Over the last two years, University of Nottingham has cemented itself as one of the leading clubs for student lacrosse.  In 2022, the Women’s 1st team were BUCS Champions, repeating that feat again in 2023, along with their 2nd team winning the BUCS Trophy. This year the Men’s 1st team also reached the BUCS Final, losing to local rivals Nottingham Trent. 

This success undoubtedly raises the profile of the sport at the University, and inspires more new students to give lacrosse a try.   Whilst the Women’s club runs six teams; the Men’s has recently been limited to just two, both of which play at a competitive level that makes it difficult to introduce beginners, so there was limited opportunity to support new players looking to take their first steps in playing the sport.

With increasing interest from students, plans were made to form a new Men’s 3rd team for the 2022/23 season, which would consist entirely of beginners to the game.  There was only enough club kit to fully equip four players (plus some old or borrowed gloves & pads from other players in the club), so providing additional protective equipment - specifically helmets - was vital to enable them to play the sport.  

TLF approved a grant in September 2022 to purchase seven new helmets for the club. The club held taster sessions which attracted 24 new playing members (the largest annual intake) with these beginners able to wear the helmets at the weekly training sessions, as well as take part in their first matches against other universities.  The availability of the equipment, plus coaching, social events & BUCS games also resulted in more of these new members continuing to practice with a consequential development in their skill levels.

This 3rd team has enjoyed some great victories over its first season - particularly impressive as all the players had only started the sport a few months ago.  One of the new players summed up his year as follows: 

“Joining lacrosse at university has been one of the best decisions I've ever made. Lacrosse at the University of Nottingham has provided myself and others with a fantastic opportunity to try out an exciting new sport and form lifelong friendships. The University lacrosse community has been incredibly supportive of the development of the sport for new players, and the massively successful year that the club has had would not have been possible without the grant from The Lacrosse Foundation”.

Boardman & Eccles Lacrosse Club, based at Monton Sports Club in Salford, Manchester has a proud history going back almost 120 years, but over recent times rugby and football has increasingly dominated school sport in Salford, with lacrosse being deprioritised in the curriculum.

The club has managed to maintain links with eight local primary schools, but activity has been stop-start due to limited school budgets and some PE co-ordinator’s lack of interest in non-mainstream sports.  This has in turn resulted in low numbers of children in the club’s junior section, which has then needed them to combine with Cheadle Hulme LC juniors to enable boys matches to be played.

In December 2022, TLF approved a £5,000 grant to fund regular coaching sessions in local primary schools (Y3 to Y6; ages 7-11) for the first year of the club’s three-year programme. This aims to make lacrosse a regular part of the schools’ curriculum, and to create and strengthen the links between schools & the club so more youngsters come to play in the junior section.

Since the New Year, the extra coaching provision has meant lacrosse is now being taught in nine local schools (compared to four in 2022), which has seen club numbers grow, with eight new U-10 boys joining, and five new U-11 girls.    

This builds upon the commitment that continues to be shown by club volunteers and parents in running the junior sessions and supporting the teams - which saw the U-11 Girls and U-14 Boys teams celebrate successful seasons. 

The highlight was the recent victory for the Bears U-11 Girls in the final of the JNGLA Cup [Junior Northern Girls Lacrosse Association] beating Mellor 7-3.  Great scenes at the final, and a really positive foundation for the club to build on and continue to develop their junior programme.         

Northern Box Lacrosse was started in 2017 using outdoor facilities in Disley, near Stockport to give an opportunity to introduce existing field players to the Box format of the game.  This was the introduction to the game for a number of the players (and coaches) who went on to represent England in the 2019 World Championships and 2022 European and World Indoor Lacrosse Championships.

In 2022, Northern Box Lacrosse and its coach Andy Downing initiated a junior development programme in the nearby Macclesfield area at a number of local secondary schools.  The ultimate aim is to set up a new junior lacrosse club based at the Macclesfield Rugby Club, who are keen to accommodate lacrosse and to act as a central hub for the children from these schools.  

In May 2022, TLF approved a grant of £9.7k to provide sticks, goals, and goalie equipment, as well as funding to support the coaching in the schools.   This year, the game has been introduced to over 400 youngsters in Years 6-8 at four schools: Macclesfield Academy, Fallibroome Academy, Tytherington School and All Hallows Catholic College.  The next phase (in 2023) is to then extend this to include a number of primary schools (Years 4 & 5) in the local area, whilst also continuing the coaching in the four secondary schools.  

The Macclesfield area is well-situated as it is within a 20 minute drive away from established lacrosse clubs at Poynton & Wilmslow, and so offers the opportunity to expand the game incrementally.

Head coach Andy Downing told us:
“2022 has been a great year for our Macclesfield program in partnership with The Lacrosse Foundation and has seen an unprecedented level of growth providing an avenue for more people to get involved with the sport.  The KS3 students enjoyed a change of pace from their normal routine, learning the basics of lacrosse in an enjoyable and safe environment, while using the game as a way to teach team-building and other life lessons that can help these children develop as young people. In addition to the secondary school sessions, the Macclesfield program will partner with local primary schools in 2023, introducing lacrosse to more than 200 children, and we can’t wait”.

The new students of the game will have the opportunity to practice their skills in the same dedicated, supportive atmosphere at the new lacrosse facility based at Macclesfield Rugby Club. We aim to provide the community with an alternative opportunity in a different sport than the norm, and we couldn’t achieve this without the support and guidance of The Lacrosse Foundation”.

The Metropolitan Police’s Youth Engagement Team (YET) based in NW London use sport to engage with disadvantaged young people from inner city & low social-economic areas. 

They run and support weekly sporting sessions and multisport holiday camps in Barnet, Brent, & Harrow – with the aim of reducing youth violence and offending, and improving school attainment.  The camps are targeted at young people (aged 9-16) who are either on the periphery of criminal or gang activity, have entered the criminal justice system, or have been identified by their school as struggling with negativity.

Sport has been shown to help young people understand and control their anger and aggression at school, and TLF approved a grant to the Youth Engagement Team to fund equipment and coaching courses, enabling lacrosse to be added to the sports offered from summer 2022.  

Over the last three years rugby had been included in the YET programme, which has had a positive impact in reducing negative behaviour and increasing achievement.  The team now want to see if they can mimic this success by using lacrosse to not only change behaviours but also increase participation in lacrosse.

Camps were organised and run from July 2022 where lacrosse sessions were included, with over 250 young people being given the chance to play the game for the first time.  Feedback from those taking part was very positive. 

PC Ben Eynon who is leading the lacrosse involvement told us:
“On the second day of the Harlesden camp, I ran a watered-down version of Box [lacrosse] in a sports hall, which the kids called ‘hood lacrosse’ and they all absolutely loved it.  In the camp at Barnet, there were quite a few kids there that wanted to do more lacrosse; and at the Harrow camp half of those I spoke to at the end said lacrosse was their highlight of the camp”.

“Moving forward, I now have three schools that we are looking to run lacrosse sessions within the next month or so (one primary, one secondary and one SEN school)”. 

Local lacrosse club the Camden Capybaras are involved in providing a link towards competitive lacrosse, and the England Lacrosse Regional Development Officer Nik Roberts has also been involved in providing guidance & support.

We wish the Metropolitan Police team all the best in using lacrosse for positive community engagement.