TRANSNATIONAL LACROSSE CONFERENCE 2014

CONFERENCE THEME - THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX
Hosted by the Centre for the Study of Sport and Health at Saint Mary’s University
October 2nd - 4th 2014 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Lacrosse in Historical and Contemporary Perspective - Who should attend?

• Academic researchers
• Sport
• Kinesiology
• Management
• History
• Sociology
• Psychology
• Scholars interested in Indigenous sport
• Any other disciplines are welcome…
• Lacrosse experts and historians
• Lacrosse enthusiasts and advocates

PLAY IT – STUDY IT – LOVE IT
OUR OPENING ANCHOR EVENT
PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP GAMES

Breaking tradition of anchoring the event with a guest speaker, the Saint Mary’s University Lacrosse Team will be hosting an exhibition game with lacrosse team members of the Haudenosaunee and Mi'kmaq Nation, and local clubs in the spirit of peace and friendship. Other conference events include a storytelling reception with members of the Iroquois National Team and a Mi’kmaq Feast at the closing banquet.
www.smu.ca/campus-life/centre-for-the-study-of-sport-and-health.html
Youth are invited to participate in a skills competition camp and a try lacrosse session.
Lacrosse enthusiasts will have a chance to pick up lacrosse sticks and toss the ball around with players.
Lacrosse experts will host coaching clinics to showcase the breadth of lacrosse in both field and box games. These activities promote the inclusion of youth to elders in all aspects of the game of Lacrosse. Ideas for panels from practitioners, heritage organizations and the academic community are welcomed as well.

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX
Lacrosse in Historical and Contemporary Perspective

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact:
Heidi Weigand
Director Community Relations and Research
Centre for the Study of Sport and Health
Saint Mary’s University
920 Tower Rd, Suite 202
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 2Y4
Office (902) 491-6456
Fax (902) 420-5844
heidi.weigand@smu.ca

PROGRAM OVERVIEW
October 1st – Mi’kmaq Treaty Day in Nova Scotia
Thursday October 2nd

• Registration
• Peace and Friendship Anchor Games hosted by the SMU Lacrosse Team
• Storytelling reception with the Iroquois National Team Members
• Friday October 3rd
• Stick Making Cultural and Historical Panel Session
• Academic Paper Sessions
• Stick Making Course (all day event)
• Saturday October 4th
• Academic Paper Sessions
• What is the Future of Lacrosse Panel Session
• Mi’kmaq Feast – Closing Banquet

CALL FOR PAPERS
Submissions are invited for an international conference to discuss issues related to the game of lacrosse, its historical evolution and its place in contemporary culture. We are interested in papers that include lacrosse as a critical point in indigenous worldview and culture (both past and present); as a game appropriated, codified and played by Victorian amateurs; its flourishing at the community, collegiate and professional levels; its borderland and transnational development and relationship to the Olympic movement; the growth of women’s lacrosse, notably in Britain; the development of box lacrosse as an alternative to field lacrosse; the close connection between lacrosse and hockey; and its growing popularity at the present. In addition, the conference will address the re-appropriation of the game in the modern era by indigenous peoples and to movements for social emancipation and national recognition. In this regard we also invite global comparison with other indigenous sporting practices and the struggle for liberation.

Call for papers link: www.smu.ca/campus-life/events-and-conferences.html
Please send 200 word abstracts to CSSH@SMU.CA by February 15th, 2014
www.smu.ca/campus-life/centre-for-the-study-of-sport-and-health.html
Gerald Gloade, Mi’kmaq Artist, Millbrook First Nation

NS Coach Newsletter Vol 2(11) December, 2013

Volume: 2 Edition (11)

Posted: Monday, December 23^rd, 2013

All Newsletters available at www.laxcoachns.blogspot.ca

“If we can make things better, how cool is that!”

News: “Transnational Lacrosse Conference”

The lacrosse world is coming to Nova Scotia’s doorstep October 2^nd-4^th, 2014. The first call for papers has gone out to the world’s academic and lacrosse practitioner community to present at next October’s Transnational Lacrosse Conference to be held at Saint Mary’s University. Accompanying this event will be a number of opportunities for the lacrosse community and Nova Scotians at large to participate in the culture and game of lacrosse. See the attached PDF for more details or the “laxcoachns” blog.

