Lacrosse in the Middle East.

That’s not something avid fans would read about – until now.

With Native American roots in North America as early as the 1400s, the sport has since expanded across the globe.

Today, the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) recognizes 58 nations as members, most recently Qatar, which is its 10th member from Asia, but more significantly, its first in the Persian Gulf.

“For the lacrosse purist, it’s just beyond comprehension,” said Bob DeMarco, FIL director of development. “It is a big story. Who would’ve thought when the FIL had its beginnings that we would ever, ever be in that area of the world?”

When you Google “Qatar” today, news sites are reporting on crises in the Gulf, including demands from Saudia Arabia and its allies, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, for the closure of a Turkish military base in Qatar and the curbing of its diplomatic relations with Iran. BBC described the dispute as “the worst political crisis among Gulf countries in decades,” while Qatar’s lawyers are declaring the need for the world to unite.

The Qatar Lacrosse Association (QLA), founded by British expatriate David Heywood, is hoping to project the same message as the country aims to raise its international profile in sport. Qatar is hosting the FIFA World Cup for men’s soccer in 2022.

“In light of multiple challenges faced by Arab Gulf States that include economic and social advance, a new generation is eager to play a more substantial role in building its countries,” Heywood said. “Sport has provided arguably the most prominent field of activity for Qatar’s global engagement, centering on themes such as Qatar’s supremacies as a micro-state, projecting notions of peace, security and integrity and confronting national health issues.

“With this said, the QLA is truly overjoyed to be a member of FIL, which in turn places Qatar on the map of lacrosse nations, making history in the process by becoming the first Middle East Gulf state to do so,” Heywood continued. “Through the sport of lacrosse, our contribution to the state’s national and international identity is justly remarkable.”

Heywood, a member of the Wales senior men’s team in the European Lacrosse Championship in 2012, first introduced the sport to Qatar natives in 2015 while working in the country’s engineering, procurement and construction field. He now leads the QLA alongside Gibran Jamal Nasser S. Al-Bader, who first played the sport while living in New Jersey as a child and then started a team at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada. Together, as co-CEOs, they aim to drive the sport’s “responsible growth” in the nation with a focus on youth development.

“I am passionate to advance lacrosse in my home country and bringing with me 15 years of experience in the game. I am a proud ambassador for the sport’s growth in Qatar,” said Al-Bader, who is a production support engineer for Nakilat Damen Shipyards. “The country is growing rapidly in terms of its people, ambition and culture, and I believe that sport in itself has a unique way in bringing this together.”

With a population of 2.7 million people in Qatar, an oil- and gas-rich nation dependent on imports, Al-Bader and Heywood outlined five main goals: Enhance the quality of participants’ experience, ease access and opportunity for all, strengthen the organization to enhance the capacity to lead and serve, ensure long-term sustainability and elevate the visibility of the sport in Qatar and around the world.

“Initially, we brought together sports enthusiasts who expressed an interest through our reach-out campaigns for small recreational gatherings,” Al-Bader said. “Most participants had little or no experience of the sport, and we found that hosting clinics provided the perfect platform to introduce lacrosse to junior, youth and adults to learn the fundamentals of the sport and have fun.” 

In 2016, with an equipment grant from the FIL, they launched a pilot program at GEMS American Academy in Al Wakrah, where fourth-grade students picked up their first lacrosse sticks in their physical education classes. 

Fast forward to early 2017, and the QLA hosted its inaugural Qatar Lacrosse Invitational Event at the Al Jazi Gardens in West Bay, where four teams – West Bay, Barwa City, Education City, and invitee Dubai Lacrosse — showcased soft-stick lacrosse, which allows newcomers to the sport develop basic tactical, technical and teamwork skills.

“Our vision centers on the sport’s development through junior and youth participation,” Heywood said. “We see lacrosse to be a powerful mechanism for engaging and inspiring young people to improve their leadership and other life skills, and our efforts to facilitate the sport through education groups is of upmost importance to us.”

That’s what struck DeMarco the most. The QLA’s approach differed from most countries’ methods, which typically target university-level students.

“I listened – and then I watched,” DeMarco said. “Sure enough, every phase of what they were talking about, they accomplished. I think Qatar lacrosse is here for the long run. It’s a great model for other countries to build from the youth level up.”

David Heywood, left, and Gibran Jamal Nasser S. Al-Bader lead the Qatar Lacrosse Association with a focus on developing youth players first.

As of May 30, 120 students at the GEMS American Academy have played lacrosse. Stephen Kellet, the elementary school principal, told the Gulf Times that he appreciates how the sport brings their students together through teamwork. Mark Lentz, head of the school, added that lacrosse provides an opportunity to break down social barriers.

It is that bond that sports provide, regardless of age, gender, or physical ability, Heywood said, that allows its participants to be on an “equal footing.”

“The nice thing is it’s lacrosse,” DeMarco said. “The people that are involved, they really are not concerned who’s playing, but that they’re playing. It’s great that you have countries in that area now playing, whether it’s Israel (which will host the 2018 FIL men’s world championship), Qatar or United Arab Emirates (which recently expressed interest to the FIL). Our main concern is the growth of the game, so it supersedes everything else.”

With the FIL’s quest to become recognized by the IOC as an Olympic sport in the near future, Heywood understands the QLA’s potential impact. Before Qatar, Greece, the birthplace of the Olympics, had been named the FIL’s 57th member.

“Sport is far more than medals won and records broken. It is far more than those who compete as athletes. Rather, it stands for a language that everyone understands,” said Heywood, who described the Olympics as a peace symbol first and a sporting event second. “Both Qatar and Greece stand as prominent symbols of what the Olympic Games set out to achieve. … Whether it is building bridges or bringing people together, the real potential of sport isn’t just about going higher, faster and further. It’s also about enabling humanitarian development and peace-building efforts through its own language, and although sport and politics simply cannot escape each other, they remain as interlinked as the Olympic rings themselves.”

It is “not a matter of if, but when” lacrosse will be featured in the Olympics once again, Heywood added.

While it may be unlikely that Qatar will field teams in upcoming FIL events, as its natives continue to learn the sport and advance through the QLA’s designed performance pathways, it has been a worthwhile experience for Heywood to witness barriers crumbling during times of turmoil.  

“It is not an easy project to undertake, yet it is very rewarding all the same,” Heywood said. “We look forward to having a meaningful impact on the sport's global development going forward.”