NLLL 2013

Up in the city of Luleå (or at least right outside the city) the NLLL was held this weekend. The women had a two day training camp and the men had a four team tournament. For a while it was a close call if I (and many with me) were even going to make it as weather conditions throughout Sweden made the airlines cancel a lot of flights and the remaining were almost all delayed. Some players didn't make it the same day. I managed to get there with a 45 minute delay.

I had the honor of being the Referee in Chief for this tournament. We were two full-time referees and had a schedule for all participating teams to provide referees and time keepers. Seven (out of eight) games each for the full-time referees and some players did up to three games refereeing.

None of the referees from the teams had gone through the formal international beginners training, but some of them were approved Swedish referees. In the end we had referees who were confident in themselves as referees and we had players who pretty much refereed their first game ever. In all games there were at least one full-time referee and in most two.

The result? Much better than expected!

Why? Many different reasons.

• In all games we had three on-field referees and one CBO. We decided to stick with three on-field referees even though the field was small. This made it possible to get the positioning right also for the beginner referees and all angles were covered, which made it easier to see all that we needed to see.
• All players (and I really do mean all players) realized the reality of where we are with the Swedish referees today. There were almost no complaints towards our referees. There was not a single player being sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct against the referees. 
• It seemed like even the most inexperienced referees just were caught up in the moment and gave their best performance given the circumstances. 

Anything still missing? In Sweden we are almost only two full-time referees. We need more! At the same time the current Swedish refereeing program is only one year old. We will improve! It will get better!

Thank you all participants and organizers for a great lacrosse weekend. Do make sure you invite me next year!

Lacrosse near the arctic circle

This evening I will be travelling around 900 km north to the city of Luleå to be the RIC for the NLLL 2013. It is great to be back into refereeing again. If you get a chance to do some lacrosse in December in Sweden you really have to take the opportunity.

My mind started going for a while. How far north is actually lacrosse being played? Is StiL Lacrosse (the team in Luleå) perhaps the northernmost Lacrosse club in the world? With less than 150 km to the arctic circle it shouldn't bee too strange. First of all there are not too many countries that have land above the arctic circle (eight if you count all land territories). A quick check of the homepages of of our neighboring countries´ home pages reveals that neither Norway or Finland has any team more northern than Luleå (although Finland has one pretty close).

The most likely though would be to look in Canada or USA, but there it was harder to find a complete team list. Although after a quick search I found the following and the story was more interesting than just finding a lacrosse club far north. I think it deserves to be told. Enjoy!




So Luleå can not claim to be the northernmost lacrosse team. Kugluktuk lies about as far north as the Swedish city of Kiruna, but maybe NLLL is the northernmost lacrosse torunament.

The World Championship is over

I am sitting on a train going from Canada into USA. I wanted to have a couple of days before I thought of what we actually gave accomplished in the World Championship. For those who have followed my blog this far knows that Sweden did not win any match, leaving us in the 19th spot. At this time I would however like to look at our World Championship in a more positive way. When I think about what we have achieved it must be positive. Why?
In our team we have ten players that played in the national team for the first time. This despite that our last major event was the European Championship just one year ago. This means that a majority of our players had never played with each other before we set out on this journey. Still in the eight games we played, we scored 36 goals, that is an average of 4,5 goals per game counting all games. The first goal ever to be scored by Sweden in a World Championship was made by Anneli Jonsson. That goal was scored in the game against Haudenosaunee. I repeat, it was scored against Haudenosaunee, the originators of the game. That first goal moment is not coming back.
Our goalie, Pernilla Malmgren has only played as a lacrosse goalie during this year. That is right, last year there was no thought in her mind that she was playing as a lacrosse goalie even in her club team. Yet she made save after save and although not all games went her way, she improved a lot over the tournament. I tried to look at some statistics, but not all games were available. In the ones I did find she made more than 10 saves in every game.
Talking about improvement, I dare to say that all of our players improved a lot even though it was more noticable four our newer players. They will all bring that back home and spread their knowledge to their respective teams. That is what is all about in the end. Bringing the knowledge back to home. Growing the game! With new strength we will do what we can to improve ourselves. That is what it is all about and looking back at the games that is what we will do. So even if we did end up in last place, the Swedish participation in the World Championship was a big success.
I read some Facebook posts earlier from some of the players who have returned home and started to think about their participation in the world championship. There is no sadness and no regret, there is only happiness and pride. I understand them. I am proud of being part of the Swedish national team of Lacrosse. I am proud of represent my country in a World Championship. Every team member make me proud, both the players and the staff. Thank you!

