Last week, we let you know how you could do your part to help Grow The Game in England! We also recently filled you in on some of the major struggles facing the growth of youth lacrosse internationally and what it’s like to be English playing lacrosse in SoCal.
Now we’re back on a semi-related note! Voting for the Varsity Series is not over yet, but English Lacrosse has been rewarded as a whole for their great efforts to Grow The Game in the UK.
Sport England has officially recognized English Lacrosse and their amazing accomplishment of drastically increasing participation amongst 14 -25 year olds. English Lacrosse was awarded a Reward and Incentive Grant of £400,000, or roughly $517,588 to continue their organizations’ efforts to put lacrosse sticks in their community’s hands.
As mentioned in our last post, an A Brit Abroad, most of English Lacrosse’s success comes at the University level, where most athletes pick up lacrosse while attending higher education. It has been noted that since 2012, 10 new Universities and 44 new lacrosse teams have entered in the BUCS leagues. The English Lacrosse organization is currently achieving a 62% conversion rate from new participant to club member, this is a number that shouldn’t be overlooked!
The Reward and Incentive funding is going be crucial to helping the growth of the sport in England and has come through just in time to set sights on the 2018 World Lacrosse Championships which will be held in Manchester, England and the 2017 FIL Rathbones Women’s Lacrosse World Cup at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford. The added popularity will be sure to bring in a great deal of athletes looking to represent their country in the great sport of lacrosse.
Statistics (Since 2009)
- Membership increase by 66% to over 28,000
- Affiliated club sections increase by 30%
- University BUCS registered teams increase by 120%
- 84% increase in registered volunteers
- EL turnover increase by 165% to £2m per year
Hats off to English Lacrosse and their amazing efforts to Grow The Game across the pond!
