Estonia and Jamaica Newest FIL Members

(FIL) The Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) is excited to announce the addition of two new members as approved by FIL membership. With the October 26th 2013 vote, Estonia became the forty-eighth member of the FIL and Jamaica the forty-ninth member.

In May 2013, after two years of planning and development, LAX Estonia was formed as the national governing body of lacrosse in the country and is led by their President, Martin Kuustik.

“This will be the first lacrosse organization in Estonia and we have a core group that is going to see this through,” stated Mr Kuustik.

You can follow LAX Estonia through its Facebook account https://www.facebook.com/LAXEstonia.

Estonia joins 26 current FIL member nations in the European region. Neighboring FIL members include Latvia, Russia and Finland.

The Jamaica Lacrosse Association (JLA) was formed in April 2013 after years of development work and clinic assistance from Kevin Dugan and The Fields of Growth initiative. “Fields of Growth has been instrumental in introducing lacrosse to school-aged students in Jamaica,” noted Calbert Hutchinson, President of the JLA. Mr Hutchinson states, “The FIL’s recognition will help us go a long way to meet the Jamaican Athletics Administration Association criteria for full government support.”

The JLA has targeted the 2016 Under 19 Men’s World Championships as their first international FIL event. Jamaica joins Mexico, Guatemala, Bermuda and Costa Rica as an FIL Central America and Caribbean regional member. JLA has established a web site – https://jamaicalacrosse.org.

Tom Hayes, FIL Director of Development, commented about the newest FIL member nations, “I am very pleased to welcome both Jamaica and Estonia to our Caribbean and European regions’ membership. I would like to recognize the work that the Fields of Growth organization has done in the development of lacrosse within the schools in Jamaica.”