Pupils at a top independent girls boarding school have taken up lacrosse – the high speed ball game invented by Native Americans.
Now it has a regular spot on the sporting timetable at Howells School, Denbigh, and the school are looking for fixtures.
The idea for the reintroduction of the game has come from the school’s new PE teacher, Tanya Hunter, who says the girls have taken to it enthusiastically.
She said: “It’s a real action-packed sport, very fast, very athletic and a lot of fun and the girls really enjoy it and just by way of variety we’ve actually got one girl in Year 13 whi actually plays pololacrosse which is lacrosse but on a horse.”
In lacrosse the players carry a stick with a net on the end which they use to to catch, carry, and pass a solid rubber ball in an effort to score by hurling the ball into an opponent’s goal.
The defending team tries to prevent scoring by stick checking and body positioning and traditionally the game as originally played could be quite violent but Tanya, 24, who took over as head of PE at the school this year, says the modern form of the game is quite safe.
She added: “I have played lacrosse and we’ve been getting the younger girls here to play it and the school have been very supportive in providing the equipment.
“The girls are really pushing their skills to the max and it’s great to see them trying something different.
“We’re now hoping to be able to arrange some fixtures for them after Easter so we’re keen to hear from other schools.”
Tanya, from Foleshill, Coventry, was educated at Sidney Stringer Secondary School, now the Sidney Stringer Academy in Hillfields, Coventry, and gained a BA Honours in Sports Studies at the University of Central Lancashire, in Preston, before going on to get her Post Graduate Certificate of Education at Liverpool John Moores University.
She now lives in Liverpool and also spends her holidays working for the STARS organisation, which runs residential courses at Howells and other schools such as Ellesmere College.
Nicola Locke, Trustee of Howells School, said: “Tanya brings so much enthusiasm and technical knowledge to the school’s sporting activities and she communicates that so well to the girls.
“At Howells we believe sport is so important on so many levels to a young person’s development and so we give them every opportunity we can to take part and enjoy it.
“Sport isn’t just for people who are particularly good at it. It benefits people at all levels of ability and most of all it is fun.”
Tanya said: “I play netball and badminton and those are my main sports. I think it’s important to be involved in sport and to keep playing as that way you keep up with the latest developments.
“I’m really just a sports fan at heart and you have to be. There are some sports which you have never played but when you see someone who is really good then you can appreciate their skills.
“I also like to involve the older girls in sport here at the school as they can be really good mentors for the younger pupils and they can get a lot out of that role as well.
“The school teams are doing really well and we’re building good relationships with other schools.
“We had three girls reach the finals of the North Wales Cross-Country Championships and we’ve been very successful in netball with the Year Seven girls just back from a residential weekend in Shropshire where they finished third which was brilliant since they’ve only been playing competitively since November.
“The hockey has also been going well and the girls are working incredibly hard to get themselves in the right state of mind and fitness and it’s really paying off for them.”
