Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. Players use the head of the lacrosse stick to carry, pass, catch, and shoot the ball into the goal. Photo: Facebook

Currently in the state of California, USA, building teams and athletes in a sport seeking re-entry to the Olympic arena, Virgin Islands-born Shane Winter Jr says he is currently working out logistics for the holding of summer camps in the territory this year to introduce local youngsters to lacrosse. Photo: Facebook

Winter, who is set to represent the sister territory US Virgin Islands (USVI) at a prestigious tournament later this year, said he is very close to realising his dream of introducing the sport to VI youths. Photo: Facebook

Winter Jr, who is set to represent the sister territory US Virgin Islands (USVI) at a prestigious tournament later this year, said he is very close to realising his dream of introducing the sport to VI youths.

"It's a hope, a goal of mine, to be able to get kids to be able to just have the stick in their hand and be able to play at a high level," Winter stated, adding that "the goal is to be there [in the VI] by the end of this summer to run at least a week or two of a clinic or camp and just get sticks and gloves and helmets over to Tortola and be able to do some kind of introduction stuff. "

Winter opined that the prospects are very high for starting the sport here in the Virgin Islands, as it is something that he has a strong will for.

"A couple of things we really worry about in any sports is, yes let's say I get down there, we run a couple of clinics.

"It's very important for me to be involved in the growth of the sport as a totality with the US Virgin Islands and other neighbouring countries so that eventually the goal would be for us to have a team in the British Virgin Islands to actually be able to produce some great talent."

Giving back

Winter said he has been grateful for the opportunity that the sport of lacrosse has afforded him, including being able to travel all over the United States to play against "great teams", and "to be able to give that opportunity to kids that are looking for something is kind of different from anything else, that's my whole goal, to be able to see more people from Tortola, from Saint Thomas, from everywhere in the Caribbean, to be able to see people from the Caribbean playing lacrosse at a high level and there is no doubt that there are athletes all over the Caribbean who can potentially be talented, gifted in the sport the same way I was."

Winter Jr is encouraging Physical Education (PE) teachers and students to explore the sport by surfing the Internet, especially YouTube, to increase their knowledge about the sport in order to decide if it is something they would be interested in.

He said he would be willing to train PE teachers.

What is Lacrosse?

Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. Players use the head of the lacrosse stick to carry, pass, catch, and shoot the ball into the goal.

Field lacrosse was a medal sport in the 1904 and the 1908 Summer Olympics.

According to Wikipedia, an obstacle for lacrosse to return to the Olympics is insufficient international participation. To be considered for the Olympics, a sport must be played on four continents and by at least 75 countries. Lacrosse is played on all six continents, but as of August 2019 when Ghana joined, there are only 63 countries playing the sport.