Relaunching youth lacrosse post-COVID

As schooling is set to stay virtual through 2020 in Colombia, Lacrosse the Nations are working to adapt their curriculum to a the new reality.

COVID-19 has had a massive impact on all sports programs. In Colombia, it totally halted the launch of Lacrosse the Nations' youth programs after just one month of introducing the sport. With schools set to stay virtual through the end of 2020 in Colombia, Lacrosse the Nations (LtN) Staff are hoping to leverage the close relationship between physical education, sport and other areas of educational development to re-launch our programs.

Over the past several weeks, LtN Program Director and head Coach, Oscar Castillo, has been working with teachers and administrators at the Enrique Santos Montejo School to increase the effectiveness of teaching and learning through sport. Oscar, working with teachers from different departments has designed a series of lesson plans that intertwine lacrosse into other subjects such as English and Science.

The goal with this is two-fold. First is to introduce the sport (on paper) to a broader population of the school. Second is to use lacrosse to make lessons taught in the school’s virtual classes more engaging and entertaining for students while learning from home. The hope is that by incorporating lacrosse into different subjects, students will be excited to learn and eager to lacrosse once we can safely get back on the field.

For example, in physics class Oscar tied a lesson on “the application of force” to the science behind a shot on goal. In religion, Oscar introduces the origins of Lacrosse as a Native American sport that was used to honor the Creator. He is doing this with other subjects too, finding direct links with physical activity and sport. He’s even getting kids to create their own lacrosse sticks in art class using broom sticks and plastic bottles.

As we’ve seen on the field, successful learning comes from practical applications of subject matter in everyday life. LtN Staff are excited to see the results of Oscar’s curriculum modifications and how they will translate to after-school participation as soon as fields re-open!