Marketing Women’s Lacrosse in
Southwest Virginia
Written by:
Bryant Burnheimer
Ashley Dawson
Mark Picton
Rocky Weiss
Mission
Our mission is to successfully create a marketing plan to build up the participation and
popularity of lacrosse as well as implement, integrate and expand the young women’s lacrosse
program among the Southwest Virginia area.
Research & Analysis
We used SBRnet and US Lacrosse.org for the majority of our research. In our research
we found that lacrosse holds the title as the fasted growing sport in the U.S. with the largest
growth being recorded in the youth market as well as growth in college, professional, and
international levels. Howard Frasier, product manager of for deBeer Lacrosse, claims that,
“Lacrosse’s sporty edge appeal attracts the younger crowd, not to mention that some athletes just
do not care for baseball, and others simply can’t make the football or basketball team.
According to Dale Kohlers, general manager of Warrior Sports, “interest and participation has
spread from the traditional lacrosse pockets of the Mid-Atlantic, Upstate New York and New
England area to the Midwest, Southeast and West Coast (“Lacrosse: Time,” 1).
Consumer
The consumers of our product are youth girls. Some may be athletic and some may not.
We are trying to help the girls gain interest in the sport of lacrosse. Some strengths we have
considered are that most young kids want to get into sports and some parents want their kids to
become athletic therefore they will put their kids in to a sport. We are trying to get the parents to
put their young girls into youth lacrosse. Another strength is that we can attract youth girls that
did not make it in other youth sports like soccer or field hockey.
Page | 2
Some weaknesses that we came up with were that registering a daughter for youth
lacrosse may be too expensive for some parents in the Southwestern Virginia area Some sticks ,
goggles and uniforms may run on the more costly side. Even for goalies it will cost a significant
amount especially for knee pads, shin guards, padded shorts, gloves, helmet and a goalie stick.
According to Roanoke.com, it costs somewhere between $85 and $200 to join the RVLA.
Younger girls may also not like the fact that they may get bumps and bruises from sticks and
balls as well as other players who are aggressive. There are many opportunities for these girls
including growing athletically and building friendships with other girls. They also have the
ability grow in the sport and advance on to the high school and collegiate level.
There are a few threats for the girls of youth lacrosse including risk of injury while
playing a game or in practices, possibility of the girls not getting the playing time they want due
to individual skill level and sometimes even the parents will get a little too involved with the
game and get in fights because the referee made a bad call.
Competitor
Our main competition that we are focusing on is the youth soccer leagues. The soccer
leagues have many strengths which include that the sport has been extremely popular for over 2
decades and are very popular in the Southwest, VA area.
Company
The sports industries are exploding in terms of product sales; the only sport that has had
the biggest increase in the market has been Men and Women’s lacrosse. Our strength for our
market has been consistently changing. Due to the significant increase for lacrosse, many
companies are renovating factories and warehouses to enhance sales in lacrosse. The most recent
Page | 3
activity for changes in a company has been New Balance. New Balance has for many years lead
manufacturing for lacrosse products. Their product line, Brine lacrosse are efficiently utilizing
their resources by closing operations at their headquarters in Massachusetts to relocate to the new
leading manufacture Warrior Lacrosse. These changes have made for Brine Lacrosse to be solely
concentrated on Women’s Lacrosse. The advantage for us would be to get sponsorship from
Brine to help promote and create awareness that Brine Lacrosse wants to strictly concentrate on
the female movement.
Our company weaknesses for marketing women’s lacrosse in the surrounding Southwest
areas are due to the fact that lacrosse has never established itself this far into the south. We see
that our weakness is a lack of lacrosse camps due to the sport not being very popular or known in
the area.
As a team we see our weaknesses as opportunities for companies to get their names out
and endorse camps, clinics, and/or instructional camps to enhance skill sets. Having these
corporate companies on board for sponsorships gives us a chance to establish relationships with
retailers and sponsors. The success of the camps that have been running for years now have
predominantly been because of the coaching experience some individuals may have. The success
of lacrosse in the Southwest VA is threatened by the lack of experience someone may have in the
sport.
