Stockport Lacrosse Club - Junior Section

Brussels International School Tournament

April 16 –17^th 2005

Members of the Junior Section of Stockport Lacrosse Club took part in the competition hosted by the Brussels International School and Brussels Lacrosse Club. In all 48 parents and players travelled to Belgium for the event. The youngest Stockport player was 8 and the eldest was 18, representing the full range of junior players in our teams.

This was the second year of the event and in addition to Stockport teams representing the South of England, Stockholm (Sweden), Frankfurt (Germany), as well as Belgium were competing. All the other teams in the tournament were of an older age span, most being 15 and upwards, and it was a disappointment that a team from Rome with younger players had to withdraw at the last minute.

After a 12 hour coach journey, and a night without much sleep thanks to excitement, the Stockport team were not as well prepared as they might have been for the start of the competition, but nothing daunted they played their first three qualifying games, losing the first against the home side 7-3, drawing the second against a very strong South of England squad 6-6, and winning the third against Frankfurt 12-2. All members of the squad played during the qualifying games with the U12s playing exceptionally well. The younger players went on to play a friendly game before enjoying an evening of football, basketball, movies and a pasta feast!

The next day the team played their last qualifying having already secured a place in the finals. The game against Sweden was exceptionally hard and competitive, but the Stockport team came out on top 7-5, with members of the Under 12 and U14 squads playing their full part in the game. Sweden were again the opponents in the semi-final and this time Stockport fielded only their older players and came through with a comfortable winning margin, 7-1.

While the older players prepared for the final the youngsters enjoyed a friendly game against the Brussels squad, and fought very hard against older and physically larger players to lose by only one goal. This was a great game to watch and the home crowd gave every encouragement, and a huge round of applause to the Stockport youngsters. Also a number of Stockport players donned the shirts of the Frankfurt team to provide them with a full playing squad for one of their games.

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The final was a North v South England clash with Stockport dominating the first half with fast running and accurate passing, and going into half time three goals up. South of England came back in the second half like a whirlwind, using their physical superiority to overwhelm the defence to pull back the deficit in a mad minute of activity, then go on to take the lead. Stockport seemed to be overawed by this comeback, until a dazzling display of goalkeeping skills by Christopher Lloyd, that denied South of England a pocketful of goals, and inspired the attack who hit back hard levelling the score.

In the final quarter South again immediately exerted heavy pressure which caused the Stockport defence a few desperate moments. Stockport regained their composure and moved the ball around the South goal in a series of fluid accurate passes, punctuated with fast drives on the goal, trying to force an opening or mistake by the defence. This pressure eventually told and in a couple of lightning-fast strikes Stockport pulled ahead. South hit back again and scored with only 90 seconds left to play. The tension was almost unbearable, and the crowd was totally involved in the excitement of the game with the game swinging from end to end in an exhibition of top class lacrosse.

South gained possession of the ball and piled on the pressure, when with three seconds to go their coach called a Time-out, reorganising the team for a last ditch effort to grab an equalizer. The pressure was a torment, as the three seconds dragged on and on for what seemed like hours, until the blast of the final whistle was drowned in the cheers of the players and spectators and Stockport emerged the winners of the match and tournament 6 - 5.

This had been a fantastic game of lacrosse, and a fitting finale to a superb weekend of sport and international friendship. Many thanks to all the teams that took part especially South of England for such an exciting and sporting final, the coaches, trainers, referees, volunteer helpers and supporters, the International School of Brussels, the Parents Association of the school, and the Brussels Lacrosse Club. Also many thanks to the Stockport and area schools that allowed the players time off from their normal studies to attend the competition.

Other activities available over the weekend included a guided tour of the battlefield of Waterloo, and a visit to the historic port of Ostend (and a nearby Chocolate factory!). All players enjoyed a superb weekend in Europe and are already talking about the 2006 tournament.

Stockport Lacrosse is the oldest Club in the UK, founded in 1876, and is the centre of high quality sport and innovation within the UK game. Stockport First and A teams are winners of their respective 2004 and 2005 Northern Leagues, and also the Northern Flags tournaments for both years.

Stockport has a very active and growing junior section which provides instruction and coaching in the game for all levels of player aged between 6 and 18, for both boys and girls. Stockport also supports coaching schemes in local schools for both field and POP lacrosse. For more details of the activities and facilities the club please contact John Sharples (Tel: 0161 480 9222, E-mail john_sharples@yahoo.co.uk).

For further details of the Belgium Tour and games please contact the Tour Directors, Paul and Tina Chatterton ( Tel: 01625 267033, E-mail: tina.chatterton@ntlworld.com)