As part of England Lacrosse’s monthly guest column, England, Great Britain, and former The Fly player, Ryan Sweetman, speaks to us about how lacrosse has managed to bounce back after the huge set back of the COVID pandemic.
March 2020 saw the complete halt to all lacrosse activities: senior and U19 national squads were forced to stop their European Championship and World Games preparations, senior and junior clubs had to end their season early, and every school closed, meaning there was no way to promote lacrosse to new audiences and increase participation.
Five lacrosse-less months later and schools were talking about opening, but to what capacity? And would they allow external coaches?
Thankfully some schools entrusted people like myself to return to coaching; lessons needed to be adapted to ensure social distancing and reduce the sharing of equipment, along with shortened lessons to ensure time to swap over groups without ‘crossing paths’ and a thorough cleaning of the equipment. With time, the rules on social distancing eased within classes which was a huge relief as you really can’t keep 10-year-olds away from each other all day!
With every passing week, more schools got in contact with me and my club (Brooklands) and slowly our program begin to build again. Sadly a lot of the schools were still reluctant to open up their after-school clubs but this meant that children interested in lacrosse wanted somewhere to continue playing after their school day finished, so our U8s, U10s and beginners programs at the club grew and grew.
Pre-COVID, if we had three children attend a beginner session we were busy, but now we’re running two beginners sessions (Wednesday and Saturday) with about six-10 children attending each! Along with the beginners, the U12s also saw growth; this has been achieved through expanding the schools coaching program and school tournaments. More schools on-board plus more classes and year groups equals more children into the club game, particularly those in years three and four.
In a strange twist of fate, COVID has actually supported the growth and development of our club, whether that is through schools valuing Physical Education more after children being stuck at home, parents actively looking to get their child involved in a sport to increase their activity levels and social skills or an increase in trust of us as external providers.
It’s sometimes hard distinguishing yourself and the sport, against the likes of the Manchester United Foundation, Sale Sharks/Salford Red Devils and all the other large sporting names that coach in schools, but Brooklands Lacrosse Club is certainly on the map in Trafford!
We’re always on the look out for guest columnists from the lacrosse community to speak about a topic they’re passionate about. If you’d like to be featured, please contact [email protected].