Strengthening a growing program: Ranau Lacrosse Project Part II

After 30 hours of travel from the United States to Sabah, Malaysia we found each other, got in the car, and continued our journey to Ranau, Sabah. It was 9 AM on Wednesday morning and we left the capital city of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, drove through the jungle and gazed at the mountain that watch over us for the next ten days.

A few hours later we arrived in Ranau and found our way to the school, SMK Mat Salleh. I recognized the security man at the gate, he gave a big smile and we were in. It was time to get back to it! The four of us stared in awe as we stepped out of the car and onto the the lacrosse field, the one we had left just under a year ago. It was brilliant looking and we were astounded by how great it looked; freshly lined with new, restructured goals.

Things looked good from here. It was Wednesday morning and the sun was bright. We had two full sessions planned each day, with classroom chalk talk in the afternoons and development in the evening. Chris, Stephanie, Kelly, and I got settled in and prepared for the first session. I could smell the distinct scent of thick South East Asian humidity, with remnants of pollution sprinkled in. The haze had yet to set in and the forecast predicted only blue skies for the next two weeks. In early September pollution from palm oil plantations in neighboring, Indonesia, creates a haze that settles over the island of Borneo, specifically Sabah, and leaves the state without clear skies and poor air quality for a month. It was important that we counted our reps and got them in now. 

It was great to be back at the SMK Mat Salleh school, but even better to have Kelly Case with us again; the first Fulbright English Teacher at the school, who had helped initiate the program last year. Since her return to the states in late December 2015 she has spent her time teaching and coaching girls lacrosse on Long Island, New York, while continuing to be a huge contribution to planning our clinic this year in Malaysia. Along with Kelly, Erin Campbell the resident English Teacher at the school this year whom has been a huge contribution to our local team has been diligently training and putting together practice times for our athletes. She helped to coordinate the clinics and development sessions. Also joining us was Chris Porten, KLTW's Creative Director based in NY and Stephanie Cronk, an elementary school teacher with a rich background in lacrosse.  The first day was crazed with the students incredibly excited to be working with us and learning the game of lacrosse once again. Wednesday through Friday from 8 to 10:30 AM we focused on teaching lacrosse and introduction to numerous gym classes from grades eight through ten help spread awareness and get more students involved with the sport. Through these gym class sessions we hoped to recruit and encourage more students to come out and join the lacrosse club which is our structured club team for the SMK Mat Salleh school and Ranau district.

The first few days flew by, and the evening training sessions with the older students became more and more competitive as the week went on. We were happy to see a few new additions to the team since Kelly had left in December, most noticeably Rebecca who is now our starting goalie, as well as Clarence who is a natural born leader with the girls. 

Big stoke came when we brought out the practice jerseys we had personalized for the team. Thanks to 4Point4 Sports in NY, we put together reversibles that were given to all of our players, sporting the Sabah state flag and colors. We also gave our team donated game jerseys and some throw back kilts from the New Rochelle lacrosse program which the girls were thrilled about!

Team practices focused on more team concepts this time around in an effort to challenge our girls and their ability to understand strategy and the importance of teamwork and how these concepts can change the game on the field. With a fully lined field and two goalies, we were able to have complete scrimmages, pinning the girls against each other, something they enjoyed the most during lacrosse practice. As a coaching staff we were thoroughly impressed with the progress and improvement from last year’s trip, to this week, and beyond. The school and staff has really taken to supporting the lacrosse program and it's development. 

Then came our favorite time, the annual Lacrosse Festival. We’ve held this traditional event on each trip we have been on, Asia and Africa. This time, we had a huge turnout with over 60 students coming out to the SMK Mat Salleh Samson Tan Lacrosse field to participate and make it an amazing day! 

The day started off bright and early with a lacrosse skills and drills session, warming the students and leaders up with a full bout of stretching, dynamic warm ups, and basic stick and ball drills. From here, we divided into one-on-one’s around the field from four corners eventually working up to a three-on-two slow breaks. With the sun finally peeking out during mid morning it was time for a break. Water was on tap and the music started to pump, it was game time! 

Trust falls eventually turned into wheelbarrow runs and the boys tore it up, taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, winner took home the prize of a USA themed gift bag, the students loved them!

Next came the lax limbo, a massive hit with our international programs. A popular kids activity here in the US, the simple idea of trying to walk under a lacrosse stick is thrilling to our students who had only even played once before with their English teacher. Off to a slow start, we finally narrowed down and had a few winners with an unbelieveably low limbo!

