Pandemic takes toll on local programs
National organization eyes huge hit in revenue, which will lead to less grant money
US Lacrosse announced last Tuesday it had awarded $2.38 million in grants to lacrosse organizations all across the country with the purpose being to grow the sport, especially in programs that promote diversity. Of the dozen organizations that were given $57,659 in Maryland, four located in Anne Arundel and Queen Anne’s County took home $23,280 through three different kinds of grants.
Without that funding, recipients like the girls lacrosse branch of the Crofton Athletic Council aren’t sure they would have been able to lift their program off the ground.
However, this will be the last fruitful grant cycle for a while. US Lacrosse CEO Steve Stenersen told on Wednesday that there will not be grant funding until at least 2021.
The 869 total grants of this 2019-20 cycle that concluded in March were financed through donor and corporate support as well as membership, where the bulk of US Lacrosse funding comes from and which has taken a nosedive as the coronavirus pandemic began to ravage the economy.
The largest governing body for lacrosse in America expects a $7-8 million hit against revenue. It has slashed its expense budget and operations, and has made “painful” reductions in the workforce.
“Membership is a direct indication of participation, how many kids are on the field,” Stenersen said, “and there are no kids on the field. … It’s really impacted our ability to serve the lacrosse community.”
After a season of playing unified tennis, Arundel junior midfielder Abigail Newell wanted to give the same opportunity for kids with disabilities in her sport: lacrosse.
She and her mother, Amy Newell, the commissioner for Crofton Athletic Council’s girls lacrosse, organized the program, the first of its kind in Anne Arundel County. They’d gotten approval from the Girls Lacrosse Association of Anne Arundel County to invite the whole county. They’d gotten mentors from all over the county, turf time and lights, and handicap access. They just needed funds; So they wrote to US Lacrosse.
Suddenly, they had equipment, lesson plans and best practices.
“We were all set,” Amy Newell said, “and then, unfortunately, the coronavirus hit.”
The Newells are hopeful they’ll be able to
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restart the initiative in the fall if the pandemic subsides. They’ve even been able to attract external sponsors to fund the program next time.
But it never would have been possible in the first place without that $690 physical education grant from US Lacrosse.
Now, that kind of thing is going away, which could prevent new and underprivileged athletes from entering the sport altogether.
One of this cycle’s recipients, the Anne Arundel County/Prince George’s Youth Lacrosse Leagues, jointly received a TryLax grant worth $10,125, one of two local organizations to attain that type of grant (Queen Anne’s County Lacrosse).
With it, the Chesapeake Chapter of US Lacrosse was able to stage a 100-child clinic last September at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Each participant took home a free lacrosse stick, t-shirt, and pair of practice balls, and lessons from active high school coaches and youth program coaches and the Chesapeake Bayhawks.
It was a hotly contested grant, per US Lacrosse. Equipment is costly and can therefore serve as a barrier to those trying to enter the sport. Now, without grants going forward, Chesapeake Chapter president Terry Edmonson said they will have to collect the sticks at the end of those clinics, though Edmonson said they’ll continue to push drives to collect donated sticks and equipment.
US Lacrosse leaders share worries that accessibility to a largely affluent sport will worsen without financial help from its governing body. One of the organization’s top priorities for selecting grants were whether or not applications emphasized inclusion.
“It’s going to hurt the growth of the sport, for the continuation for things to do on their own,” Edmonson said. “You hope you have an organized opportunity for the introduction of the sport and for the young athlete to learn the technique, but it’s the reinforcement when they’re out there on their own and they would not be able to do that with the reduction of many families impacted by the pandemic.”
Lacrosse has reached a stronger place over the last several years in Queen Anne’s County, but there was no denying the impact Queen Anne’s County Lacrosse’s TryLax clinic had on the sport in the area. Of the 85 participants, around 40 girls registered for Queen Anne’s girls lacrosse’s spring program, president Matt Tuma said.
Kent Youth Lacrosse in Chestertown, too, benefited from a starter kit grant worth $2,340.
Tuma likewise finds the pandemic’s financial hit on lacrosse troubling for the future. He shared the program with other areas along the Eastern Shore that are more rural and are still working to stabilize lacrosse.
“I think all of the rec organizations are struggling as well,” Tuma said, “having to refund or defer players for the next season. It is worrying that USLacrosse is struggling, too.”
Stenersen hopes youth sports could experience a renaissance when the pandemic subsides, as people apprehensive of travel will choose to play closer to home.
However, without the money, that could prove more difficult, and US Lacrosse isn’t alone in this. Almost 60% of local sports organizations predict to lose 50% of revenue this year, as reported by the Aspen Institute for Sports.
US Lacrosse joined in with more than 1,500 other sports organizations in PLAY Sports Coalition, a bipartisan-backed legislation asking for $8.5 billion in relief for a youth sports infrastructure damaged by the pandemic by expanding the CARES Act, and also setting up a task force that would help ensure a safe return to play.
Some organizations like the Chesapeake Chapter expect they’ll be able to sustain themselves financially through this pandemic storm.
Nationally, US Lacrosse is working on the offensive. It held a mini campaign on this week’s Giving Tuesday that generated $146,000 in donations. That funding will be used to feed the grant program moving forward.
That is just 6% of US Lacrosse’s most recent grant cycle, which funded the gifting of 60,000 items of lacrosse gear, more than $300,000 for education and development, and more than $36,000 via 28 grants meant to support diversity and inclusion initiatives. Following that logic, only 6% of the nearly 1,000 programs US Lacrosse helped would receive grants next time around.
“It comes far short of what we’d typically consider a grant cycle, but that incredible support will help to some degree to enable us to support the national lacrosse community as we move through this crisis,” Stenersen said.