The look of children’s faces lighting up when the Montana men’s club lacrosse team handed them sticks provided some validation. Natives of Mexico City, these children had never seen lacrosse, let alone been able to play the game.
Grizzlies coach Tucker Sargent was accustomed to growing the game with his program in Missoula, Mont., but this experience was like nothing he’d encountered. It made the trip worth every penny.
“There’s no way to get lacrosse equipment down in Mexico other than ordering it online,” Sargent said. “When the kids found out they got to keep these sticks, it looked like it was Christmas morning for about 40 kids getting lacrosse sticks they truly cherished.”
As part of a five-day trip to Mexico City, organized by the Mexican national team, Montana’s club team took part in youth clinics in one of the most populous cities in the world. The Grizzles also competed against Mexico, which is gearing up for the 2018 FIL World Championships in Netanya, Israel.
In a full international scrimmage Sunday — said to be the first between an American college team and the Mexican national team in Mexico — Montana fought the challenges that came with 7,000 feet of elevation and a 75-degree day. Still, the Grizzlies, who made the MCLA nationals for the first time in a decade last year, came out on top by a score of 12-6.
“Our players got a lot out of the experience,” Mexican national team coach Andrew Haas said. "I think the Montana players got some real perspective on the reality of these two nations. The lacrosse was fast and exciting. It was a great balance between culture and lacrosse. I'm glad we all had this platform for growth.”
It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the Grizzlies — many of whom had little experience traveling internationally. StringKing partnered with Montana to provide equipment and film the trip in an effort to help a Mexican national team program in need of resources to continue to grow the game.
“It gives me a lot of pride to see how our guys worked with their kids,” Sargent said. “Not just for our team, but country. Through the sport of lacrosse, how we are able to form a bond and help another country get the sport established, it’s definitely a point of pride.”
The trip was unprecedented, showcasing goodwill between two countries that share a border. But it materialized thanks to a connection made in the hilly woodlands of southern Maine at Camp Winona, where Sargent, who then served as a lacrosse and kayaking instructor in 2004, met Javi Halffter, a young boy from Mexico just learning to play lacrosse.
Halffter lived thousands of miles away, but was familiar with the area before his family sent him to Camp Winona. He made regular visits to Boston in 1998 as his younger sister, Alejandra, was treated for cancer at Boston Children’s Hospital, and his family often drove to parts of New England for extended vacations. When his friends decided to attend camps in America, Halffter followed suit. He spent seven summers at Camp Winona and had Sargent as a counselor for three of them.
“I wasn’t very good, but I had fun with it,” Halffter said of his skills at that time.
The two kept in touch through Halffter’s high school career at Choate Rosemary Hall (Conn.). Halffter became a strong lacrosse player before heading back to Mexico for college, where he played at Universidad Iberoamericana — one of five schools with lacrosse in Mexico City.
He continued to watch the expansion of the Mexican lacrosse movement, launched by Jose Luis Espinosa, as the 2014 FIL World Championships approached. With his American lacrosse background, Halffter made the national team and headed to Denver. When he and Sargent reunited again in Colorado, they discussed a potential matchup between Montana and Mexico.
“It would be fun to play some day,” Sargent said, talking of an event he hoped for, but couldn’t envision.
But last year, Sargent reached back out to Halffter, knowing that the Mexican national team was preparing for the 2018 FIL World Championships. After speaking with Haas —also a former MCLA coach at Nevada — the trip South was planned and the Grizzlies were off to Mexico City on Jan. 18.
The Mexican national team greeted them with a sign that read “Bienvenidos Montana Lacrosse" and treated them to a welcome dinner, followed by a trip to the historic pyramid of Teotihuacan. Montana's coaches and players also explored the city before scrimmaging local college teams and the Mexican national team, which featured a few former American college players.
“Players here in Mexico typically don’t pick up the game of lacrosse until they are in college,” Haas said. “We’re hoping that the Montana trip will be the introduction to lacrosse for kids at the youth level.”
“This is a huge opportunity to get a little exposure to help grow the game, which is our main goal,” Halffter added. “We want to expand this game and introduce it to as many people as possible.”
The impact might not be felt right away — Mexico has had lacrosse for less than a decade — but Montana’s trip could help boost the Mexican lacrosse movement.
“Knowing that we were the first team to go down to Mexico and play a game, that’s historical,” Sargent said. “It wasn’t lost on our team. If it’s 50 years down the road and Mexico has a stronger team and there’s more competition, it’s going to be cool to say that the University of Montana was a pioneer there.”