BALTIMORE — The future of international lacrosse took a major step on Oct. 7-9, 2005 in Baltimore, Md., as US Lacrosse hosted the first meeting between the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations (IFWLA) and the International Lacrosse Foundation (ILF) to discuss merging together as one organization.

The IFWLA and the ILF each named three representatives to work on the merger committee. The organizations hope to complete the merger by the end of 2007.

The reasons for merging these two international lacrosse organizations together are:

• An unified international governing body, which is required for future Olympic recognition.
• The overwhelming majority of member nations have merged governing bodies.
• The IFWLA and the ILF both struggle to generate and sustain human and financial resources. An unified structure would provide greater operational efficiency.
• Significant international growth of lacrosse requires a much higher level of coordination in many fundamental areas such as: events, meetings, fundraising, development initiatives, scheduling and planning, etc.

The IFWLA was formed in 1972 to promote and develop the game of women's lacrosse throughout the world. Inaugural members were Australia, England, Scotland, Wales and the United States. In 2005, 10 member nations participated in the World Cup.

The ILF was founded in 1974 and comprises of 14 full member nations and six affiliate member nations. The ILF's mission is to promote and develop the game of men's lacrosse throughout the world, to establish rules and regulations for international competition, and conduct world championships.

Merger Committee Members
*IFWLA: Feffie Barnhill (US Lacrosse)
e-mail: feffieb@comcast.net
IFWLA: Sallie Barker (English Lacrosse Association)
e-mail: sbarker@ccpr.org.uk
IFWLA: Heike Marie Ebel (German Lacrosse Association)
e-mail: heike.ebel@gmail.com
*ILF: Stan Cockerton (Vice President ILF, Canadian Lacrosse Association)
e-mail: stan@ontariolacrosse.com
ILF: Steve Stenersen (Executive Director of US Lacrosse)
e-mail: sstenersen@uslacrosse.org
ILF: Graeme Reddaway (Lacrosse Australia)
e-mail: graemereddas@optusnet.com.au

* Co-Chair Merger Committee

US Lacrosse, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the national governing body for men's and women's lacrosse. To learn more about the organization, please visit www.uslacrosse.org.

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