Climate
What makes for a successful Climate? Is the strength or opportunities you know you can
implement on or create offering a complete success or is it the complete understanding of your
weaknesses and threats, whether or not you can change them to make your market plan
Page | 4
successful? The success is measured by how your market plan is established and implemented
within reason of your threats and weakness or your final product market plan. We believe that
the lacrosse market in the Southwest can be a success due to our strengths and opportunities
potential for the market area.
Our ideas of establishing a women’s lacrosse club, instructional camps, and/or clinics for
the surrounding Southwest VA areas are hurt by our weaknesses of the market. The women’s
markets in the Southwest VA are still in the growth stage of gaining interest. The weaknesses we
face for our market plan allow us a great opportunity to be very successful. We say that because
lacrosse in our target market is yet to be untapped, just waiting to be discovered as the new youth
sport to play. Our opportunities that will greatly assist us trying to implement lacrosse are the
facilities already in the area of the New River Valley, the Three Rivers Districts, and the
Universities and college fields. The popularity of soccer in the Southwest, VA will enable
lacrosse players to potentially play both sports, but definitely the use of field space already
available for immediate participation.
. The youth lacrosse marketing plan has many positive and negative aspects, but the
implementing and understanding what will and will not work makes for future success. The more
positive influence we can get out of the community will better influence the climate success of
our market plan. We need to remember that people do not like change and we must be willing to
work around these people’s mindsets to get them to try something new.
Segmentation
Through segmentation we chose to identify young female athletes in the New River
Valley because they need more of a variety of sports to play. Athletic female competitors are
Page | 5
willing to try out a new “edgy” sport that combines many aspects of other sports. Through our
research we found that Virginia ranks # 8 in the country as states with the most youth lacrosse
players with 10,232 participants. Eight of the ten states are located in the lacrosse breeding
region of the northeast (“US lacrosse”, 2007). The biggest growth occurs in the “15 and under
age group” because there are no cuts from the team. Around the country, there are about 54,000
female lacrosse participants playing at the high school level. Women dominate the sport of
lacrosse around the country with 53% of the participants being female (Kasen, 1).
Target Market Decisions
We decided that our target market would be females ranging in age from 7 to 18 years
old. We also decided to market towards sport participants willing to try out a new sport in the
spring such as girls who play soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and softball. We can
attract girls by advertising through elementary, middle and high schools.
Sport Marketing Mix Decisions and Strategies
Our strategy is to attract and hire coaches to start the groundwork in building an
established lacrosse program. We would need to contact local soccer coaches to spread the word
and link up with them to draw potential athletes and maintain good relationships with them so we
could share field space. We decided that we would also need to contact vendors such as Dick’s
Sporting Goods store to establish discount deals for players on equipment. Part of the strategy is
to use the “edgy” appeal and new “market” freshness to catch the attention of prospected
participants.
Page | 6
Price
Lacrosse has required equipment just like any other sport but the equipment costs usually
do not add up quite as much compared to sports such as football or baseball. Equipment for
lacrosse varies depending on your position and also if you are male or female. The cost for
female lacrosse players is significantly less than equipment required for male lacrosse players.
Females do not wear as much protection as men because their game is less physical. The
average cost for female players is estimated to be around $135 compared to the roughly $500 for
males. Girls are required to have the following equipment: stick ($34.99-$199.99), mouth guard
($1.50-$19.99), cleats ($40.00-$99.99), and lacrosse goggles ($39.99-$89.99)
The total price to play girl’s lacrosse can be just under $100 and that does not include the
equipment required to be a goalie. The price is not extremely high but compared to the
equipment cost for lacrosse’s rival sport, soccer, the price is higher. So in doing a SWOT
analysis we would have to agree that price is both a strength and weakness for this sport.
