Groningen and Enschede play lacrosse together
Two cities, one team
Door Lukas Wrangel
By Lukas Wrangel
Lukas Wrangel
The Gladiators walked into Saturday’s play-off game still unbeaten in the second division. Their goal: beat the first division team from Utrecht and secure promotion. The football pitches at ACLO were turned into lacrosse pitches. Little white balls flew over the field as more than a hundred spectators watched the game unfold.
The Gladiators have been successful this season. Throughout it, they sat at the top of the table with the best chance of promotion from the second to the first division. A striking performance. Especially considering this is a team split between Groningen and Enschede, which hardly has time to train together. So how do they do it?
Every Monday and Wednesday, a few Groningen students meet up at ACLO to train for their big goal: promotion. ‘Lacrosse is basically like hockey in the air. You have a stick with a net at the end and try to score, shots can reach speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour’, says Elliot Orr, a media studies student from the United States.
Smaller goals
The game is played on a field almost as big as a football pitch. The regular football goals are replaced by smaller goals that sit at the edge of the penalty box. Just like in ice hockey, players are allowed to play behind the goals, too. Two teams of ten players then square off, trying to slam a little white ball in each other’s goal.
Shots can reach speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour
Elliot, who came in halfway throughout the season and debuted in an intense match after the winter break, says the Gladiators have welcomed him with open arms. He already played lacrosse in highschool in the US, but he believes that the sport is different in the Netherlands.
‘The sport is much more professionalised in the United States. You have five coaches, many training sessions a week. Here, that development hasn’t started yet, but that also has its positive sides. I really enjoy it.’
And even though he sees lacrosse isn’t very popular in the Netherlands, Elliot believes everyone should give it a try. ‘The sport is just great. When you play, you don’t think of anything else, you’re just focused and having a good time.’ Even if half your team plays in Groningen, while the other half trains in Enschede. A city about two hours away.
Challenge
Being a team of two cities is a big challenge for the Gladiators, but they weren’t always a joint team. During the Covid pandemic, many players left the sport. Faced with shrinking numbers, both Groningen and Enschede had to react – and decided to come together.
Coach Eddy remembers it wasn’t always easy: ‘We are good friends now but we were rivals a couple of years ago. That didn’t just make it hard necessarily, it was actually a funny situation to start with. Enemies to lovers is the perfect way to describe it.’
Enemies to lovers is the perfect way to describe it
Eddy used to play for the Gladiators himself, but turned to coaching the team after an injury. He is now the head coach and has to deal with training a split-up team. The distance is definitely a challenge. ‘We’re not perfectly attuned to each other yet. When you only see some guys on game days it’s hard to know what runs they usually make or how they behave on the field’, Eddy explains.
Even though not training together is challenging, coach Eddy sees how his players have learned to adapt. ‘We’ve set up a training and game plan for both teams. Lacrosse is a pretty physical and fast sport so there are a few basic things that you have to be able to do without thinking’, he says. And those can be trained in the same way, even if they train apart.
Full team
They generally only play as a full team on game days. That’s when they meet up and travel the country to play together. As there are only five teams in the league, all teams will travel to the same location for a game day.
‘It’s mostly because we need referees and the referees are players from the other teams,’ Elliot explains, ’but it also gives us the opportunity to watch the other games and spend time together.’
Although their team building may be unconventional, the Gladiators have been playing great games. Coach Eddy vividly remembers the game right after the winter break. It was a key game, with both teams trading goals in a constant back-and-forth.
In the final minutes, the Gladiators managed to pull ahead with two quick goals, sealing a 9-7 win. ‘That game had a tension I’ve never felt before. I was yelling my lungs out from the sideline.’ Moments like that, he says, define what this team is all about.
We are a young team, I love the energy and passion we have
Mark – known as Boer to his team mates – is the oldest player in the team and studied in Groningen ten years ago. To him it’s the team’s atmosphere that makes the Gladiators special: ‘We are a very young team, I love the energy and passion we have.’
Good memories
They have a clubhouse with a bar where they often host social events, talking about the sport they all love so much. That sense of community is something everyone around the team highlights – it’s not just about the game, but the friendships that come with it. As Elliot puts it: ‘I would say I have good memories on the field, but even more off the field.’
On Saturday, the Gladiators played their most important game. After a great season, they went into the play-off game still unbeaten. Unfortunately, their potential promotion game also turned out to be their first loss. Their opponents were relentless. Everything seemed to work out for them, as wave after wave of attacks rolled over the Gladiators. The final score: 13:1. It was a brutal loss, the Gladiator’s Division 1 hopes – shattered.
Maybe it was a difference in quality that made the difference, maybe it was the fact that they played against a team that knew each other inside out. Whatever the reason, after a good season it’s pride that outweighs all other feelings. ‘There’s quite a gap between Division 1 and 2. You could say that we are too good for Division 2 but not on the level of Division 1 yet’, says Elliot. Next season, they will try to challenge for promotion again.