A few more water breaks and games led to our final activity for the day before the team scrimmage, the highly anticipated air guitar competition which the girls rocked! We have witnessed a few of these in our time, but this one may have been the best yet. As many of our students already rock the ukulele, the lax guitar came naturally and they put on a huge show. One of our newer students, Clarence, came in and won the competition with an outstanding rendition of rockin' out!

We closed out the afternoon with a full field scrimmage and spoils for the victors. Elliott refereed the game while Kelly coached the away team and Chris and Stephanie coached the home team. It was off to a fast start, with dark going up 3-0, with a game to 7 due to time constraints. The home team came back due to a pair of goals from Marlene and Bridget. With a timeout towards the end of the scrimmage, the environment was fierce and by now, a fair amount of local students and people stood by and watched the game from the top of the hill.  

The game ended in a 7-6 stunning fashion with the last goal winning after the tie, the away team took it home. The losing team was subjected to an old Coach Chris favorite, star-jumps. In support of their teammates the winning team ended up doing the jumps as well, or maybe they just really love yelling “I’m a star,” yet to be determined. An incredibly successful day was then capped with a talk and breakdown. Students shared their thoughts and the coaching staff thanked the students for coming out. We gave out gifts and prizes at the end to the students and winners. It was a day where we all won, we were beyond excited to be back at it. 

The coaching staff had a few days off and it saw us finding rest and relaxation on Mantinanai Island. 

Yes, that photo is real, the water off the coast of Borneo is unreal! 

Once back at the school, our clinic lasted a few more days, Tuesday night through Thursday night. On Wednesday we held a private screening with our players for a unreleased lacrosse documentary focused on girls lacrosse in New York, it was a hit with our players and they were instantly able to relate with their lives here in Ranau, it really proved to the coaches how lacrosse can draw connections from every corner of the world and empower students from our backyards in the States to those we’ve grown so close to on the other side of the world. As an organization, we were glad to show the video, we found the girls were able to find a bit of purpose in it and see what women's lacrosse is like here, in America. 

The following two days, we held introductory lacrosse clinics at the SMK Ranau school, just up the road from our home base of SMK Mat Salleh, working with over 60 students to raise interest and meet with school leaders to form the lacrosse club. As we predicted, the school took to the sport and instantly showed genuine interest and enjoyed the practices.  We left a number of men’s and women's sticks, as well as full size goal on the soccer field for the students and school to use. Throughout our sessions with the school, we put a plan into place to hold an interscholastic scrimmage with the SMK Mat Salleh school and weekly practices, led by the gym teacher and English teachers.  

SMK Ranau lacrosse club students and faculty

Practice continued and the days came to an end. Suddenly it was Thursday evening and our final practice had ended. I found myself full of emotions and realized that our vision was becoming true and the Ranau Lacrosse Project had sustained a year, and it was obvious this was only going to get bigger from here. The coaches all gave emotional speeches and we broke down our huddle for one last time. Wisdom was shared and our new captains were appointed; Danny, Banana, and Bridget. The team thanked our previous captains Kenny and Dyna for doing a terrific job of leading the program and making it bigger and better in our absence. Team photos turned into impressive dabbing, and just like that our two weeks of lacrosse ended. 

One last team shot with the entire club!

Lacrosse at the Butula Hekima Academy Kenya, Africa: A Photo Essay

"All right here we go!" Ryan exclaimed, I started the engine and we started roaring our way through Nairobi. Patiently, Ryan Rabidou and Danielle Visco waited by eating fresh samosas to pass the time for my 10:30am arrival. Before we knew it, we were on our way to the Butula Hekima Academy to start a youth lacrosse program.  

Through winding roads full of pressing oncoming traffic, big black bellowing puffs of smoke coming from the tired old truck in front of us and the bike lane being used by people simply walking to where they need to get to, throw in a British influence of driving on the right side of the road, we careened our way through hours of reggae African radio and potholes to arrive the following morning, bright eyed and full of stoke. I couldn't believe how beautiful the school was, it a few hundred yards set off the main road flanked by tall green trees and lush gardens and farms that ushered a feel more sought of a jungle than rural Africa, this was new to me indeed.  