News: “What’s Up?”

Are we thinking of lacrosse yet?

Did you know that MMLL club registration is about a month away and Exhibition Park camps will start as soon as December 28^th?

Yes, the lacrosse season is just around the corner, despite all that wintery weather and look what’s going on across Canada:

The pros are ready to go. This Saturday, the 28^th, the first NLL league games will be played and you should be able to watch at least one of them live on the Internet on The Lacrosse Network.

Out west, BC has just finished up its call for Provincial Head Coach applications and Alberta’s “Player Identification Camp” notice has already gone up for next April’s event: The second annual camp for novice age group players who are interested in representing Alberta at the 2015 Peewee Nationals. Now there’s some forward thinking.

More centrally, the Whitby Minor Lacrosse Association’s coach application deadline was December 15^th and will run interviews in late December. On the provincial side, Team Ontario head coaches have until January 31^st to get their applications in for February interviews. The road to the Founders Cup is a long one and a number of Ontario Jr. B teams are already practicing.

So what’s up in Nova Scotia? Well, provincial head coaches have been selected: Susan Batchilder, bantam girls; Craig Moore, midget girls; Julie Finck, Junior girls; Darrell Sampson, peewee boys; Mike Smeltzer, bantam boys; Ross Mackay, midget boys; Mark Anderson, Junior boys; Mitch Hannigan, U16 and Brendon Smithson, U19. And the first Pre-season Camps start December 28^th for the girls and Exhibition Park dates have been set for January 4^th and February 15^th (For more details, go to LNSS’s website).

On the box scene, do check with local MMLL clubs as many are running winter gym sessions and details can be found on their websites. For senior and masters players, Exhibition Park is again home to the winter program and the action has already started each Wednesday and will continue on until April.

So coaches, are you going to be ready for the 2014 season?

Technical Director’s “My 2 Cents”

Big month for the learning curve! Provincial head coaches were invited to a special Sport Nova Scotia seminar featuring head practitioners in the field of nutrition, sports psychology and strength and conditioning. From that session several key points jumped out for the up-coming season.

As coaches, we tend to cover the bases in regards to dealing with the performance elements of the game like the physical, technical and tactical points, but how about the mental? As Darren Kruisselbrink showed, “at the highest performance levels, it is mental preparation that can make the difference”. Mentally, players often get off-track during a game when their minds think about the past (what’s happened) or the future (what might happen) while their bodies are still in the present. At good reset method Darren suggested was the use of breathing techniques to calm and reset focus. Simply have players take a bring breath in, while drawing their shoulders up to their ears, then have them relax their shoulders and exhale.

On the nutrition front, Angela Dufour’s focus was on supplements, the good, the bad and the ugly (The latter of which you can find on the anti-doping website). A key take-home message was, do you know what your players are consuming? Are they taking supplements that are appropriate for their age-group? And who is recommending or guiding what they take?

On the fitness and conditioning side, Scott Willgress’ talking point was planning for recovery: “Training bad, recovery good”. In essence, a player’s fitness declines during training and advances during recovery periods: To a point where it will surpass the previous baseline fitness level if sufficient recovery is provided.

Plotting out fitness and training regimes with regular season games and playoff/National schedules will help planning recovery periods, but Scott also stressed the use of fatigue monitoring tests and recovery techniques. In regards to monitoring players, something as simple as jump tests and/or a 10m dash can indicate whether an athlete’s performance is faltering. On the recovery side, hydrotherapy (i.e. sitting in a tub or bucket of cool water 12-15oC) is an excellent post-game recovery practice, particularly during multi-game events like Nationals.

Caches, I hope you have a great holiday and are refreshed and raring to go, as by the time of the next newsletter, we’ll be well into the build-up of the 2014 season.

News: “Next Month”

Keep track of up-coming events on LNSS’s website newslider and calendar.

• Pre-Season Camps, Starting Dec. 28^th, See LNSS website
• Senior Winter Lacrosse, January 8^th, Facebook, “Maritime Senior Mens’ Lacrosse”
• Masters Winter Lacrosse, January 8^th, Facebook, “Maritime Masters Lacrosse”
• Prov Head Coach Meeting, January 7^th, Sport NS, 7-9pm

“Players should expect the best - We can deliver”

* * *