Compared against softball, lacrosse is cheaper but compared with soccer; it can be a little more
expensive. In terms of the opportunities that the price can offer is that because lacrosse if fairly
new only certain vendors are currently manufacturing equipment. With the addition of more
vendors as the sport grows more popular we should see a decline in the cost of equipment. The
only threat of the price is that because it is higher than some sports such as soccer and basketball
some females may be deterred from playing the sport.
Product
Lacrosse as a product has a lot of great things going for it. One strength of lacrosse is
that it has been the fasted growing sport in the last 5 years and is slowly spreading across every
region of the country. The “edgy” appeal the sport offers is attracting young females and males
Page | 7
and pulling them away from traditional sports such as soccer and basketball. As lacrosse
becomes more popular we expect more high schools and colleges to pick up the sport so the
younger females have aspirations to play though their college years. Lacrosse combines many
different aspects of other sports and this combination will intrigue athletes that are used to
playing other sports and they will be able to make the transition to soccer a lot easier. The
opportunities are out there to attract young girls to play the sport. Lacrosse has a budding
popularity and a unique style of game that will attract any athlete wanting to try something new.
The opportunity to be a first program will attract young females willing to make history in a
region or start something that will be carried on for years.
A weakness for lacrosse though is that it is still fairly new and does not have the tradition
that soccer has. The job for a marketing team would be to use the “edgy” appeal of lacrosse to
garner attention to the sport. Most young children jump at an opportunity to play a new sport or
try something new. Another weakness for lacrosse is that since it is a fairly new sport the
numbers of coaches that have the necessary experience to coach are very slim. There is not a
great deal of coaches out there that have extensive experience in coaching lacrosse mainly
because there have not been that many opportunities in the past. A first step would be to hire a
coach that is willing to build a program from scratch and work on recruiting young girls to play.
Once again our biggest threat for lacrosse will be soccer. Because of soccer’s long
standing tradition in the U.S. and in Southwest, VA, we will have to compete with them to get
the necessary female participation that we require to maintain a program here. Luckily for us
soccer and lacrosse can be played in different seasons, fall and spring respectively for each sport.
Once we attract the local female population our hope would be that they become attached to the
game because of its combination of other sports and the new so called “edgy” appeal it offers.
Page | 8
Promotion
When developing a marketing plan promotion is a key factor in making it possible for the
product (Woman’s Lacrosse) to be presented to the customer. According to Neil H. Borden
“promotions is considered a tool for marketing communication.” (Marketing Teacher Ltd.) In
order to have a strong marketing plan, you must be able to promote to the public, but to also be
able to adequately do this; you must have good community relations. Our plan is to market
Woman’s Lacrosse in Southwest, VA. In order to do so we have deiced to first set our
advertising team and promote the sport to woman all over Southwest, VA. We will broadcast
radio commercials about camps and trials for girls all over the area. We will go to local high
schools and colleges and talk to the female body and grab their attention to help the sport of
Lacrosse grow. We will have a representative from several Lacrosse branding companies to
present brand awareness to the public. Another promotion that we would run is free camp and
discounted gear for all women beginning the sport of lacrosse. We want to spread the awareness
of this growing sport to help get the entire region of Virginia involved. We will need to promote
each aspect of the sport, and the competition the sport could bring. Our plan will work on turning
girls from field hockey and soccer to Lacrosse. Another way we can go about promoting the
sport to woman is present the possible opportunities in the long run with the sport, such as
college scholarships and or professional leagues all over the United States. We have to grab the
attention of an audience that has never been presented this sport so anything glorified and
pumped up will appeal and grab the attention we need. After we grab the attention with radio and
TV commercials, we have to run promotional camps. This would be to give a demonstration and
spread the idea in the minds of those women semi interested and get them completely interested.