Almost immediately, we began getting our hands dirty by building our lacrosse goals. Bob had quickly introduced himself, a tall, soft speaking, authority bearing man who wore more of an island outfit of flowy off-white pants with sandals than the conservative image of an African school director. A crowd of students surround us and just stare, about 50 of them, wondering "Who are these people? what are they doing with those big nets?" I couldn't of blamed them... we were banging nails into big pieces of wood formed from a cut down tree that Bob commissioned the week before. More students gathered and became interested, they helped to lace the nets and within hours we had two full size, 6x6 working lacrosse goals, success! The rest of the day was filled with relaxation, and orientation.    

Tuesday we woke to a bright sun beating down on us peering into the window, I can't sleep too well, awake at 5am. I quickly jotted down in my journal and began thinking about our practice plan today. Ryan, Danielle, and I had sat down with Bob the night before to go over a lacrosse schedule, and worked out four sessions that would work best for the students considering they have multiple short and long breaks throughout the school day allowing them to run free and swarm the lacrosse the field (which was shared with the grazing school cows and chickens in the early morning and late evening).  

Our typical day looked like this, Session 1: 9-9:40am, Session 2: 10:20 - 11am, Session 3: 12-12:40pm, Session 4: 3:30 - 4:30pm. We stood outside in the field, under the sun, holding our lacrosse sticks, Danielle her camera, looking around wondering, "Okay so what now?" A weird feeling came over me... all the sudden we were ready to do what we set out to, on the precipice of actually teaching African students the game of lacrosse, 9:05am nobody out here, 9:10am still nobody, we just stood around with big grins and jumpy feet.  All the sudden about 30 students run for their lives out onto the field yelling and screaming, it was Class 3, 8/9 year olds.

The session goes great! We hand our their practice jerseys donated from UN1TUS in Ohio, and pull our our lacrosse sticks donated from LacrosseUnlimited in New York and balls from SlingItLacrosse in San Francisco.  The introductions start furiously with Ryan and I asking the hard questions like "HOW OLD ARE YOU", "ARE YOU READY?!?", "THIS IS LACROSSE!". We were excited to get rolling and the kids shared the same enthusiasm eager to learn but they were still in shock seeing us and what lacrosse actually was. From here, Ryan and I demonstrated passing the ball and the proper motion, catching, and moving with the stick, this alone would take some time.   

The session was almost done and before we knew it we quickly jumped into some cradling technique and the kids loved it, like they were rocking a baby which some of them were certainly used to. Time expired and they had to get back to class, they gave the jerseys up for the next class and ran away with big smiles on their faces. They were the first class to be introduced to lacrosse and were so excited about it. The rest of the day we went on to teach the next three sessions with similar plans, learning about passing and catching, the parts of the stick, and cradling technique working our way up from Class 3 to Class 5. 

Our last session of the day included the Class 7 and Class 8 students with an addition of Markvivan and Victor, two boys in younger classes who we discovered after a few practices and they quickly picked up the game standing out, with one girl named Masai as well from a younger class. This group for the last session was our leaders group, made up of the oldest students from the school of whom we would dedicate this last session to everyday to help develop and train who will be a role model for the younger students to watch and learn from. Our practices with this group were incredibly productive as we built up from catching and passing to 2 on 1 ground ball drills, shooting drills, and furious games of steal the bacon which we dubbed "steal the sugar" considering the local area is known in Kenya for its sugar plantations.

The days and nights followed along with a weather pattern that decided to cooperate with us for the week, offering blistering hot mornings along with mild humidity and cool cloudy afternoons, giving us just enough time to squeeze in our last session. Evenings it rained, nearly every day around the same time, 5-6pm. Practices continued and we cycled through all the classes of students, 8 of them in all, from students aged 5 to 15. The youngest classes were especially fun, getting their jerseys and learning to pass/cradle. They actually picked it up quite well amongst others, and were a joy to be around. 

By Friday, we had taught lacrosse for 5 consecutive days, putting in over 30+ hours of lacrosse time with the students in and out of the sessions, and leaving our equipment so that during their own school breaks they could come and play with the sticks. Ryan noticed that a growing number of the students kept getting better day by day just from them spending their spare time throwing around during breaks and after school.  It was working, the students were really getting into this sport and were hungry for more.  

