Lacrosse World Championship dreams at risk

HEAD COACH of Jamaica women’s under-20 lacrosse team Taylor Erwin said her players are at risk of missing out on the 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship as their fundraising campaign is moving slower than expected.

The team will need to raise US$26,000 (J$4,061,389.80) before the August 1 deadline if they are to make the trip to Hong Kong for the championship set to run from August 15 to 24.

Their fundraising campaign, ‘Every Mickle Mek A Muckle’, is geared towards ensuring the team is capable of making the 10-day trip to the tournament.

“It’s been going very slow. I wish that I could have more happy news saying that we’ve reached our goal, but we’re still US$26,000 short, which is huge,” Erwin said.

“We have to pay it by August 1 or my girls cannot take to the field which is heartbreaking to think about. We’re all holding the faith just knowing that somebody somewhere is rooting for us and has the connections in order for us to reach our goal.”

Despite the slow march towards their target, Erwin said the mood is positive in their training sessions as the girls undergo their preparations.

The team is now in their final camp ahead of the tournament where they are scheduled to face Hong Kong, England, Japan and Ireland in the group stage.

“This has been a year in the making for the team to be able to compete at the World Championship. Although efforts are still ongoing for our fundraiser, the girls are still at practice every single day, working hard and putting their best foot forward regardless of the situation.”

Erwin also sought to thank those who have already taken the time to donate to their initiative as well as encouraged others to support the team’s efforts.

She said with two weeks until the deadline, the clock is running down on their championship dreams.

“We’re very grateful for the sponsors and the donations that have come from the campaign that we started. Truly, every little bit counts and we’re so grateful. We’re slowly chipping away at what we have left to cover.”

This will be Jamaica’s second appearance at the women’s U20 championship following their debut in 2019.

Then, Jamaica finished 21st of 22 teams but Erwin expects a much better performance from the team this time around.

She explained a lot more focus has been placed on the fundamentals of lacrosse.

“This is a completely different team from just how they interact with each other,” she said.

“I think one of the things that we really did for this team was take a step in teaching the fundamentals. Stick work, conditioning, all the basics of lacrosse. We went back and made sure we perfected before we got into game play.

“Once we can outrun anybody and keep the ball in our stick, then we’ll do 100 times better.”