationals and will now pick up those relationships again in his new role.
As a player, Patterson is one of the most decorated players in the history of England Lacrosse.
He represented England in a remarkable four Senior World Championships from 2006-2018, is a three-time European Championship gold medal winner and has won numerous trophies playing for club side Stockport.
Following his international playing career, Patterson soon also transitioned into international level coaching, serving as an Assistant Coach to the Men’s Performance Squad from 2019-2022, building on the experience gained coaching throughout the England Academy system.
Patterson’s first outing following the appointment is set to be at April’s Home Internationals tournament in Cardiff, before looking ahead to the upcoming 2025 European Championships.
Derek Morgan, England Lacrosse National Performance Manager, said: “Sam is a highly respected figure within the English game and following his international playing career, has now proven himself to be one of the most talented coaches around.
“He has significant major tournament experience as a player and has worked as a coach on both our Talent Pathway system and as a senior Assistant Coach to develop his top-level coaching knowledge.
“Additionally, his impressive track record at NTU has demonstrated his ability to create a cohesive, structured programme that has delivered positive results on a consistent basis.
“The Men’s Performance programme has a strong core of young, talented athletes and we see Sam as someone who will be able to nurture that talent, while also creating a clear vision and identity for the programme moving forward.”
On his appointment, Sam Patterson said: “This is a huge privilege and honour to be given the responsibility to take the England team forward in this exciting time in our sports history.
“This undoubtably will be the biggest challenge in my coaching career to date, but one I am laser focused on ensuring will be a successful period for our national team.
“We are blessed with a fantastic group of players, and I am really excited to start working with them. This is very much a busy time for our players with more lacrosse commitments than ever before, so I will be working in close collaboration with all our national team formats, junior teams, and the academy.
“I also want to convey to the players my first priority is to create the best possible environment for them, give them clarity and buy-in of the process we are about to embark on together, and build a highly competitive team we can all be proud of and get behind ahead of the European Championships, and onward to the World Championships in Japan in 2027.”
