Jamaica lacrosse making history at the PALA Sixes Cup
The game is on at the Pan-American Lacrosse Association’s (PALA) Sixes Cup which is being hosted in Kingston by the Jamaica Lacrosse Association (JLA) in partnership with the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA).
Kudos to the JLA and JOA in creating history as it is the first time that the prestigious cup is being staged in Jamaica which is becoming a favourite venue for Olympic events. Male and female teams from the Caribbean and the Americas are doing battle at the Mico University College in friendly rivalry for top honours in the regional tournament.
JLA President Calbert Hutchinson leads a team of professional executives in his association “who are eager to make Jamaica ‘Lacrosse land’ where skills in the sport from accross the globe are showcased in friendly competition and in an expression of unity”, he said.
The sport will make its debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games and JOA President Christopher Samuda is expressing confidence in Jamaica’s chances in making it to the big stage. “We joined the advocacy for lacrosse to be an Olympic sport for it was deserving and we know from a Jamaican perspective that visionary leadership, quality talent and a measured appetite for success reside in the JLA and that trilogy is a recipe for the main course on the podium.”
The sport in the last five years has made tremendous strides locally with a myriad of tournaments and coaching clinics and JOA Secretary General and CEO Ryan Foster believes that it is going in the right direction.
“Lacrosse’s forward movement is not only predictable but guaranteed for a sport the infrastructure of which is well-estsblished in the secondary school system, and very soon that efficiency will be replicated at the primary and tertiary levels” he said.
The tournament has attracted not only players and coaches but many fans as the JOA and JLA demonstrate their commitment in building a sport tourism industry.