This year, US Lacrosse released its updated strategic plan for the next five years. One area of strategic concentration focuses on "creating and expanding opportunities by minimizing barriers to participation in the sport." The plan notes that "lacrosse is too often perceived as an elitist sport limited to Northeastern prep schools." US Lacrosse’s goal is to correct this perception by providing accurate information on lacrosse participation and developing programs to ensure that the sport is accessible to all.

"In order to begin to truly define diversity and understand the current barriers that are preventing the growth and diversification of our game, it was essential to assemble this geographic, racial and gender diverse group of sport and lacrosse leaders," said Joshua Christian, US Lacrosse’s managing director of programs and services.

Several youth coaches and program administrators, Division I men’s and women’s college coaches, men’s and women’s high school coaches, professional lacrosse players and administrators, college professors and US Lacrosse committee members, all of diverse race and gender, contributed to the summit. "The diversity around the table was an example of the diversity in the game at all levels that US Lacrosse is striving for," said Christian.

Tina Sloan Green, the first African-American head women’s lacrosse coach, founder of the Black Women in Sports Foundation, and 1997 National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee, said she attended because "lacrosse has afforded me, an African-American woman, many wonderful opportunities: travel, relationships, employment and recognition. I felt the summit was one way to give back. I felt that my input and experiences in such a forum might influence the next generation of lacrosse players."

At first glance, Jon Butler, executive director of Pop Warner Football, might seem like the odd man out at this lacrosse gathering, but his experience with promoting football to diverse areas made him an obvious choice for a contributing attendee.

"I attended in hopes that I could share what we've done, and continue to do, in Pop Warner, where approximately 30 percent of our local Associations are in economically challenged areas.  From the perspective of lacrosse, as a ‘non-lacrosse’ person, I think that it's important to look forward and to deal head-on with challenges."

Acknowledging the limits of resources and personnel, to provide the needed focus, as a group, the summit participants were asked to identify and rank their top strategic issues as key to the US Lacrosse’s future diversity efforts. These included:

• Develop a single definition of diversity and an accompanying mission statement for USL to be used with Board, USL staff, programs and strategic partners.

• Insure the planned growth of lacrosse in diverse communities by the recruitment, retention and training of coaches/officials and program administrators who have direct access to those communities with a focus on introducing lacrosse in urban communities, schools, and recreation departments.

• Spearhead the development and support of a critical mass of credible leaders/ambassadors of color to be utilized as spokespersons in the diversity initiative and help connect them to communities and organizations throughout all levels of the sport.

In addition, in order to achieve success in the identified critical areas, the following elements must be included in all of US Lacrosse’s efforts:

• Establish clear and achievable metrics that help define what it means to be diverse and measure success.

• Establish marketing and public relation efforts aimed at dispelling widely held myths about the sport and the culture of the sport.

Currently, US Lacrosse has several programs geared toward reaching underserved populations and communities. One program is the Fast Break Initiative. Each year, Fast Break targets an area which has a limited amount of lacrosse being played, but displays strong enthusiasm for the sport and a willingness to learn and work with US Lacrosse to grow the game responsibly. US Lacrosse will infuse the sport into that area with educational player clinics, coaches’ clinics, officials’ clinics, live demonstrations, sportsmanship programming, and equipment demonstrations.

Another program US Lacrosse offers is BRIDGE – Building Relationships to Initiate Diversity, Growth and Enrichment. BRIDGE affiliates provide integrated lacrosse instruction and life skills enrichment to youth from diverse and traditionally underserved populations.

Johanna Thomashefski, director and co-founder of Lacrosse for LIFE (Leadership, Integrity, Friendship & Education), and chair of the BRIDGE committee for the US Lacrosse Youth Council, was in attendance at the Diversity Summit.

"Lacrosse for LIFE was founded from a simple desire to share our love of lacrosse with children of color in underserved communities in San Francisco," said Thomashefski. "In looking at the rapidly growing lacrosse community in the Bay Area, it was clear that growth would not include a diverse population by happenstance and that it was very important to work to provide the option for participation where it did not exist.  By using lacrosse as a ‘hook,’ we are able to reach potentially at-risk children and give them an alternative to negative life choices through our LIFE curriculum. The growth of the game is not our specific mission; growth in diverse participation is.

The summit also revealed that with the appropriate approach, that these diverse communities provide a welcome opportunity to market membership, resources, equipment, and playing opportunities." Green said that African Americans communities can be better reached for membership and sale of equipment and clothing. "It has been shown that African-Americans will buy apparel and lacrosse gear if it is marketed in the community by people who look like them. Diversity opens up an untapped commercial market."

It is in US Lacrosse’s strategic mission to create a targeted marketing campaign to organizations and group within underserved communities.

Kyle Harrison, current U.S. Men’s National Team member and professional lacrosse player, said he embraces the role as one of the prominent African-American players in the sport.

"I love being able to travel around the country and promote the great game of lacrosse and promote diversity in the sport," said Harrison. "Everyone is trying to do their part to promote diversity within our sport. I know a lot of my professional buddies have their own companies promoting diversity and growing the game of lacrosse, and it's great. However, maybe if we come together as one unified body and really push this thing hard with everyone working together, we would see more progress." Harrison added, "I think lacrosse needs to look to all of its players to promote diversity in lacrosse."

While there is no denying that there are few non-white coaches or administrators at the top levels, Stony Brook University men’s head coach Rickey Sowell notes that "Coaching by nature is a position of leadership and being a role model. Being African-American gives me another way in which I can have influence in a young man's life. This is something I take very serious."

The diversity summit discussed ways to develop identifiable persons at the grassroots and community levels. "The fact that these issues are even being talked about is a plus," said Harrison. "Diversity goes a whole lot deeper then black and white, and male and female, and I think for the first time we're actually starting to scratch that surface."

The summit covered a large number of topics and US Lacrosse did come away with a greater understanding regarding a vision, a mission, and a plan.

"We cannot solve the challenges of a multi-racial, multi-social society, but can use lacrosse as a vehicle to promote the message of cultural acceptance," Christian concluded. "US Lacrosse remains positive and moving forward with implementation of a dedicated committee on diversity in 2008."

US Lacrosse, a 501(c)(3) corporation, is the national governing body for men’s and women’s lacrosse. US Lacrosse has more than 200,000 members around the country.