Lacrosse is a popular team sport in North America, but has struggled to gain a foothold in Australia.
To help change this, Lacrosse Victoria have made a concerted effort to appeal to members of marginalised and disadvantaged communities as way of both growing the sport and promoting social inclusion.
A product of this is the Lacrosse Together Cup which will be held at PJ Lynch Reserve in Altona North on Sunday, October 20.
The cup is an annual social, round-robin event designed to celebrate diversity and inclusivity in lacrosse and make a stand against homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and intersex discrimination in sport
Lacrosse Victoria development officer Kristen Hutchison explained how it came about.
“Lacrosse Victoria has been working through the rainbow road map for the past couple of years with Proud to Play which is a not-for-profit peak organisation for LGTBTQIA+ inclusion,” Ms Hutchison said.
The sport came to working with Proud to Play and the LGBTQIA+ community after focus groups it commissioned to help grow the sport found it needed to be more inclusive and welcoming towards more marginalised communities.
“We weren’t discriminating on purpose but we weren’t trying to actively include,” said Ms Hutchison of the sport’s attitude at the time.
After working to include more people with a disability into lacrosse, Ms Hutchison said Vic Sport and Proud to Play releasing their rainbow road-map made the LGBTQIA+ community the obvious one to focus on next.
She said while the together cup was part of those efforts, the day was open to everyone, with all games having modified rules to suit new players.
“We play a non-contact, fun, social game where really anyone can give it a go.”
Details: www.lacrossevictoria.com.au/
Cade Lucas.
