Juan de Fuca Lacrosse Association — Funding Request

To Langford City Council

On behalf of the JDF Lacrosse Association,

I am writing to submit our City of Langford Funding Request. We are a non-profit youth sports association that offers spring box and fall field lacrosse youth leagues for boys and girls 5-17 years old that live in the Westshore. Our association plays against teams from Saanich, Peninsula, Vic-Esquimalt, Cowichan, Nanaimo, Oceanside, Port Alberni, Comox and Campbell River. We practice and play games at Westshore Parks and Recreation facilities, Eagle Ridge Dry Floor Arena, Belmont Box at John Stubbs School and Royal Bay High School turf field. We had 330 registered players for our 2023 Spring Box Lacrosse league, and 220 currently registered players for our Fall field lacrosse league. Our volunteer coaches and managers average 75+ hours per season direct contact with youth of the Westshore. Our organization is dedicated to promoting and developing the sport of lacrosse in the community, providing valuable recreational opportunities for youth and fostering a sense of teamwork, discipline, and sportsmanship.

These local youth are learning to love the game of lacrosse, work as a team, and refine their skills. Our box lacrosse season runs from April through June, and field lacrosse runs from September-February. The entire association of executive members and coaches are all volunteers, giving back to this beautiful community. We are requesting funding from the city of Langford to help offset some of the costs of operations not paid for by registration fees. We amalgamated our box lacrosse and field lacrosse associations in February 2022, and unfortunately due to volunteer paperwork error, we lost out on our regular $30,000+ BC Gaming grant that would fund our 2023 box and field lacrosse seasons. These funds typically pay for extras within the association such as coaches and referee training, goalie gear replacement, year-end player awards, jersey damage replacements that are loaned out to players every season then returned, and hosting try lacrosse for free community events. We are currently owing Westshore Parks and Recreation facility rental fees from the summer of 2023 ($37,932.06), with a budget plan moving ahead that would cut out some of the extras we used to provide for the next 2 years.

With our finance plan moving forward, we have increased registration fees to our membership on average $60 per player for the next 2 years that will get us back on track. We have also filled every position on our executive board (for the first time since 2020 when covid took a toll on our volunteers), with dedicated volunteers that will monitor our finances and all grants more closely. We are very grateful for the funding received from the City of Langford last year towards jerseys that are loaned to players each season. As our association continues to grow, we have costs for this upcoming season that are not covered by player registration: additional jerseys, goal tender gear that is loaned out to every team, player awards and referee/coaches training. We need to purchase more jerseys this season to cover all of our players (approximately $2000 needed). We provide goal tender gear for each of our teams (21 teams last year and growing this year), some pieces are showing wear and tear being over 5 years old, and as a safety precaution needs to be replaced to protect our youth players. This year we need to buy 5 sets of gear:

5 goalie sticks
5 chest protectors
5 pairs of leg pads
5 protective pants
5 gear s to store the equipment in
(Approx $500 per set = $2500).

Our association covers costs of 73 player awards ($876): Each team (in both box and field lacrosse) receives awards for most improved, most inspirational and most dedicated. We also cover all fees for all certified mandatory referee training ($4500 per calendar year) and volunteer coaching training ($5000 per calendar year).

Funding Request

We are requesting a larger amount this year of $10,000 to help offset these costs, which would allow us to continue to provide a high-caliber youth sports league and help us pay off our debt to WSPR faster, while minimizing the direct effect of increasing costs to player’s families. Last year we requested $2500 and gratefully received $2000 towards the cost of additional jerseys to outfit our growing number of registrants.

Association Mandate and Development

Our association’s mandate is to include all youth in our catchment area; to teach the skills and the rules of lacrosse. We pride ourselves in bringing local youth together; fostering the love for Canada’s National Summer sport (the fastest game on two feet), promoting the benefits of physical activity, helping them make friends and teaching life-long teamwork skills. We are an inclusive association and respect all aspects of diversity. We are currently making great efforts to grow the game of female only box and field lacrosse too, in 2023 training 17 new coaches this year and 9 referees for the female specific rules (costs to our association was $2600). We have also seen a significant gain in registrations for female teams as well. Last year we had 14 players, this year we had 38. That’s 171% increase this year! We have many passionate volunteers that lead try lacrosse for free events for female teams, and we hope to increase the frequency of these events to expose our reach to as many girls in the Westshore possible.

Community Benefit

We feel that the City of Langford would also benefit from the community goodwill generated by your kind donation to our association. We have a very active website and social media pages, as well as digital newsletters that are distributed to all SD 62 schools. We would be very grateful for any donation and would thank the City of Langford on these platforms. We believe that supporting the Juan de Fuca Lacrosse Association aligns with the City of Langford's commitment to promoting healthy and active lifestyles for its residents, particularly the youth. Lacrosse not only provides physical activity but also instills important life skills such as teamwork, leadership, and discipline.

Please let me know if you have any questions or require any further information.

Sincerely,
Jessica Lejeune
Secretary & Marketing Director | JDF Lacrosse

Key facts