Coach Elizabeth Ford and the Wooster women's lacrosse team conducted a youth clinic as part of their spring break trip to England.

The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team recently returned from a unique spring break trip, as it spent eight days (March 8-15) in England, teaching the sport to youth, playing three games against clubs there, and finding time for a little sightseeing in between.

Eighth-year head coach Elizabeth Ford likes to give her student-athletes a variety of experiences during the school's annual spring break, previously having ventured to Colorado, North Carolina, San Antonio, southern California, and Tennessee, but this one will likely go down as the most memorable.

"The College allowed us to fundraise and we decided to make spring break a little different. It came about from a desire to do it and the opportunity to do so," she said. "We want to thank everybody who donated, which helped bring the price down for everyone."

Early in the trip, Wooster offered a youth lacrosse clinic in Oxton, a suburb of Liverpool. About 30 girls ranging in age, but primarily middle school, came to it and left with a greater knowledge of the game, which appears to be growing in interest in England, especially certain pockets, according to Ford.

"That was a huge highlight," said Eliza Perry, a senior attacker for the Fighting Scots. "It was our first full day after an unexpectedly long journey (airline issues) to get there. The kids were so fun, all of our spirits were raised. It was fun to teach a sport to a group of kids from a completely different country. They were intrigued by our American accents, and looked to us as leaders because America is a leader in lacrosse."

Wooster gained some valuable on-field experience itself, although the games against the club teams did not count towards the 2014 record. "They had good skills, were really fast, which was good to go against, and we had to adjust to international rules," said Ford. "We came home with a win, a loss, and a tie."

The most notable game came on the last night of the trip, reason being that the Timperley club the Scots played included 2013 Wooster alum Clare Nelson-Johnson, a four-time all-North Coast Athletic Conference standout who is now coaching the sport at the University of Nottingham.

While Wooster was stationed in Manchester for the length of the trip, it did get to experience several parts of England. When they were in Liverpool, many of the players took a Beatles Tour, and in London, they visited most of the top sights such as Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Shakespeare's Globe theatre. Additionally, the team visited York, a historic, walled city founded by the Romans almost 2,000 years ago.

"The cultural experience that we gained individually, and collectively, the camaraderie we built up, just being together in a completely foreign place, was just really good for the team," remarked Perry.

"The trip was incredible," she added. "A lot of the girls on the team hadn't traveled over there before. After a five-week preseason in Wooster, it was so nice. It was a spring break like no other we've had, so exotic and different than anything else."

Ford agreed, saying it was very valuable from both an educational and coaching standpoint. "It was really nice to go for the first time, a fun experience overall, and to gain some international lacrosse game play was a bonus."