Last game of the tournament

Our last game was against Hong Kong. The fame started out with Hong Kong doing more of the offense and finding holes in the Swedish defense and we were quickly down to 0 - 5. Our offensive play started to improve and soon we had caught up to 2- 5. Sweden was playing the ball in offense when lightning struck nearby and play was interrupted with about 13 minutes to go in the first half. The game was moved indoors and resumed with a quick goal from Sweden. Unfortunately that is as close as we got. Hong Kong started to score the goals and even though our players fought until the end of the game we had to see ourselves beaten.

On the way back we shared bus with Ireland who had their game cancelled. Thanks for helping us keeping our spirits high helping us to remind ourselves what we have achieved in our first World Championship. More on that later....

Last chance for a victory

I have unfortunately missed two of our games due to team matters. We lost our last group game against Hong Kong. After getting reseeded in the lower tier group playing for places 16 - 19 with South Korea, Latvia and Hong Kong. The first game against South Korea yesterday was also lost.
Today we played against Latvia. In the first half both teams made mistakes but Latvia started off by winning more draws and more ground balls than Sweden. It took a while before we had a good attack, but still no goals and Pernilla did what she could in the goal. Latvia came out as the stronger team leading 6 - 0 in half time.
In the second half Sweden's play improved and finally there were some goals. We worked our way into the match. Sweden was the stronger team in the second half, but it was not enough to catch up with Latvia. End result Sweden - Latvia 6 - 10.
Tomorrow Sweden is playing in Hong Kong in the last game for both teams in these World Championship. One last chance to make sure we are not the only team without a win.

Half way through the World Championships

Last Sunday we had an evening game against Japan. I was unable to see all of it myself but I have understood from the team and Eric, our physio in particular, that the team improved in the defense along the match and only let 8 goals in. Japan have impressed many with their group play and have won easily against all of their opponents, so a strong effort from the Swedish team.
Yesterday was the team resting day with no games and we went to Niagara Falls. For many of us it is the first trip to Canada and going to Niagara Falls was spectacular. Many happy faces in the team as we went back.
The last group game is at 16:30 today against Hong Kong. We are battling to avoid the last place in the group. After the group play, Sweden will play in one of two groups for the 13th to 19th place.

Third straight loss

It was yet another loss for us today. Sweden went out as the stronger team and for the first 20 minutes Austria barely made it to their offensive half. Sweden played well and diciplined and whenever we lost the ball on offense, we got it back quickly. The goals kept on coming an Sweden was in the lead 4 - 0. When Austria went up in offense they still could not overcome the final obstacle, Pernilla in the Swedish goal. She made save after save until eventually Austria scored their first goal after a little over 20 minutes.

At that point the game turned around. Austria stepped up while Sweden fell behind. The secureness in play was now gone and Austria started to score goal after goal until they had taken the lead with 5 - 4 only a few seconds before half time.

Unfortunately the second half did not continue any better than the end of the first and Sweden never got back into the game. Final score Sweden - Austria 5 - 12.

Tomorrow evening Sweden will play against Japan, a game expected to be much tougher for us.

Loss against Finland

The second day at the World Champions was also a tough day for Sweden. Finland started off as the better team and quickly scored the first goals. Sweden managed to score a few as well and by half time Finland was up only by four goals. The defense play was ok, but Sweden did not manage to hold the ball for long in attack. Finland won more ground balls and more draws than Sweden.

In the second half Sweden did not get into the game and Finland scored a couple of goals quickly. In the end there was many Swedish players that improved individually, but as a team Sweden did not get into the game. End result 11 - 4.

Tomorrow Sweden will be playing Austria, who lost 23 - 2 against Japan.

Tough first game day at the World Championship

The first game day for Sweden was a tough one. It was somewhat expected when a team like Sweden, in their first World Championship, went up against a team like Haudenosaunee.

