Tricksters Lacrosse Team goes to European Championships!
20.06.2012 source: WomanMan Magazin
In spite of its low popularity, lacrosse already made some historical remarks in Slovakia. Our interest in this topic got ourselves to meet Martin Kramár, the captain of the most successful lacrosse team in Slovakia – Tricksters. He introduced us to the unknown, yet very fascinating world of lacrosse.
1. Martin, you have been a team captain since the early years of the club. Could you tell us about its very beginnings?
It was back in 2002 when the first lacrosse enthusiasts started to fulfill their dream of developing this sport in Slovakia. In 2003, the very first club – the Tricksters Bratislava – was founded by brothers Mark and Tomas Lichtner. The beginnings were quite cheerful. Lacrosse in Slovakia was born in very modest conditions, with minimum of gear, practicing wall-balls. In November of 2003 a friendly training day was held at the soccer stadium of TJ Spoje Bratislava, at the end of which the first lacrosse game in history of Slovakia was played. In the very same year, Tricksters – as a co-founder of Danube lacrosse conference with Vienna Monarchs, entered the world of competitive lacrosse. Since 2009, Tricksters LT regularly competes against the best teams in Czech Republic in both National box-lacrosse league (NBLL) as well as National field lacrosse league (NFLL).
2. For its low notoriety among people, everyone probably does something else in their free time. Nonetheless, sporting is essential and so my next question is why at all and how often do you play lacrosse?
Practices are held 3× a week and games are played on weekends. The aim is of course to improve and to give the young people a chance to try it and to fully devote to it. It may even provide a good opportunity to apply for scholarships abroad (USA, Canada).
3. At your practice we noticed you have an American coach. Tell us about him.
We are happy to have an American coach who lives in Slovakia and has Slovak roots overseeing our training at the time. His name is Stefan Durisek. We are promising a lot from collaboration with him, especially from his experiences with coaching several teams in USA. I can’t help but to reminisce of when Mark Lichtner was our coach back in the days. Under his supervision we learned the very fundamentals of this sport. Later on the coaching position was handed to me and my aim became to teach the players some game-play systems…
4. Are there any qualities one must possess in order to become a lacrosse player?
Lacrosse is a sport that incorporates elements of many major contemporary sports e.g. soccer, ice-hockey, basketball and more and requires an absolute readiness for anything. The training doesn’t stop even when the practice is over. It goes on in the gym, on the track or so. The victories then feel that much sweeter. It is a rough sport, definitely not suited for weaklings. It is also a perfect opportunity for anybody looking for a contact sport with a possible chance to become a Slovak national team member. One must simply have faith in himself and overcome the hard moments that this sport entails.
5. The current situation with Slovak lacrosse is probably shady. How many registered teams are there?
There are currently 4 clubs (2 in Bratislava, one in Prievidza and one is being formed in Košice). The national team is, however composed of Trickster players only, for this club wishes to represent the birthplace of its players, despite the weak interest of the state to support the sport. All games-related expenses, practices and gear are mostly covered by players, only rarely by sponsors.
6. Do you feel any support by the government?
The support of sports in Slovakia is in general very unstable. Even sports like soccer or ice-hockey do not receive the appropriate amount of support, not to mention a sport with only 9 years of history in Slovakia. Sponsors that help with the development of lacrosse are predominantly found thanks to ones connections with people, who can forward the project to the decision making bodies of their companies. Despite that I can say we notice greater support from year to year. From time to time someone makes a small contribution to the common endeavor of growing this sport here. Also thanks to my job at the portal to compare prices and quality of e-shops Pricemania.sk I have the opportunity to meet people who can help in many ways. All of them deserve big thanks. At the same time I can’t forget to mention Sigg, which has equipped us with their bottles.
7. What challenges lie ahead of you in the near future?
The national team of Slovakia will feature in the upcoming European Championship in Amsterdam (Netherlands). In its historically 2nd participation at European Championships, the national team will be defending 12th place from the 2008 EC in Lahti (Finland). Our guys will have a goal to make it in the top 10. Two teams from each group in the group stage will advance to the knock-out rounds. Our opponents this year will be as follows: Israel, Wales, Norway and France. We will do our best to succeed.
