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Encore Brand, Philippines, Lacrosse

John Christmas’ Encore Brand is headed to the Philippines this Summer, and if you’re just now finding out about this trip, don’t worry, there’s still just a little time left to apply. Christmas is making a push with international lacrosse expeditions, and now that his group is on trip #2, it felt right to shine some more light on what’s going on here.

Trip #1 took a group of players to Ecuador, and after a lot of planning, the trip came together. I asked Christmas to tell us a little more about the experience. His response:

“Traveling, playing lacrosse and helping to grow, support, or start the game is what the Ecuador trip was all about. Ecuador is a beautiful country with a real emphasis on youth sports and using athletics to help develop children. Our connection to the country was formed when a local Northern California coach reached out about his interest in starting lacrosse in Ecuador after seeing the project we did in Colombia.

“After 2 years of planning we executed the Ecuador AIC (Action Is Character) Trip in the summer of 2015.  We ventured down with a group of 25 people, 5 coaches and 20 players, including 1 from Mexico.

“Our blog gives a great insight on how the trip went https://www.encorelacrosse.com/ecuador-2015/.”

For the Philippines, Christmas has a similar trip lined up, but with one KEY difference: lacrosse already exists in the Philippines at some level, and there is a national body in place. Christmas explains:

“Philippines is going to be a different experience as we have a partnership with the Philippines Lacrosse Association. We are really looking forward to getting fully engaged with the Filipino culture, hosting clinics and training hard.  We are keeping applications open until July 15th for this trip, so people can still sign up.”

Ron Garcia, one of the main drivers behind the Philippines Lacrosse Association added:

“The Philippines Lacrosse Association is excited to partner with Encore Lacrosse this summer to aid in our mission to introduce, develop, and grow the sport of lacrosse in the Philippines. An essential component for progress with development and growth of our lacrosse programs in the Philippines is to have experienced and qualified instruction for our coaches and players in the Philippines. Encore Lacrosse has a history of successful international trips to grow the game in Germany, Colombia, Japan, Uganda, and Ecuador. We are fortunate to have their international experience come to the Philippines and help provide instruction and education for our pioneer lacrosse programs at the University of Makati, Silliman University, and Bacolod City.  

“Through our partnership with the FCA, we have qualified FCA coaching available at all of our developing locations but still need help to educate and teach them the proper fundamentals of lacrosse so that the leaders of our pioneer programs develop the fundamental lacrosse knowledge base necessary for successful growth of our programs.

“Our goal is to take full advantage of the experience that the Encore staff and the American high school players, who will be traveling and learning with Encore, have to offer to educate our players and coaches through clinics and demonstrations. In return we hope to provide the American high school players and the Encore coaching staff an experience of a lifetime exploring the beauty and culture of the Philippines.

“Any high school players who are interested in getting involved and participating in this cultural immersion trip can still contact Encore Lacrosse and apply for an amazing and fulfilling experience growing the game in the Philippines.”

You can learn more about this trip HERE. It seems like a great opportunity to combine lacrosse and travel. Speaking from personal experience, that’s always fun!