In the beginning Swedish defenses where not holding up and Haudenosaunee came through quite easy and scored goal after goal without Sweden having much posession at all. After eight goals and thirteen played minutes, the Swedish coaches took a time out. A talkthrough with the coach seems to be just what the Swedish needed because with renewed strength and after a good run by Anneli Jonsson, she ended up in a good shooting position. This was an opportunity she could not miss an Anneli was the first scorer ever for Sweden in a World Championship.

The goal was followed by a couple of minutes with Sweden in offense, but unfortunately no goals. Instead Haudenosaunee did a few quick goals and Sweden fell even further behind. Score after the first half was 17 - 1.

Haudenosaunee kept on wearing the Swedish team down in the second half and one more shot at goal was as close Sweden got to score one more goal. It was only in the last thirteen minutes when Haudenosaunee changed their plays that it calmed down. Only two goals scored by Haudenosaunee in tjose last thirteen minutes. Final score 28 - 1. Total number of shots 43 - 2.

Tomorrow at the same time Sweden will play Finland, a game expected to be much more even.

Opening ceremomies

A calm day to start with before it was time to go to the opening ceremony. In the morning there was a coaches and managers meeting at the same time as the rest of the team had a playful practise. When the coaches/managers meeting was done our physio took over in the physio meeting.
In the afternoon all teams went to the venue for the opening ceremonies. After waiting for a while in the stands the organisers moved us into the sports hall (air conditioned; nice) followed by some more waiting. The team made the best of it and got pictures together with other teams.
The marching out to the stadium was done team by team in alphabetical order with Haudenosaunee first and Canada last. We marched out right behind Scotland and before USA. The Haudenosaunee started off with traditional dances and then all teams marched in. In the ens of the march all team members mixed with other teams as much as possible.
The traditional speeches was followed by the Canadian national anthem. After the ceremonies we had a chance to do a photo with Haudenosaunee, who we also we are facing in our first game.

Official practise day

One full day of practise games. Sweden was the first team out together with Ireland, which means we've done almost everything today with them. After arrival the first item of the day was the official team photo.
The practise game was next (with the warmup). Shorter game than usual. 2*20 minutes with a running clock shortens the game with a lot. Ireland started off much better than us. They got through our defenses too easy and we did not have the ball on the offensive side nearly enough. Ireland in the lead 6 - 0 in half time. Our coaches had a serious talk with the team and in the second half the Swedish team was playing much better. The end result was 9 - 1.
The game was followed by a tour of the facilities, which was the end of our practise day. The team divided itself into three groups. One group went to a lacrosse store, one group stayed to watch the practise game between Finland and Hong Kong (Finland won) and the rest went back.
I got into a small conversation with the manager of Israel, their team have their rooms in the same corridor as we do. They came in around three o' clock in the morning after being delayed six hours due to a storm in Toronto.
Right now the team is doing their afternoon practise.

First national team practise in Oshawa

We have arrived in Canada. The trip went fine, but it took a while to get everything with us from the airport. The bus ride was in a good old school bus. It was really pouring outside and without having the windows open, no air conditioning at all. After settling in we had some meetings and a good nights sleep.

Today we had the first practise. We went up right after Ireland, who we are playing tomorrow in a practise game. The team got a feel for having the entire team together and also what effects the humidity has. A lot of water needed for sure. A well spent hour of practise followed up by some time by the field to practise some more. Hong Kong and Finland, two of our scheduled opponents showed up after us on the practise field and we briefly saw USA as we left.

After lunch we had another meeting and now the team is out practising again.

Tomorrow on the official practise day, we have a practise game against Ireland.

Lacrosse on SVT

Did you watch the sport broadcast at SVT less than an hour ago? SVT did a report to highlight that the Swedish women are going to their first world championship ever. National team players Teckla Jackson and Natalie Aranda did a session for SVT.

We are currently working very hard in the last few steps before the team leaves for Canada and now it feels like we got an extra boost.

See the clip here: http://www.svtplay.se/klipp/1330411/redo-for-lacrosse-vm

Reflections about Berlin Open 2013

Many things where better than expected and some did not go as well as I would have hoped.

