Jamaica Lacrosse aiming to enhance sport with women’s clinic - Association getting in gear for Pan-American Qualifiers

As they prepare for the women's clinic to be held tomorrow, Jamaica Lacrosse President Calbert Hutchinson said preparations are slightly behind schedule as they look towards the Pan-American Lacrosse Association (PALA) Women's Qualifiers set for June.

The women's clinic, to be held at St Hugh's High School, will be split into two age-group categories; an U17 category to introduce players to the sport, as well as a senior women's division.

The senior women's clinic will be used as a scouting camp to identify prospective players to represent Jamaica at the upcoming PALA Qualifiers.

Hutchinson explained that while their preparations are not where he had expected them to be, the association possesses a reliable pool of local- and international-based players.

"Though we are not where we need to be in this regard, we are still in a good position, with over 30 international players signed up in our player pool for both local and international events," Hutchinson explained.

He said the player pool consists largely of young local-based players who had developed their talents under the guidance of the association while in high school.

While several of these players have moved to the United States on college scholarships, he maintained that there are several who have pursued their tertiary education here in Jamaica.

"We have two categories of local players, a set of high school graduates who have gained scholarships and are now studying and playing lacrosse in the US and recent high school graduates who are enrolled in local universities," Hutchinson explained.

"We will be drawing from those groups, along with our overseas players, for the composition of our senior women's national team for the upcoming Qualifier."

Another aspect of the women's clinic will be the association's focus on improving the refereeing and coaching disciplines in the sport.

Hutchinson said he hopes this clinic will highlight talented referees who could work alongside the association as they continue their coaching education.

"The upcoming clinic is a major part of the association's ongoing mandate to provide capacity-building for not just our players, but our coaches and officials as well. It is our intention to build capacity that will ultimately impact the growth of lacrosse in Jamaica, so we are hoping that we will get a good turnout," he stated.

"Jamaica Lacrosse will be looking out for those who possess the basic knowledge and skills to become future officials with our various programmes."

The clinic will begin at 10 a.m. with the U17 category, before the senior women take to the field at 1 p.m.