Well at least it stopped raining! Unfortunately we swapped the rain for snow and ice (at least for us in Yorkshire where we had 10cm of snow). To say that all-weather pitches are actually “all-weather” is not true as they cannot cope with ice and snow.

So the lacrosse programme took another hammering on Saturday with most grass pitches in the area still water logged and the Timperley ATPs made unplayable by ice.

The result was that all the men’s and boy’s matches were cancelled.

The only game to survive was the women’s trip to Oxton for a game which was arguably the most critical in the North League season. In the early season game at Timperley Oxon emerged victorious and seemed heading towards another League championship as Timperley seemingly were the only potential challengers.

However, since then Oxton have suffered two quite unexpected defeats to Brooklands and to Mellor which meant that if Timperley could overturn the Wirral side then they could still take the title. An Oxton win would mean that if both Timperley and Oxton won their remaining fixtures then they would end the season level on points but if that was the position then Oxton would take the title on the basis of the head to head fixture results.

Despite a tremendous effort from Timperley the Oxton big guns saw them take a 15-9 win so give them a massive boost and leaving Timperley hoping that there would be yet another upset defeat for Oxton to keep their title hopes alive.

Women’s team v Oxton (A) Lost 9-15

The game was a tremendous advert for Lacrosse and Timperley played their full part. They hustled hard though out the game and displayed a very high level of team work.

Timperley will obviously be disappointed by the result but every player should take a great deal from the game and use the performance to take the team to the next level to ensure that beating an outstanding Oxton team is a part of a normal season.

For Timperley the scorers were:
Nicola Swallow 4
Emma Economou 1
Amy Burns 1
Georgia Greenalgh 1
Jane Brierly 1
And the goal of the game after a full pitch run with a left hand rocket came from Fab Johnson.

NATIONAL POP 1ST ROUND
On Tuesday 12th Jan the 1st round of the National POP Lacrosse Tournament was held at Stockport Road. The 4 top schools qualified for the Trafford Tournament (Round 2).

The competing schools were Altrincham C of E, Bollin , Bowdon Church, Bowdon Prep, Cloverlea, Forest, Hale Prep, Hayes Lane, Navigation, Stamford Park, St Hughs, St Vincents and Willows.

After an agonisingly exciting tournament the 4 qualifying schools were Bowdon Church, Navigation, Hale Prep and St Hughes. The result was tight right up to the final games and the closeness of the competition can be gauged from the fact that 4 schools ended up in equal 5th place - Bollin, Bowdon Prep, Forest and Willows.

The 4 qualifiers will play in the next round against schools from the Brooklands programme. This will take place at the Soccerdome (close to the Trafford Centre) on Tuesday 23rd Feb.

US EXCHANGE PROGRAMME
The New Year is a time when we start to think about the annual summer US exchange programme.

The first exchange took place in 1987 (or was it 1986) when Timperley hosted a visit from Fallston, a community lacrosse programme to the north of Baltimore.

Timperley had had a taste of US opposition from playing, and being outplayed by visiting teams from Anne Arundel, who were hosted by the Stockport Metro Lacrosse. The coach of the Anne Arundel team was a teacher at Fallston High and he knew that there was enthusiasm for an England exchange amongst the leaders of Fallston Lacrosse and Timperley accepted the challenge.

After a successful first visit from Fallston, who taught Timperley a lot about running a lacrosse programme both on and off the field, Timperley were invited to visit Fallston the following summer. A very successful visit saw the establishment of a relationship which lasted over twenty years.

The exchange gives Timperley youth players, both boys and girls, and coaches the chance to experience a different and often better level of Lacrosse. Just as importantly, if not more so, the exchange allows the young people from both communities to experience life in a different country and to make new friends.

Over the years friendships have developed between our young people and Americans and also between Timperley families and US families. Many of these friendships have survived many years and I am still in contact with the family who hosted Anna on the first trip to Fallston nearly 30 years ago and have visited them many times (even know where they hide the key!).

After many years the Fallston connection suffered, mainly because of changes in leadership and the way that youth lacrosse was organised in the Maryland area.

