My Passion with Julia Pearson: Love of a sport that’s debunking myths and growing in popularity

I HAVE played lacrosse since the age of 12. At school we used to train at least once a day, including before school, and as a teenager, it was the only thing that would make me spring out of bed.
By The Newsroom
Published 8th Mar 2011, 09:45 BST

I don’t think my family and friends ever imagined that nearly 20 years later I would still be playing.

Lacrosse conjures up various images for people, especially for those who don’t know the sport. Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers series is the most famous. Blyton’s book portrayed its traditional image which, to be fair, was pretty accurate during my school days.

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More recently, a different side to lacrosse hit the silver screen thanks to American Pie – men playing the more violent form of the game involving full body contact, complete with helmets and armour.

Today, I play for the Leeds Penguins, which has been my club for six years. I am currently captain and coach. The Penguins play in the Women’s North Lacrosse League which is far from Malory Towers and in certain matches more akin to its original roots when it was played by the native Americans with skulls in a warlike fashion.

There have always been many misconceptions associated with lacrosse and the image of it as a private school girl’s game played by posh kids with ponies is changing thanks to the increasing number of countries playing it. I have had the fortune of playing for several different teams in various countries. At the age of 16, I played in the US, where the game is professional. When I was 21, I had a trial for England which was sadly unsuccessful so I played for Germany and Finland instead (qualifying for Germany by residence and Finland simply because a friend of mine started up the Finnish team and needed some help).

Lacrosse is now played in the Czech Republic (where it is the number one ladies sport), Japan, and South America. The Iroquois still have a team too.

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More recently I have played for the north of England territorial team and I also chair the North Women’s Lacrosse Association, which has 11 clubs including Birmingham, four Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Wirral and two clubs in Yorkshire, the Leeds Penguins and the Sheffield Steelers. Lacrosse in the north of England is very competitive; we have the largest league in the country and a burgeoning junior programme which has produced international players. We can proudly say that other regions in England look to the North for inspiration.

My vision and dream for the sport is for it to one day be a Commonwealth Games or Olympic Sport. If that’s not possible, maybe one day I’ll settle for having a son or daughter playing for England – they won’t after all have any choice about whether they play as it will be in the blood.

• Julia Pearson is an associate at Clarion Solicitors in Leeds:

Related topics:England