Coach promotes lacrosse
An emerging sport in the Waikato is working towards establishing its first home ground, while pushing into rural schools, as demand exceeds forecast growth in the region.
Lacrosse coach Dean Forman also hopes to further interest in the sport in Matamata and Morrinsville where he’s been working under KiwiSport to promote the code to intermediateaged children.
Forman is coach of the Cambridge High School lacrosse team but works throughout the region helping to develop new coaches and programmes.
This year he has pushed out from Hamilton into rural towns with plans to head to South Waikato next year.
‘‘There has been strong interest from those [Matamata and Morrinsville] areas which is great. This has been the first year we’ve had a funded role to develop the sport, working with intermediate schools, to act as feeders, so there is a flow going through to the high schools.’’
Next year he also hopes to start work with primary schools in the district, to grow player interest on to intermediate schools. Two recent tournaments in the Waikato demonstrated how well players had developed their skill level in recent years.
‘‘For us to go to the next level, we need our own home ground. We’re trying the shared-use model but because we are growing so much, it’s putting a strain on those facilities. Lacrosse is just an emerging sport. We have good relationships with other clubs and those relations are going to be key to sourcing a home ground.’’