The women’s lacrosse team is hosting a youth clinic on April 24 for kids and teens to develop their interest in the sport.
The original youth clinic was scheduled on April 10 but was postponed to April 24 due to bad weather.
Head coach Meredith Newman said the women’s lacrosse team will be focusing on helping the youth at the camp develop a base for their skills to grow.
“They will be working the very basic fundamentals,” Newman said. “Lacrosse is unique in that the fundamental skills take time and practice. You can’t just pick up a lacrosse stick.”
This clinic will be a workshop for kids and teens up to age 17. Lacrosse is a regional sport, and Newman is looking to garner interest for the sport in the Quad Cities and in the Midwest.
“It’s a new thing,” Newman said. “The growth of lacrosse is exponential in this region. This may be the first time many of them pick up a lacrosse stick, so this will be a learn-to-play clinic. They will be working on the different components of the lacrosse stick, catching and throwing and hopefully will build up to competition (between some of the youth at the camp).”
The women’s team will be partnering with the men’s team to hold this co-ed event. Captain and senior Cori Duncan said the girls are excited to help out and demo for the kids.
“We love giving back to the community and the community of lacrosse,” Duncan said. “We just want to share the sport with the Quad Cities.”
Duncan is excited to start seeing more high schools creating lacrosse teams and spreading the sport. They have been promoting it through local schools, social media and by word of mouth through the many out-of-school activities the players do in the community.
Duncan believes that this clinic could potentially be a huge asset to the team. Sharing the sport with the community will flourish interests and promote Augustana as a whole
“If they want to come see a game before the clinic, they can see how girls have learned and grown with a sport,” Duncan said. “When they watch us play, it will help them get out of their comfort zone. It will help them see (that) through hard work, they could potentially play one day as well.”