The women's team evolved a lot during the tournament. That was the best part. I wish I could have seen them more, but the referee schedule didn't allow me to. I really have no bad feelings about the opportunity to be a referee though and not about the schedule being extensive either. If I am to evolve as a referee, I need experience and that is hard to get without the games.

It was also extremely valuable to have the assessors by the fields, because they really pointed out many things that I had not understood during the referee camp.

Unfortunately we had one of the team in the hospital, but expecting a full recovery and we had one taken by airport security (to be released ten minutes later) so it is was eventful. Thanks for this year's Berlin Open!

The women's team is improving.

The second game yesterday was finally a victory for the Swedish Lax Mafia. They played very well against BLAX securing their first victory of the Berlin Open 2013.

In today's game against the Helsinki Chiefettes they started off worse and found themselves to be down 5 - 1. However after a strong recovery they managed to get even at 5 - 5,  which also was the end result.

In the battle of 9 - 12 place, the Swedish ladies had no losses and ended up in 9th place in total.

Second day of Berlin Open

Six games in my first day. Five of them on the field and five of them with assessors. Many learning experiences and good feedback. Almost 30 degrees out. The day started off with some nice breezes, but the afternoon was hot.
Started off easy on my second day with a CBO assignment. The second game was never played as pne of the teams never showed up. All men's round robin games are now complete and I am waiting for the assignment of referees for the quarter finals.
The women are struggling a bit. They lost all of their round robin games, one of them with only one goal. Then a tied game against the same team earlier today. Hope for the best as they are playing one more game today against the home team BLAX.

First game in Berlin

Did my first game of refereeing today in Berlin Open. I was an on-field referee with Babs and Alex. The really good part of the game was that there where two experienced assesors at the game. They gave me very valuable feedback about what I should think about in my coming games. Valuable feedback. My first game with assessors since the referee camp. Five more games coming up today, so there will be plenty of time for improvement.

The Swedish Championships in Swedish media

 Lacrosse in Sweden is not a big sport and the room in media we get is equally small. Whenever we do get into the media it warms us all as we are recognized. Here are two articles about the Swedish Championships of lacrosse.

Karlstad fyra i lacrosse-SM på hemmaplan | Värmlands Folkblad
Lacrosse drog nyfikna blickar till Klasmossen - nwt.se - Ditt Värmland, just nu!

Last day of the Swedish Championships 2013

Final day. Each team had one full time game each. I had two games of refereeing. I had the honor of being the head referee at both the Swedish Championship final and the bronze medal game.

To sum up. A great lacrosse-event took place in Karlstad. With 8 teams at location it was a big lacrosse gathering in Sweden. Thank you KAUIF for a great lacrosse weekend. For me personally it ended up being seven games of refereeing men's games and one and a half game as an umpire of the women's games. I was the only full-time referee at the championship but I hope we can be more in the future. I want to thank all my co-referees!

Finally: Congratulations Farsta for securing another title as Swedish Champions.

First day of Swedish championships

A long day of lacrosse. It started at 08.00 and kept on until around 17.15. Tomorrow the final games are played. The mens final will be played between Farsta and Sundbyberg. The third price game is played between Nordia and KAUIF and Luleå and the mix team will battle it out for 5th place. The womens game will be played between our two present womens team.
I was a referee in five mens games today and an umpire in one of the womens games. It has been good overall and a lot of experience. Looking forward to the final day tomorrow.

Charging for the Swedish Championship

Almost everybody has arrived in Karlstad. The Swedish Championship of Lacrosse has started with a meeting about Sweden Lacrosse. The first match will start at 8 tomorrow morning. In the meantime we are charging the batteries for tomorrow. The soccer game is on.

