The Lacrosse Foundation first supported Oxford City Lacrosse Club’s junior development efforts back in April 2022, with a grant of £2520 to cover coaching hours for their outreach programme in the Blackbird Leys part of Oxford.  More recently in January 2025, we provided a second grant of £2700 for a number of pop-lacrosse sets of equipment (totaling 180 sticks & balls, and 20 mini goals), to extend the Club’s lacrosse offer.  As all involved in junior development will know, it is an ongoing effort which is dependent on a group of dedicated volunteers, who in this case have engaged local groups to expand the sport in the city.

On 11th June 2025, the Matthew Arnold School in Oxford hosted a Primary Schools Lacrosse Festival, with over 60 Yr5 + Yr6 pupils from the five local primary schools who have recently included Lacrosse as part of their PE curriculum.   This initiative was driven by the Lacrosse Club, who have continued to offer outreach coaching to local schools – with support from TLF, as well as from Centurion LC, and a CPD event run by England Lacrosse for primary school teachers in the West Oxfordshire Partnership.   This is the first time a lacrosse partnership between schools and a community club has taken place in Oxford.

Everyone had a lot of fun on the day of the Festival, and the Oxford City club signed up five new players as a result. Lacrosse received some great local coverage on BBC Oxfordshire which you can listen to here. 

Oxford is now a thriving lacrosse city.  The Oxford City club run Men’s, Mixed, Women’s and Junior sections – with the Mixed team having won the National Club Finals for the last two seasons; and both Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University have women's teams in BUCS Premier 1.  The West Oxford schools are now keen to ensure lacrosse becomes a permanent part of the KS2 PE curriculum.

Annabel Campbell (President, Oxford City LC) reflecting on the success of the Festival:
"What a fantastic sight to see over 60 children playing lacrosse. I could hear cheers and shouts of excitement all afternoon - it demonstrates that lacrosse is an exciting sport and accessible to all. There was some real talent on display and I'm hopeful we can develop a West Oxford team to participate in regional and national POP Lacrosse tournaments next year; as well as see our club Junior section at the Oxford Community Day (clubs & unis) in October”.

and

Jake East (Head of PE at Matthew Arnold School) who helped to run the event:
"Lacrosse has been our first sports partnership with a local community club and it's been a huge success. The children's enjoyment was obvious and I thank all the staff for introducing and coaching a new sport within their PE timetable.  We're now planning on creating similar festivals, introducing new sports to as many young people as possible, with the support of community clubs. Lacrosse has been a great sport to launch this initiative and we're keen continue and hold a festival every year."

In January 2025, The Lacrosse Foundation approved a grant of £2,500 for Deer Park Primary School in Twickenham.

Thanks to the grant, the school received 60 lacrosse sticks (STX Mini Power 2) and 4 goals (Forza ProFlex), which allowed the school to introduce lacrosse as a core part of their PE curriculum for Years 5 & 6.

Deer Park prides itself on providing all pupils with opportunities to play a variety of sports to encourage health and happiness while helping them discover a passion they can carry with them for life.  Lacrosse certainly seems to have found a warm welcome at the school. As Deer Park told us, “the sport has been growing in popularity at our school over the past few years. The journey began in 2021 when Richmond Lacrosse Club started an after-school lacrosse programme, and the club quickly gained popularity, and each year our pupils have had the opportunity to compete in matches and tournaments against other local primary schools.”

The sport was also promoted in the school by Veronica, a former pupil and player at Richmond Lacrosse Club who “shared her love for the sport” during a school assembly, which encouraged even more pupils to join the after-school club. 

Lacrosse at Deer Park also received a boost when Scotland Lacrosse players Isabella and Grace Penny visited the school in January 2025 to help kick-start its Year 5 lacrosse programme, marking the beginning of an exciting new chapter. This was followed by Sam Perry from Richmond Lacrosse who taught the pupils over the course of six weeks. To the school’s delight this resulted in the children making great progress in mastering foundational skills such as passing, catching, scooping, and running with the ball. These efforts brought a new level of excitement to lacrosse at our school. The links between the school and the Richmond Junior Club will hopefully enable kids to continue to play the game after moving up from Deer Park.

Deer Park acknowledged TLF’s contribution telling us: “We are grateful for the Lacrosse Foundation's generous grant, which has made all this possible. We want to thank Isabella and Grace Penny, and Sam Perry for their support - and we hope many of our pupils will continue to play and enjoy lacrosse long into the future.”

In September 2023 The Lacrosse Foundation (TLF) approved a grant of £5,718 to Stirling Council to help develop the game within central Scotland.

TLF’s grant funded 23 pop lacrosse sets comprising 12 sticks and 12 balls, 10 pairs of pop lacrosse goals and 10 sets of balls.

Lacrosse was not particularly well known in schools, as Stirling Council pointed out:

“The fact that many pupils had limited pre-existing knowledge or experience in lacrosse meant that it was an even field to begin with and this encouraged lots of pupils to come forward and take part [in the sport].”

