THINK LACROSSE / FAUT Y PENSER

  By Pierre Filion pierrefilion@bell.net Clearly the ball is in Lacrosse Canada’s court; and it will need to play a short game but also a long game. Huge challenge is an understatement! Clearly Lacrosse Canada will have to review some of its past decisions and actions and determine if it wishes to remain a closed autocratic , centralized and authoritarian ‘’regime’’ or if it is willing to look beyond bellybutton orientations and open itself to ‘’a brave new world’’. Not a world of medals but of people, real people who are called ‘’ members ’’ in democratic associations. The important decisions of the coming days and weeks will probably not concern 75% of the playing membership who is under the age of 17, but it will concern their parents and the older members who are the volunteers who really operate the game; it will concern the provincial and local associations ’ unpaid ‘’managers’’ who, with their limited funds and resources, administer the game and send in monies to Lacr...

by Pierre Filion   pierrefilion@bell.net  When trust is lost it takes a lot of time to recapture it. That is Lacrosse Canada’s challenge at this time as there are some indications that the Board of Directors is trying to discover a new pathway to improved relationships with the members. At least this is what the latest Board minutes seem to be telling us. I remember, some years ago, at a CLA meeting with the Board and the members, where the issue of trust was the main topic. I remember the embarrassment, the silences, words not spoken, people not looked at, the twisting and turning over the pot and mostly the polite and diplomatic animosity that culminated in the issue not being addressed. And everyone leaving with some sort of sorrow and guilt of not having had the courage to address the issue. Some sort of a collective humiliation, of a shy resentment, of a failed group therapy and of a missed opportunity. Trust is a matter that is difficult to address even when the evi...