Lacrosse is dubbed “the fastest game on two feet” as we all know. Well it seems to be the “fastest growing” sport on two feet lately. With our sport popping up all over the world lately you’re likely to be able to find some lax anywhere you go in the next few year (our fingers are crossed). Uganda is the latest country to hit the mainstream and everyone is talking about it. From their very informative website (www.ugandalacrosse.com), to facebook groups dedicated to them, to the biggest news of all with becoming the 40th country to enlist for the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) accreditation…their on their way to making a name for themselves in the sport.
The sport was introduced in Uganda in 2010 and has been rapidly gaining success ever since. “Fields of Growth, a non profit based organization in the United States has partnered with Makerere University Business School to bring the game of lacrosse to the MUBS sports program.” – Uganda Lax Website.
“Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the USA right now,” said Kevin Dugan, Fields of Growth Founder. “Lacrosse players are passionate about the game and are missionaries for the sport, we love taking the game to new places and sharing our love for the game with others.”
The partnership with MUBS is particularly exciting to university students in Uganda because of the fast paced upbeat tempo of the sport. Lacrosse combines the positions and pitch size of football (soccer,) the strategy of basketball and the contact and camaraderie of rugby.
Fields of Growth founder, Kevin Dugan and MUBS lecturer Maurice Sserunkuma
(Above) Fields of Growth founder, Kevin Dugan and MUBS lecturer Maurice Sserunkuma at IAABD Conference at Speke Resort. Dugan and Sserunkuma met at this conference on African Business Development and have stayed good friends ever since. It was at this conference where Dugan developed the idea of meshing his passion for lacrosse with emerging market business development.
“I’m specifically excited to start the new game at MUBS. The lacrosse community in the USA has very strong business connections and most lacrosse players tend to study business,” says Dugan who worked for Merrill Lynch on Wall Street before getting into coaching college lacrosse in the USA. Dugan studied finance at Notre Dame and has an MBA from Wheeling Jesuit University. “We don’t just want to start lacrosse at MUBS, we want to help promote interactions and relationships between the students that play lacrosse at MUBS with business school students playing lacrosse in the USA.”
Dugan with the Notre Dame Lacrosse Team on a Business Networking Trip to New York City.
After starting lacrosse at MUBS, Dugan believes he will be able to attract many American business students and lacrosse players to come over in the summer to collaborate on business development projects while coaching and playing lacrosse. He also believes a study abroad program could also be created for American lacrosse players that want to study, coach and earn credits while spending a semester in Uganda. “Fields of Growth has several goals we are striving for with the introduction of a serious lacrosse program in Uganda. I believe we can develop a competitive national team here in Uganda, in fact a dream of mine would be to see Uganda playing in the World Championships in the USA in 2014, but even more important then that, is the relationships and friendships that can be developed between American and Ugandan students in the process. I think that could have an incredible benefit in the development and cultivation of globally minded young business leaders in Uganda and here in the USA.”