The grant meant that lacrosse could be delivered in clubs and schools throughout Stirling, which previously was a challenge due to old, damaged equipment or kit with pieces missing.

The project was spearheaded by PE teacher and lacrosse coach Amanda McKie, whose aim was to introduce, grow, and develop pop lacrosse in approximately 10 primary schools and reach around 1,330 children. At the same time, the intention was to develop coaches knowledge and understanding of the game and how to lead and run sessions to ensure continued development.

The children who participated were aged between 5-12 years old and came from approximately 10 primary schools within central Scotland - Balfron, Callander, Crianlarich, Deanston, Doune, Drymen, Killearn, Killin, Riverside and Strathyre.

Stirling Council provided training, coaching resources and equipment for teachers, coaches and high school pupils. The hope was that the impact of this would be the growth and development of the sport through participation, local and national competition.

What has TLF’s grant meant for Stirling?

The new equipment TLF’s grant provided was successful in stimulating interest in lacrosse with children regularly attending a weekly lacrosse club, and leading and coaching during lacrosse P.E. lessons really well. This encouraged and helped other team members with their spacing and technique and gave the children, “a real buzz.”

The club finished the term with a lacrosse team tournament in school, which the pupils loved and the children’s interest in pop lacrosse grew to the point where they were attending interschool competitions.

Teachers also loved the sport, with one of them running an after-school club for 16 children and two teams competing locally and nationally. Due to the success of these teams, and the commitment and enthusiasm of the children, Sterling Council reported that:

“…the profile of the sport has been massively raised within our community. This has created a legacy where younger children look forward to joining the team when they are old enough and the older children go to secondary school looking for development opportunities. A club now runs at the secondary school.”

Killearn went on to become Scottish pop lacrosse champions, much like Strathblane in 2023, and to play at the English Nationals on the 26th June 2024 in Birmingham.

But this was not a straightforward road as funding was needed for the children’s trip because schools in Stirling are small community establishments.

The kids rose to the challenge by organising a bake sale which raised money for their trip and to support the sport within the community. It was also good fun and exciting, especially travelling to competitions and staying overnight in hotels.

How did they fare?

Killearn’s passion for, and skill in, lacrosse resulted in them taking third place in the Plate competition!

Overall, Stirling Council reported that:

“This project has been a huge success with many pupils taking up and demonstrating their love of lacrosse.”

So what does the future hold for lacrosse in Stirling?

Stirling Council has successfully conquered the schools, and is now setting its sights on promoting lacrosse to universities and clubs too. Who knows, we may be seeing more Scottish champions roaring across the lacrosse fields south of the border!

The Lacrosse Foundation is a UK registered charity.   As such, donations made to TLF which meet defined criteria can also be eligible for Gift Aid, which can boost the value of the donation by 25%.

TLF is dedicated to supporting and growing the game of lacrosse across Great Britain, aiming to:

• promote community participation;

• assist in the provision of facilities; and

• advance the education of young people in the sport of lacrosse.

If your donation meets one (or more) of those aims, it should be eligible for Gift Aid. 
[NB. The donor needs to be a UK taxpayer, and to have paid sufficient Income Tax during the tax year].

Two main types of donations

Donations can be made as either:

• a ‘general’ contribution to TLF funds, for us to use towards grant applications which we approve as part of our ongoing activity to grow the game;

  OR

• to support ‘specific’ projects for lacrosse clubs, associations, and organisations.

Important:  For a donation to be eligible for Gift Aid, there cannot be a direct benefit to the individual making the donation; e.g. a parent contributing to their own child’s equipment or travel costs.

Examples where previous ‘specific’ donations HAVE been eligible for Gift Aid (illustrating the amount of Gift Aid generated):

• Towards the repair and maintenance of a lacrosse clubhouse/pavilion;
  [Donation received: £4,750 (plus additional Gift Aid = £1187.50).  Total = £5,937.50]   

• To a regional lacrosse association’s junior development scheme;
  [Donation received: £5,000 (plus additional Gift Aid = £1250.00).  Total = £6,250.00]    

• To reduce the traveling & preparation costs of the U20 National team to an overseas World Championship.
  [Donation received: £10,800 (plus additional Gift Aid = £2700.00).  Total = £13,500.00]    

How to make a donation

To make a donation to The Lacrosse Foundation:

• Please send a brief email to us at info@thelacrossefoundation.co.uk summarising your proposed donation:

  • for a ‘general’ donation - we will provide you with our banking details enabling you to make the payment, as well as the appropriate Gift Aid Declaration for you to complete & return;

  • for a ‘specific’ donation – in addition to a summary of your project, please include your contact phone number.  We will then contact you to discuss your proposal, which will enable us to confirm whether your requested purpose will meet Charity Commission requirements, and thereby be eligible for Gift Aid.

Thank you for your support in helping us to grow the game of lacrosse in Great Britain.