Just in the nick of time.

I keep thinking to myself that we made the decision to visit our lacrosse programs in Malaysia during the winter months. I will, however, refrain from saying the “perfect time” due to the current situation that we are facing. From February 9th to the 24th, we spent two weeks with the programs from SMK Mat Salleh, SMK Bintulu. and SMK Ranau.

Our visit encompassed a pulse check of the lacrosse programs along with an introduction of Rachel Frantz - our new Program Director for Malaysia Programs. Rachel comes to us as a longtime player and coach at multiple levels including most recently Chapman University in California, and ETA (English Teaching Assistant) at SMK Bintulu in 2018 where she started our most recent program at the largest middle-high level school in Sarawak with 4000+ students.

Per the usual visit - our students and community welcomed us with open arms and hosted us to two weeks of lacrosse, engagement, and community. Our first week was spent visiting and assessing the progress with our school based teams in Ranau, Malaysia, just located north of the mainland city of Kota Kinabalu in the state of Sabah. It was a pleasure to discuss strategy and long-term goals with Mr. Norbert of SMK Mat Salleh and Ms. Suri of SMK Ranau. We focused on a number of different initiatives with our students, with the foremost being involvement with the state sports governing body and the popularity of lacrosse. While in Ranau, through PE classes and morning class sessions we were able to introduce the sport of lacrosse to roughly 240 students. This demographic didn’t include the number of Form 5 and 6 students who have been involved with the school programs since its inception in 2017.

Our next week was directed towards the students of SMK Bintulu in Bintulu, Malaysia. Under the tutelage of Rachel Franz, the students and staff thrived during our week long lacrosse program. Building off of the existing program infrastructure, including the introduction of our newest junior coaches, Lo and Claudia (students who graduated as Form 6 in 2017); we were able to hold roughly 25 hours of practice and scrimmage time with current and former students. It was clear to see the obvious and glaring opportunity of talent presented with the students of SMK Bintulu and the resources available. This thought proceeded the notion of making a Malaysia Women’s National Lacrosse Team bid in the near future.

Never have I been so intrigued and excited to look towards the future of KLTW and our student led programs. I caution myself when thinking about our future considering the current landscape of our world. Although it didn’t feel like it at the time in February, March has presented businesses and organizations in the United States (where Kids Lacrosse The World is located and headquartered) a unique challenge. Covid-19 is a serious pandemic, and we must respond accordingly. Our first focus has been ensuring the safety of our students in Malaysia and Kenya, along with the staff here in the United Sates. Second, has been to put in place procedures and measures to ensure we are comply with WHO (world health organization) recommendations for operations for internationally based organizations. For this, we have put a hold on any future lacrosse service trips or visits from coaches here in the United States for this summer and the foreseeable future.

I am confidence we will get through this pandemic as we come together as a society. In a time of need and precaution, we must do our part to protect and ensure our safety of our students and staff. I look forward to when we can visit out student athletes again, and begin building on the success of our programs and students. For now, we are working closely without students and school leaders through social media and direct email communication to monitor, and advise lacrosse programs.