Under-21 lacrosse success sets platform for growth - Silcott
Published:Wednesday | September 7, 2022 | 12:08 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
THE PERFORMANCE of Jamaica’s under-21 lacrosse team at the recently concluded Under-21 World Championships has not only raised the optimism levels of the programme, according to head coach Brian Silcott, but the opportunity for much easier funding for future international tournaments.
The team finished ninth out of 23 countries, with a team comprised of local and overseas-based players from the United States and Canada, completing a major summer for the programme, which saw them compete in the Women’s World Championship and the Men’s Pan American Association regional qualifying tournament.
It was far from an easy preparation period for the group, as while they had to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic with little to no activity, Silcott said that fundraising in the midst of the hiatus was equally challenging to get the team to Limerick, Ireland, the site of the championships.
“Everything kind of shut down, and when you are not doing things, it’s hard to raise money for things. And then all of a sudden, we came back out of it and we had three major events in one summer. It really hit the coffers in a big way by putting three teams together,” Silcott told The Gleaner. “Everybody kind of had to take a cut from the experience and what we did on the ground in terms of meals and housing and training camp.”
While not stating how much they required to make the trip possible, Silcott said that on average, the basic budget for an international championship is between US$50,000 to US$70,000 ($J7.5-$J10.57 million).
While it took some navigating on the fundraising front, it was an effort that got them over the line, which, Silcott said, seeing his team arrive at the tournament, they were spurred on by the belief that they could make an impact on the world stage.
“For us that was a huge moment. At that point I told that guys that from here on, we can’t fail,” he remarked. “It doesn’t matter on the pitch now, because we succeeded already in all of us getting here, getting the money to arrive here, getting through training and being here, ready to begin, was the greatest victory of all.”
Dante Bowen, one of the teams’ captains, was bullish about the significance of their achievement and how it will be able to expand the horizons for players born in Jamaica, and those who are connected through their parents overseas.
JAMAICAN BACKGROUND
“To be able to place ninth for being in a tournament in the first year, I think it put us on the map. A lot of people had low expectations of us in what we would be able to achieve,” Bowen said. “So being able to place top 10 and being able to kind of show what we are made of, I think it will impact future generations. It will be able to show guys in Kingston and the United States with a Jamaican background what’s possible.”
What Silcott hopes is that funding will be a much easier task for future tournaments, especially outside of the country, given the success of the team and the growth of the sport among high schools in the island.
“The other thing it does for us is that it raises our ability to raise money outside of Jamaica, and having folks in Canada and Jamaica seeing what we are doing to grow the game. That we are doing it, not just giving children sticks and letting it go, but we are creating quality teams and competing at the international level,” Silcott said. “We have a tremendous opportunity now to raise money. So doing well at the international level gets more eyes on us and makes it easier to raise money.”