Luckily Timperley established a new relationship with Maryland Express Lacrosse (based in Westminster, about an hour north of Baltimore) and this has seen a great exchange for the past seven summers.

Last summer Timperley were the guests of the Americans for a very successful visit which we all (or at least some of us) followed on Facebook. This July we will be entertaining Maryland Express.

After running the exchange for the past two years David Loveland has handed the baton over to John Hirst who is our U14 boy’s manager. We already have the dates of the visit and John is in contact with a large group of families already. Organising is a major undertaking is a big responsibility and needs the support of everyone to make it a success and I am sure that John will receive the help needed.

All I can say is that for people involved it will be an enjoyable and truly memorable experience.

CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations go to Emilly Hall, Lauren Cheyne and Georgia Greenhalgh who have all been selected for Junior North B.
This is a great achievement as the girls have only just moved into the U18 age group so are still young in comparison to most of the girls on the team.

LDO/COACHING
Discussions have started as to how we organise our coaching and development programme next season. Due to a stupendous effort by Sarah this year our programme has weathered the storm caused by the closing down of the LDO programme.

It seems unlikely that English Lacrosse will be able to achieve a change in the position for next year which means that there needs to be some degree of thinking about the situation.

From what I understand UK Borders main issue is with the SCO programme which provided positions as Lacrosse coaches and applicants were often women with career teaching aspirations. Clearly they are taken on by girls lacrosse playing schools (often the country’s leading schools) as members of staff often being paid decent salaries, so it is difficult to argue that it is not a job.

I am not sure that it is the same for the club LDO programme. I have been in contact with a number of ex LDOs, many who are now getting on (!) and holding responsible jobs in business, finance and many other fields including lacrosse coaching. They, without exception, are of the view that their time in England working promoting lacrosse was one of the positive experiences in their lives. The reasons they did the programme were many but certainly not to take up a career as a coach at Timperley Lacrosse Club.

In no particular order reasons given were:
•An opportunity to retain an involvement with lacrosse.
•An opportunity to take a break after University before embarking on a proper career.
•An opportunity to live abroad and experience a foreign country.
•An opportunity to travel. Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Rome are a bit closer to Manchester than New York.

In short it was not a job it was a gap year. More like VSO. They are not migrants more extended holiday makers. As far as I am aware the only person to remain in UK from the LDO programme is EL staff member David Coldwell who married a teacher from one of the schools he worked in on the Hitchin (Herts) club development programme.

The advantages which come with an LDO are much the same as they were in 1980.

•They are lacrosse experts and generally have coaching ability of a reasonable standard.
•They have an enthusiasm for lacrosse
•They are in England/Timperley to coach lacrosse and therefore have flexibility. A problem with using Timperley members as coaches is that sometimes other demands (job comes first) mean they cannot make games or training sessions.
•US LDOs still have a PR /novelty factor which strikes a positive note with players and parents. As long as there is churn of personnel then that PR factor will continue.
•In 1980 the recruitment rationale was to bring good players to Timperley who would strengthen senior’s squads and to win games. Winning games is at the heart of any sports club so the more good players the better!

The club is holding an open meeting at the clubhouse on Monday 8th February at 7.30 to discuss the programme for next year so if you have views on the various issues please come along.

I DON'T FEEL THAT OLD
U12 players, coaches, players and managers will be Pleased/relieved to know that they will escape my refereeing eccentricities on the 27th Feb.

Having tried hard to find a suitable candidate the organisers of the 100th Oxford v Cambridge Varsity match have made do with what was available and I have been invited to present the various trophies (there are 6 games in the day: 2 men’s games, 2 women’s games , a mixed game and an alumni game). A lot of lacrosse even for me but almost a life time of lacrosse for Christine who has been invited to the post match dinner and is probably even now trying to think of an excuse.

The really frightening thing is that one of the reasons for my invite was that I played in the 50th Varsity Match. Which does not seem that long ago. A claim for a degree of notoriety is that I have one of the worst Varsity match records anyone can think of - played 3, lost 3. Given that one of these losing teams included a 1st team All American defenceman, a 3rd team All American attack man and 3 US college players that really took some doing!!