Past, Present & Future

THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF CANADIAN LACROSSE

by Pierre Filion

As you know there are three national associations involved in the game of lacrosse in Canada; Lacrosse Canada (the governing body), the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation and the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

I have reviewed the mission statement of each of these corporations and found something quite interesting that led me to think about the future of the game. But first let’s look at the mission statements:

Lacrosse Canada: ‘’to promote, develop and preserve the sport of lacrosse and its heritage as Canada’s national sport’’;

Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame; ‘’to preserve the memory of the stars of yesteryear and to be the keeper of our national sport history’’;

Canadian Lacrosse Foundation: ‘’to administer and grow an endowment fund that is used to develop and execute charitable activities within the lacrosse community’’…and to assist in the celebration and preservation of lacrosse history.

THE PAST

PRESERVE, PRESERVE, PRESERVE!!! Striking is it not; the three national associations, who clearly have different mandates and functions, have expressed the same preoccupation in their mission statements!!

Is it important to preserve the tradition and historical aspects of the game? Yes, absolutely as we all have memories, friends, souvenirs and events which are an intricate part of our journey through the game and through time.

I have great memories of ‘’my great ones’’: you have for yours and we all have for ours. And we dwell within the historical and mystical greatness of our great ones. We tell and retell the stories of their exploits; we live and relive moments, games and discoveries of our past and often embellish them with color and imagination. And all this is just great as it gives us meaning and a proud sense of belonging.

But the question I beg to ask, at this time, and for which I have a reserved answer is: ‘’Why such importance to the past?’’

May I bring up a possibility as part of a tentative answer? Could it be that collectively we sense that the game has a very limited future ahead of us that we are tempted to rely on the past to give us credibility, existence and meaning? Is it possible that we could collectively be housing a sense of fear for what we call ‘’our great game’’ to disappear or fade away and become a folkloric and local happening? Such a sense of fear that we revert to the past as our claim to fame and somehow as our claim to greatness as we were a part of that great past?

I say this because the reality of the game in Canada, now, does not really allow us to project ourselves in the future as builders or participants in an upcoming great future for the game. Let this stand as a tentative opening for a more in-depth conversation in the coming months.

THE PRESENT

What are our resources at this time that could help make the game great?

A recently acquired Olympic status resulting from 40 years of hard work by a very few Canadians
A pro league (National Lacrosse League) with teams in six major Canadian cities
Seven National Teams and medals for outstanding performances around the world
A position within the Canada Games acquired from the contributions of a few enlightened politicians
14 national championships (box and field) held annually (or just about) to showcase the game and the best players and teams from across the country
An existing federally funded national association highly financially supported by the members
A national association which has obtained the needed political recognition from governments and agencies mandated to support sports in Canada
Two national partners (the Foundation and the Hall of Fame) who contribute financially and historically to the game; provincial or local lacrosse Halls of Fame
An elected Board of Directors mandated to govern and administer the game
A national office with 5 (and soon) 7 qualified staff members
A membership of 46,959 registered participants across the country
A small army of passionate volunteers, here and there
11 unequal provincial associations governing and promoting the game in their areas of jurisdiction.

One would tend to believe that with such resources (and events) the game would be growing and the number of registered players would increase substantially. The problem is that we get sidetracked and distracted by one successful event, one gold or silver medal at an international event, one new federal grant, one internal fight, numerous requests from Sport Canada, and the high quality of play in the NLL and Mann and Minto Cups.

The game is not growing in Canada if we judge by the number of registered participants to Lacrosse Canada. There could very well be other factors that could seem to indicate growth: increase in funding, increase in members contributions, balanced budgets, attendance at National championships, expansion in Ottawa within the NLL…or whatever else. But the significant criteria for growth is the number of registered players. Let’s look at Lacrosse Canada’s own numbers since 2003:

Year Number of players % of players from Ont, BC & Alberta

2023 46,959 (1) 81% (2)

2022 41,390 82.8%

2017 49,547 82.7%

2012 48,670 83.3%

2007 47,077 80.6%

2003 43,375 82.7%

From 2022 to 2023 Lacrosse Canada indicated a growth of 5569 players; 4175 of those (74%) were in Ontario only.
Since 2003 over 80% of the registered players in Canada emerged from three provinces: BC, Alberta and Ontario.

Clearly the provinces are left on their own to increase the number of players (male and female) playing lacrosse.

Clearly there is no national plan or even leadership in the area of development since 2003.

Clearly, we have the impression we are growing the game but are not.

This raises questions; very legitimate but embarrassing questions:

1. Is it possible that ‘’we’’ in lacrosse are fearful of growth and of change?

2. Is it possible that we are comfortable amongst ourselves, with our champions, rivalries, inequalities, traditions and conflicts?

3. Is it possible we are stepping on the brake whenever proposals for change come to us?

4. How does one explain the fact that in the last 20 years the national association (Canadian Lacrosse Association/Lacrosse Canada) has not come up with one single organizational plan for the national development of the game?

5. Why do we seem so afraid to penetrate the school system in an organized national way?

6. Why have we all been answering everyone of Sports Canada’s whims and requests and not addressing the need to grow the number of participants in the game across Canada (not just in three provinces)?”

7. Could we be the game’s worst enemies?

THE FUTURE

You will have gathered the future for lacrosse in Canada is not very bright and the tendency might indicate that we will be happy with the numbers that we have now and the medals we collect internationally.

Medals make us proud but don’t increase the number of participants. If so, tell me when and where medals have had a significant impact on the increase in the number of participants throughout the country.

I only see two interesting opportunities for Lacrosse Canada to change course and grow the game.

The upcoming strategic plan
First opportunity: change the ‘’vision statement’’ from the actual passive approach to the future of the game. The vision, now, (if we can even use that term), is: ’’Lacrosse, our life,our family, our game. Make it yours’’. Let’s show confidence and be aggressive in our vision of the future. A vision statement is not a polite invitation to come and play our game it’s a passionate perspective on how we see the future of our great game.
Second opportunity; review the long-term goals and objectives; the last strategic plan (2019-2024) had indicated the following goals:
Develop a quality high performance integrated program for all athletes, coaches and officials;
Train and certify coaches and officials at all levels of competition;
Have the resources, capacity and structure to lead the sport with effective and efficient policies, marketing and communication.
Lacrosse Canada now has the opportunity to clarify the status of athlete (not all participants can be considered ‘’athletes’’) and to develop a concern for ‘’recreational players’’ and ‘’athletes’’ within a continuum within the game. The choice is not between grass roots and high performance; the choice is in the balance and integration of both realities.
Third opportunity: review the budget along the lines of new inclusive and developmentally oriented goals. This, however, will be a painful opportunity. But one that will be needed if the growth of the game is really a concern.
Fourth opportunity: open up the process in drafting the strategic plan and look to outside resources from successful sports or businesses to help write the plan; consult and associate with the provincial associations, not just their presidents.
Going from a ‘’working board’’ to a ‘’governance board’’
This major change might just be a great opportunity for Lacrosse Canada to be in a position to establish goals, vision, targets and to have them implemented by the staff and volunteers.

This will be a complex operation; we will need to come back on this and to explain what benefits (and risks) will come from this change ‘’imposed’’ by Sport Canada.