College Sport: Whangaparaoa students catch lacrosse craze

Whangaparaoa College students Taylor Barker (left) and Olivia Archer will play in the under-19 world championships in Scotland in July. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Pair will wing their way to under-19 world champs in Scotland

It is rare for one school to provide four reps to a national age-grade side.

But that is the case with Whangaparaoa College, who have two students and two past pupils in the New Zealand under-19 girls' lacrosse squad for the July world championships in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Sam Hyland has left school, but will make her second trip to the international under-19 event, a first for a Kiwi. She is also in the senior New Zealand side. Georgia Archer finished at Whangaparaoa College at the end of 2013, and will also be on her way to Scotland. She will get the chance to play with her younger sister Olivia, know as Ollie. The latter is 15 and in Year 11. The younger Archer is joined by 17-year-old Taylor Barker, a Year 13 student. Both are key players for the Whangaparaoa premier girls' lacrosse team in this fast, highly skilled sport.

Archer was the school team's MVP last season and is pumped up about representing her country after sealing her spot at a training camp last month.

"It was kinda scary. We'd trained for this for almost three years and it came up quickly. But it's always been my aim to get to this level where I am now," says the midfielder, who provides the crucial link between attack and defence.

Thursday nights in winter feature school lacrosse matches, while on Sundays, mainly through the summer - though the sport can be played all year round - she turns out, along with Barker, for the strong Harbour Hawks top club side.

"I'm more mature now playing with them, so it hasn't been an issue. It's helped me," says Archer, on playing with and against seasoned lacrosse exponents.

The focus for the rest of the year will be on training and raising the considerable amount of money required to get to Scotland. Lacrosse receives little in the way of funding.

"It hasn't really hit me that I'm representing New Zealand because lacrosse is not a big sport. It's quite crazy. Some have heard of it but they don't get it or understand it," Archer said.

Her teammate Barker, a defender, does get it. She has played the sport since Year 9, but only got serious two years ago.

"It came really suddenly for me because I didn't know about this New Zealand team. I saw there were trials for the World Cup squad in July 2013. I thought I'd give it a crack," Barker said.

That led to a 2014 tour of Australia, which whetted their appetite for international play.

She says New Zealand has ambitions for a top eight finish in Edinburgh, after placing 12th four years ago in Germany.

Barker explains her love of lacrosse: "It's just such a different sport. It's contact and it's so different to be able to throw the ball to each other with sticks rather than passing with your hands."

Whangaparaoa has fostered a strong lacrosse culture, though 2014 was a messy season, with several matches cancelled due to poor weather or other schools defaulting. The school is seeking a new coach for the 2015 season, starting in May.

"Our school has always had a couple of players who have been in that under-19 training environment, so there's always been players to get advice from and feed knowledge off," Barker said.

Neither Barker nor Archer will have far to go for advice when they compete on the other side of the world in five months.