One thing that really makes my experience at UCD is my participation in sports clubs. I have played for the lacrosse club ever since my first week in college and in this, my final year, I was lucky enough to be voted in as Women’s Captain. Whenever I’m stressed or bogged down with lectures, assignments and career decisions, lacrosse is the only thing that truly allows me to switch off and get my head in the game. Off the field, as a club we have formed our own little community with formal and informal events organised every week. It has allowed me to meet people from different countries and different courses but who are great fun on and off the field.
Before I go any further, let me explain what lacrosse is. Lacrosse is originally a Native American sport; using a long-handled stick with a mesh strung head, players pass a small, airborne rubber ball between them with the aim of shooting the ball into their opponent’s goal. The primary difference between the men’s and women’s game is the use of contact. Many of our players used to play hurling, camogie, hockey and basketball because of the crossover of skills and similarities in tactics and plays so even though it’s only taught at college level in Ireland, those who start playing pick it up pretty fast.
At the beginning of September, UCD Sport holds an exposition where all the clubs set up a stand to recruit both freshers and existing students. This year it was sponsored by Bank of Ireland and they held a competition to see who could put as many small balls into a box within a large glass box on top of it. Our men’s captain, Eoin Parsons gave it a shot but was unfortunately beaten to the highest score by a rival club captain. There are over 50 sports club in UCD that range from Rugby to Surfing to Ultimate Frisbee; each with their own personally designed stand and the unofficial competition for best stand is always very…competitive. This year, the lacrosse club beat its record in terms of recruitment numbers at the expo and set the bar pretty high for next year with over 200 new recruits.
A few weeks ago we hosted a game day where the majority of teams in the country headed to our leafy campus for a sunny day of games. UCD contributed 2 full men’s and women’s teams alongside NUIG lacrosse club, Dublin Avengers Lacrosse Club and Dublin Bay Prawns. The UCD 1st teams were successful in winning their matches with the 2nd teams losing out by a few goals against their competitors. This year, UCD are supporting the development of lacrosse in Queens University Belfast and Waterford Institute of Technology. Hopefully there will be a Lacrosse Intervarsity cup between UCD, NUIG, WIT, Queens and potentially Trinity in the future. From when I joined in first year, it’s amazing to see how fast the sport is growing in Ireland.
Ireland Lacrosse has expanded hugely in the last few years with UCD being at the heart of recruitment and high quality training. The club has seen a 60-70% increase in numbers in the last few years which means more teams in the club, more trips and more diversity! Currently my team mates come from not only Ireland and the US but also Canada, UK, Germany, Norway, Australia, France, Czech Republic and many more! However, for our home players, they can rise to national representation within a matter of months.
There has always been UCD representation on the Irish national teams, both current players and alumni competed in the World Championships over the last year. Next weekend a large number of UCD hopefuls, the majority of whom have only been playing the sport a year, will be competing for a spot on the national teams. The Irish Women’s team will be playing in the European Championships in the Czech Republic in summer 2015 and the Irish Men’s Indoor Lacrosse team will be competing in the World Indoor Championships in Buffalo, New York in September 2015. Unfortunately for me, I lack Irish citizenship so my spot will be in the stands, decked out in green, cheering them on!
Along with travelling to support UCD players and the national team, the UCD team indulges in a lot of national and international trips. This semester we will be playing in both Galway and Belfast and next semester we will be competing against teams in Amsterdam. In the past we have played against teams in Rome, Berlin, Ghent and York, building relationships with other teams in the European community and providing destinations for our alumni to emigrate to – two graduates from last year are now playing in Vancouver! I’m excited to travel and live abroad after I graduate and play for a foreign team. Hopefully the future UCD team can come and visit me wherever I end up!