Then came Saturday, the big day.  From the onset, Kids Lacrosse The World planned on holding a Lacrosse: Family Festival & Friends event which would include fun/games, lacrosse, and an appreciation meal with an anticipated number of 40-60 people. The event turned out for the better to be bigger, much bigger in scale with so much more. We had 300-400 people attend the event, including school students and parents. Many of the teachers made it out to join us for the festivities and we all had a terrific time. With the increase in people to feed, we ended up making massive amounts of stew, chicken, veggies, rice, and juice.  All in all, we fed close to 300 mouths. The event was wildly successful with nearly every school student showing up, and about 100 parents dawned in their weekend best to come watch the event and learn about lacrosse.  Our resident DJ Alvin was there (one of the school teachers) with his MC set up, playing tunes that would move and groove everyone all day.  Ryan, Danielle and I set the stage by introducing ourselves and who we are, along with what we were doing there in Butula.

Once the setup was complete, we decided to warm up and start the festival with a wild game of limbo, the students had never played before but loved it. They were killing it! Ryan and a few teachers coordinated the game to get things started. 

The activities included ground ball battles and a relay competition that included a ball scoop, run to other goal and touch it, cradling, coming back and shooting on the original goal and leaving the ball for the next student. Ground ball battles were done on both ends of the field combining the older students in one section, and the younger together in another.  

Then came the dancing. After a brief break, Ryan put on his iPhone containing the all important songs "Electric Slide" and "Cupid Shuffle" which we put on blast, dancing in front of the students singing and dancing showing them the moves. They quickly grabbed onto the vocals and were moving along with the shuffle, over a hundred of them, smiles everywhere.   

Another break ensued, and we collectively caught our breath, panting in the midday sun, today had been particularly hot and we still had the main event to go, our lacrosse demonstration. Without any lines on our field and our sidelines taken up by onlookers and parents with tables/chairs we decided to play "steal the sugar".

 It was intense and the students didn't want to disappoint, with the two teams divided up and ready for battle.  One side represented the ThunderRidge Highschool team from Denver, Colorado with their donated home white game jerseys, and the other side the UN1TUS away dark game jerseys.  The game got off with the away team going up 3-0, but the home team would bring the tally to 4-2 in a matter of minutes. With the parents seeing the sport for the firs time as well as other community members, it was a crucial time for us, the students, and the school. The game went on, and the score hit 6-3, I walked out onto the middle of the field and announced that the next goal would win no matter what, we were running out of time.  In a matter of seconds, behind Ryan's pump up rally with the Away team, they took the ball down and scored on a odd man situation, victory! The crowd roared and parents applauded.  Ryan sprinted out onto the field and joined the massive celebration his team was having, while mine had just lost, with our heads still held high. The teachers clapped and were happy to see the younger students so into the game and rally around their older peers, looking on and rooting for the teams. Suddenly, the students of the Butula Hekima Academy had truly come together for the first time.  

Lastly, we closed out the festival with awards. We gave away an offensive MVP, defensive MVP, most improved player, and the heart of the lion award (leadership). We also gave our donated InsideLacrosse t-shirts to all the teachers for their continued commitment all week to help us run a success lacrosse program and to show our appreciation for what they do outside of lacrosse, they loved their shirts! As well, the eldest students from our last session and teachers all received certificates of recognition for participating in the lacrosse program throughout of week. 

The final awards were given and there was silence, then a drum started playing. On the far side of the field from Ryan, Danielle, and I, a group of students began to dance, with the lead girl in front beautifully singing.  A fellow teacher next to us told to take a seat, they grabbed the microphone and it was the first time we sat down all day.  The next 45 minutes took my breath away as the group of students began slowly making there way towards us when suddenly they were right in front of us.  The parents become excited and students cheered, the girls sang an appreciation song which went on for roughly twenty minutes. The heat hit my face and all I could do was stand up and think about the culmination of this entire week, it hit me in this moment. I started to get emotional and couldn't believe that we had pulled this off and brought together this school. The girls continue to sing and dance, with little english words dispersed randomly throughout the chorus "thank you again, we are going to miss you". This was their way of honoring us and thanking us for everything we did, this meant a lot to us.

Afterwards the festival was over. We hung with the students, played, sang, danced, and took photos with some parents.

This family festival day was an incredible ending to our program, and one we will never forget. Kids Lacrosse The World plans to continue this tradition, as well as the Busia Lacrosse Club at the Butula Hekima School. Throughout the week, we taught lacrosse to 200+ students and affected so many more. The students taught us all how to make the most of the days we are given. There relentless joy was contagious and I can't wait to make it back to Kenya to work with these terrific kids. Kenya Lacrosse is on the rise!

Thank you to Danielle Visco of LuvLens for all photos.