NEW LEADER, NEW ATTITUDE BUT SAME CHALLENGES AT LACROSSE CANADA

 by Pierre Filion        pierrefilion@bell.net 

Lacrosse Canada has selected its new CEO; Lori Degraw.

Her résumé and experience are impressive. We are dealing here with a qualified person.

Her first great advantage is that she does not emerge from the lacrosse community, has no axe to grind with anyone, no quarrels to settle and no promises made here and there. She is no one’s favorite or selection. She owes nothing to anyone. That is significant and will give her leeway to operate and run the ship.

A disadvantage is that she will have to ‘’learn’’ the culture of lacrosse, the history of the game and the Association’s past successes and failures. But she has time to learn. The people she will talk to, and learn from, might dictate her appreciation of the situation within Lacrosse Canada.

She has already indicated an availability and interest to meet the game’s members and partners in order to get an idea of what’s going on with lacrosse. That in itself is a major change with the approach of the latest CEO.  We don’t seem to be dealing with someone who knows it all.

CEOs who listen are not often authoritarian and picky leaders; they seem to appreciate and promote the democratic process and are willing to take the time needed to get everyone ‘’on board’’. Somehow, she will have to live with the existing ‘’strategic plan’’ and assess its potential. Her hands are partly tied and her ability to negotiate with and within the ’strategic plan’’ will be an indication of her leadership and patience.

She clearly will have to deal with recent important deficits and appreciate why they have been created in order to take a better control over the Association; her transparency in this matter will also be a sign of her leadership. Her dealing with ‘’the delinquents in our game’’ will be an indication of her ability to deal diplomatically with the dinosaurs and some suicidal cancer carrying members.

I see three important challenges for the new CEO; they are not new but must be taken in consideration from a new vantage point and perspective.

Uphold the Association’s values.

This seems obvious but it is not as values are usually professed in a strategic plan but quickly forgotten once the business starts rolling and once the passion for the game rises; it, often, blinds leaders of their professed values. Values become meaningless and leaders become irrelevant and lack coherence.

Lacrosse Canada says it will uphold the values of integrity, respect, unity, development and well- being. This is all very positive and the new CEO’s task will be to champion those values and to make sure they remain relevant in the managing of the Association.

Respecting professed values and promoting them is something to be proud of. There is no shame in being good, honest and true every day!

              Increase the number of lacrosse players in Canada.

              I have been active with lacrosse for the last 51 years and have yet so see a clear plan to increase                  the number of lacrosse payers in Canada. I have even come to the obvious conclusion that there is no will in Canadian Lacrosse to increase the number of players. Lacrosse Canada (and the CLA before) has always left this responsibility to the provinces who are totally unequipped to meet the challenge. Even the latest national ‘’strategic plan’’ does not refer to the increase of the number of players in Canada. It seems that everyone (nationally and provincially) is comfortable with an unplanned discrete increase of players. We seem happy amongst ourselves with our small successes and predictable defeats.

And while Lacrosse Canada and the provinces talk a good game (‘’grow the game, grow the game’’) other sports are strategically deploying their plan to really grow their game; they invest in growth and are successful. Most sports are trying to penetrate the school system; lacrosse is not. Yet ‘’our’’ clients are all there and we ignore them.

‘’We plead guilty your Honor’’! ‘’We fear growth’’! ‘We really do’’…

But a new CEO who understands the national sport system might be our last hope. It’s a hell of a challenge and it’s even more true when it’s obvious.

               Reassess the Association’s priorities.

               In may of our last posts we have demonstrated that Lacrosse Canada is investing a huge part of the members’ monies into the National Teams and the National Teams development project. For a very very limited number of players. 

It’s called High Performance. Surely someone will ask: ‘’How much are we investing on Low Performance’’ as if there is High Performance there must be, somewhere, something worthy of being called Low Performance’’

Lacrosse Canada will this fiscal year spend 41.7% of its budget on administration and staff; 38.8% on the National Teams and 19.3% on services to the paying members.

The reality (as expressed in the 2026-27 budget) is that Lacrosse Canada is catering to the members while concentrating on itself and on its revered National Teams.

No one is concerned about the game while 82.6% of the budget (4,143,675$) is spent on Administration and the National Teams. The members and Sport Canada shovel in the money and Lacrosse Canada spends it.

Surely a new CEO will suggest, for the good of the game, that Lacrosse Canada will need to reassess its priorities. If Lacrosse Canada carries on with its actual priorities it will bear the responsibility for the game remaining marginal and unknown.