For someone who doesn’t know the sport that well, how would you describe lacrosse in a few words?
From the purely sporting side: Lacrosse is an extremely fast sport. But it also requires a lot of tactics and technology. In addition, the sport invites people of all physical capacities, the door is always open. But precisely because this sport is so small in Germany, the lacrosse scene often feels like a big family.
A scene that your club also belongs to. The lacrosse department of SC Frankfurt 1880 seems to be very consciously focusing on youth work. How do you proceed?
For many years we have been sending people to schools to present the sport of lacrosse there and to set up working groups. Through this we brought many young people to the club. Many people who grew up here with lacrosse themselves also took on later youth teams as coaches. We are very fortunate to have many committed members and to be an association that also offers other sports. If, for example, the hockey department is too full, children like to come to us.
Has this commitment led to any noticeable success?
Definitive. Youth work has developed extremely in the last few years. Our women’s U-16 team won the last German championship – our greatest success for a long time. But we also see the fact that our first women’s team quickly consists of former youth players as a logical consequence of our work.
What are you doing better than other clubs in the junior division?
We are very persistent and always want to stimulate youth work. Munich Lacrosse, for example, is an incredibly large and successful club, has four men’s and women’s teams, but no youth team. Unlike other clubs, who don’t see the need to build something from youth, we stubbornly go our way.
On October 9th and 10th, the Scheider Cup will take place on the grounds of SC Frankfurt 1880. Was that all about it?
It is the largest youth lacrosse tournament in Germany, and possibly even in Europe. We launched it five years ago. The idea was to give our youth more opportunities to play. There is a youth league, but just not enough game days. We wanted to organize a big international tournament. And, since we have a very strong youth work as well as the necessary infrastructure, we thought: Let’s just do it!
How has the cup changed since it was first held?
The tournament has grown incredibly now. We even have to cancel some teams who want to participate because we no longer have enough capacity. The tournament then lasts for a whole weekend. U-14 and U-19 teams – boys and girls – from many European countries are playing for the title. Only lacrosse will be played over the entire facility. This is now a huge event for us.
Lacrosse is a young sport in Germany that is always looking for members. What does the SCF 1880 do to attract new members?
We had a university lacrosse team for a while and that kept getting new members. We do little to recruit adults. These are mostly newcomers who are looking for a new lacrosse team. Most of the new members are brought up to the A teams through our youth teams.
Did the club lose to youth players during the pandemic?
We’ve definitely lost members too. In the adult sector, this could be kept together quite well, for example through virtual “challenges” via the Zoom platform. That turned out to be a bit more difficult in the youth sector. But we were lucky and most of the youth players stayed with us. The juniors were also allowed to start training much earlier, and the women’s teams were back in small groups in April.
And now the first women’s team is at the beginning of a new season. Which game is up?
Our next game is on October 31st, a home game against Köln A, our strongest opponent in the league. So far we’ve taken three wins in three games – it’s going well. But since we started the season with a new coach, we’re still grooving our way.