There are strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats dealing with any marketing plan. The
Page | 9
strength of the idea of spreading Lacrosse to Southwest, VA is that the sport would grow and get
the public more involved. It would allow the sport to become one of the top growing sports in the
world. A weakness would be competing with soccer. Soccer is a big sport in southwest, Virginia
and with their clubs and organizations Lacrosse would have to have strong coaches, and a team
to come in and show the target audience what the sport is all about. Also with promoting the
sport, the opportunities that are available need to be set out plain as day to each woman
interested. Deals would have to be made for each Lacrosse club and team. Also to appeal to
woman offer the chance to become eligible to have college paid for. With that idea in any
athletes head, they would jump on the idea of the sport. There are threats in every promotional
plan. What if a local college or high school doesn’t have the criteria to participate in the
expansion of the sport? That would mean having to set up opportunities elsewhere. Regardless
the growth of the sport will have to take inconsideration this SWOT analysis in presenting a
promotional plan.
Place
The place our team is trying to spread Lacrosse in the Southwest region of Virginia. It is
a low populated area with high opportunities. This region is known for high involvement in men
and woman’s soccer. To spread the sport of lacrosse our competition would be soccer. A strength
we would have for us is the newness of the sport lacrosse to the area. Ever body likes to try
something new and the awareness of new events brings a community closer. A weakness would
be the fear of change some people would have. If a lady is good at soccer, why would she want
to try a new sport? A threat we as a team would come across would be the climate of the
environment. Not necessarily the weather but the community and how they see the new sport
Page | 10
transforming their formularities. These factors are to be considered when we promote and locate
woman’s lacrosse in Southwest, Virginia.
Marketing Management Strategies
In order for our plan to market and expand woman’s lacrosse our organization must
follow a set of management strategies. In order to implement the growth of young woman’s
lacrosse leagues we first have to fund our project. We can use the funds derived from sponsors
and advertise to the youth and get the word out to these young athletes. We have to grab their
attention at a young age and even a vulnerable age to get their mind set on the sport of lacrosse.
In order to get the attention of our target audience we can hold informational sessions for all ages
and parents to attend. These informational sessions would be used to inform and give the
potential interested athletes an idea of what lacrosse is and where it developed. As well as
holding these session to inform the parents of interested athletes about cost, and benefits to the
growth of this sport we can also grab the attention of potential coaches. In order to implement the
growth of lacrosse there has to be someone committed to teach and provide guidance in the
sport. After grabbing the athlete’s attention and gaining their commitment, we can implement
clinical for athletes and coaches. Get these athletes involved with their coaches and teach the
game of lacrosse. Give these individuals a taste of what to expect during a seasonal match.
After implementing these strategies the organization has to manage the marketing plan
and growth of this sport. The management strategy of this plan is to first determine a suitable
budge for the Southwestern area of Virginia. The economy has a big impact on how far a sport
can grow and how well a sport can be funded. On top of developing a budget, you have to
establish a league to keep the new athletes interested and committed. Our plan is to manage a
year round league fall to summer so we can compete with the growth of soccer. Also to keep
Page | 11
order of each team and the entire organization there would be mandatory monthly league
committee meetings. This way there can be an up keep on how well the sport is growing and
how well the plan is meeting its objectives and goals.
The final step to maintain these marketing strategies is to evaluate and make adjustments
to the plan to improve or continue the ongoing success. There would be a quarterly and annually
analysis of how the program is doing. We would have to evaluate for the first couple seasons and
keep a close eye on the incline and decline of athlete’s participation. As a marketing team we
would make the correct adjustments to the downfalls in the program in order to keep the
opportunity of growth alive in the sport of women’s lacrosse.
Page | 12
Works Cited:
Hoy, S. (2008, May 5). Lacrosse catching on. The Roanoke Times. Retrieved from
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/highschool/wb/160773
Kasen, D. (2008, May 13). NSGA Sports Participation: Women Dominate Fitness Activities. NSGA
Research Newsletter, 1.
Lacrosse: Time to Score. (2008, September). Team Intelligence, 4.
US lacrosse participation survey. (2007). Retrieved November 19, 2008, from the US Lacrosse
Website: http://www.uslacrosse.org/pdf/07participationsurvey.pdf
Waugh, K. (2005, April 18). Getting their kicks from sticks. The Roanoke Times. Retrieved from
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/etc/wb/xp-22024
Page | 13