The official roster has been published

We ran into problems along the way and we had to switch some players out due to eligibility issues, but in the end we managed to fill the entire roster with both players and staff. This is the official national team of Sweden going to the Women's World Championship in Oshawa, Canada 2013:

00	Pernilla Malmgren	Goalie
1	Linnea Bengtsson	Midfield
2	Tove Björklund	Low Attack
3	Natalie Aranda	Low Attack
4	Kristin Jonsson	Low Attack
5	Lotta Kockum	Low Attack
6	Teckla Jackson	Midfield
7	Sara Sundström	Low Defense
8	Ebba Ovrén	Midfield
9	Cecilia Roos	Midfield
11	Helene Hollingworth	Low Defense
12	Anneli Jonsson	Midfield
13	Sara Ekstrand	Low Defense
14	Claire Karlsson	Attack
16	Anna-Klara Nilsson	Midfield
18	Hedvig von Beetzen	Midfield
19	Matilda Nilsson	Center
20	Emilia Norlin	Low Defense
	Daniel Svanström	General Manager
	Kaitlan Biondi	Head Coach
	Jillian Durgin	Coach
	Chelsea Wagner	Assistant Coach
	Eric Rylén	Physio
	Kathryn Bruha-Karlsson	Medical Officer
	Curt Kinney	Doer

We also have many people that has helped us in many ways with preparations before the championships. A big thanks to you all!

Three games in one day

Yesterday was a good Lacrosse day. Turku came over from Finland with both a men's and a women's team to play against Swedish teams. I had the opportunity to referee them all. First Nordia played Turku (men) on Kärrtorps IP. Apart from it being good practise for the teams it was also a big opportunity for us referees to get into our roles as referees better.

Rushing of to the second game at Enskede IP. The second game was a women's game between a mix of Swedish players and Turku. By the time I arrived the game had already started. This was a good game for me in many ways. First I had the opportunity to see some of the Swedish players going to the World Championships in July playing a game. I have seen many of them playing before some time ago but some players I saw in a game for the first time. Also it was my first game as a women's umpire ever. A bit shaky experience as I do not have the knowledge of all women's rules. Fortunately Diana was already there and had command of the entire game but appreciated a pair of extra eyes.

After the game ended, back to Kärrtorps IP for the third game. This time it was a men's game between Farsta and Turku. Somewhat calmer game for us as referees, but again good experience.

In the end I managed to sell some T-Shirts in favour for the women's national team.

National team players blogging

The national team players of the Swedish national team from the very north of Sweden have started their own blog. If you wish to follow their progress, here you go:
http://northlacrosse.blogg.se/

My own equipment

My order has arrived. I now have my own referee equipment. I am planning a lot of events in the the next few months. The first will be a practise game here in Sweden.

Swedish national team video

Support the Swedish national team of lacrosse in the upcoming World Championships in Oshawa, Canada. This is what it is about!

The Swedish Rugby Association wishes the Womens Lacrosse team all the best

Lacrosse is a minor sport in Sweden and the attention we get outside or own community is limited at best. We do try to get noticed in the media, but that requires some work on our part as well and our main focus is always to do our best developing our sport.

Having said that, the best news I received this morning is that another sports association, the Swedish Rugby Association, noticed the Swedish national team of Lacrosse and wished us all the best in going to the World Championships 2013.

I just want to say Thank You!

Link to the Rugby Association homepage (Swedish)

Going to be a referee in Berlin Open 2013

I have recently ended my "career" as a Lacrosse player. I realized the risk of long-term injuries got to big as I simply did not practise enough. So I decided to continue the contribution to the sport by becoming a Lacrosse referee.

I have already been a referee in quite a few games and even the RIC for some tournaments, but I have yet to receive my formal referee education (scheduled in April).

Berlin Open is one of the biggest club tournaments in Europe with 20 mens teams and 12 womens teams. I just got a spot as one of the referees of Berlin open 2013. Tickets are booked. Watch out Berlin, because I am coming back!

The Swedish National team is official

Head coach Kaitlan Biondi named the final Swedish national team of Lacrosse, going to the world champions in Oshawa, Canada in July 2013. I am very excited to see Sweden at the World Championships for the first time ever. I am also very excited to be part of it.

The team:
Kim Martin
Sara Ekstrand
Sara Sundström
Laura Mangan
Teckla Jackson
Natalie Aranda
Matilda Nilsson
Anneli Jonsson
Tove Björklund
Anna-Klara Nilsson
Linnea Bengtsson
Claire Karlsson
Celie Roos
Lottie Kockum
Kristin Jonsson
Helene Hollingworth
Ebba Ovrén
Peri West