Wageningen Warriors Renske Schouwink (left) and Idske Vermeer are on the Dutch box lacrosse team. Photo Resource WUR student Renske Schouwink and alumnus Idske Vermeer, both members of the student lacrosse club Wageningen Warriors, are off to the box lacrosse world championships later this month. A first for the Dutch women. Resource looked them up at one of their last training sessions in the Netherlands.
Besides their orange sportswear, Renske Schouwink and Idske Vermeer fish a wide range of protective gear out of their bags. Schouwink: ‘This is to protect your ribs and kidneys. Then we have a breastplate and pads for the elbows, shoulders and biceps. And gloves and a helmet of course.’ Clearly this sport is not for wimps.
Source of inspiration
Box lacrosse is certainly a lot more physical than field lacrosse, the two Warriors explain. ‘We’re allowed to push our opponents, for instance, and hit each other’s sticks harder. Because we wear more protective clothing, we can play more fanatically. That makes the game faster and more tactical than other kinds of lacrosse,’ says Vermeer. Their pitch is like an ice hockey pitch without the ice. ‘But it does have the same boarding, so we can trap our opponents,’ adds Schouwink with a laugh. The goalie wears a lot of protective gear, and the goal is relatively small. Schouwink: ‘And because the goalie wears so many layers, the chances of scoring – in an already small goal – are limited.’
‘Five years ago, some of the men in the Warriors went to the box lacrosse World Championships in Canada,’ says Vermeer, who was a Master’s student of International Land and Water Management at the time. ‘When a group of girls was chatting in the Sports Pub at the Bongerd after that tournament, the idea of making it a project to get some women there came up.’
Dutch team
They sought advice from the men and worked hard. A couple of years later, Schouwink joined the team. ‘I’ve only been playing lacrosse for three years. I went to a box lacrosse training session last summer and I liked it at once.’ Schouwink and Vermeer have been on the national team since January this year.
Schouwink: ‘Our team consists of 16 players who live in the Netherlands and another six from North America and Canada who have Dutch passports. We played with three of them recently in a match in Prague. We don’t know the other three yet. Once of our coaches lives in America and scouted for us.’
World Championships
A box lacrosse team consists of 20 players, only five of whom (plus the goalkeeper) are on the field at the same time. Schouwink: ‘We substitute frequently. You have to, because it’s a very intensive game.’ A box lacrosse match lasts for five periods of 15 minutes, with a timer called the shot clock running. No score in that time? Then the ball goes to the other side. Vermeer: ‘That makes it a nice game to watch. Things happen fast.’
In the forthcoming championships, the Dutch women’s team will first play in a pool phase and then throughout the tournament. Vermeer: ‘We’re not just playing for a place in the final or the runners-up final, the honours, but also for ninth and tenth places. You are not out of the running as soon as you lose the quarter finals, for instance.’ That means the women will play at least six matches.
Los Angeles
And are the ladies already thinking ahead to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where lacrosse will be on the programme for the first time in 120 years? Vermeer: ‘They will be playing Sixes there, which is yet another kind of lacrosse. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we see a few of our talented young Warriors there.’ She looks at Schouwink, who responds: ‘I’ll be 31 by then, which is past the ideal age for top sports. On the other hand, I’ve only been playing lacrosse for three years, so who knows how I could develop. As it happens, the selection for the Dutch sixes team started last weekend, but I’m skipping it for now. First let’s shine in these World Championships.’
The box lacrosse World Championships will be held in Utica, New York State in the US, from 20 to 29 September. The Dutch team will play their first match against the host country America on Friday 20 September at 16:00 hours local time (22:00 hours Dutch time).
