This story initially appeared on Behind the Whistle, the official blog of the IWLCA, and is being republished with permission from the organization. Meg Decker is the head coach at the University of Hartford.

Many coaches are looking at the lack of diversity and have grown aware of the need for inclusion in our sport. We are finally accepting that it is something WE can change, and it is a beautiful thing to watch.

Even though all these lightbulbs are going off and blinders are being removed, there is a painful disparity happening right under our noses as in-person recruiting continues to be postponed. The players we need to be seeing to truly change our sport may not have access to film or coaches who can help them — at least not lacrosse club coaches. Our ability to intentionally recruit is being restricted, and the disparity is increasing between those with access to resources and support and those without.

Once the recruiting ban is lifted, I encourage you to go to less traditional lacrosse areas. Go to the inner-city high schools, watch basketball games and soccer games, go to track meets, volunteer, connect with organizations that are already involved with growing lacrosse in non-traditional areas on the grassroots level (see a list of organizations to start with below).

Remember that players may play different sports where they have more access to resources. Maybe get a hold of basketball film, or when you’re watching a recruit’s film, also watch the players who are NOT the ones emailing you — we need to re-train ourselves to look beyond the scope of players we have always looked at and open our eyes and our resources to actively finding players who will change this sport.

I understand that many of these suggestions are not possible during the current recruiting dead period. So … here’s what we can do right now:

1. Go old school. Call athletic directors to get high school coaches’ phone numbers because we all know how ridiculously difficult it is to get a high school coach’s number off a website. If you can’t get a hold of the AD, call the secretary; they know EVERYTHING.

2. Build relationships with community sports groups and middle school recreational coaches; check yourselves, where are the BIPOC players? Have you gone out of your way to find coaches in areas that are NOT predominantly white?

3. Put together stick drives and give them to local middle school coaches. At the end of the season, do a massive ball hunt around your fields and give away everything you find. You’ve survived the whole season without those extra balls, you’ll be fine!

4. Make it a tradition for your seniors to donate back any extra gear that they most likely won’t be using when they graduate so you have equipment you can allow first-time players to use. And have your new players trade in their old sticks when you give them a new one so that you always have extras for youth players who want to try the sport but can’t afford to purchase equipment of their own.

5. Get creative in how you are building relationships and building bridges so when the time comes to recruit again, there is already a path for recruits to follow that leads to your program

6. And lastly, save space in your recruiting classes. Systemic racism and redlining have made it very obvious which high schools and middle schools have more BIPOC players in our sport. When the recruiting ban ends, GO WATCH these schools play. And I guarantee you will wish you had space in your recruiting classes because you WILL find players that you have missed.

At this point, I am hoping you have had conversations, done research and LISTENED to the BIPOC communities and realize how much our sport is missing in terms of both diversity and inclusion. But I will say this, as a final ‘call forward’ for our coaching community:

We are raising the future leaders of our country. The young women that step out on our fields are more hirable, end up more successful and are elevated to leadership roles more quickly than their peers that have not participated in college athletics. We focus on time management skills, on how to deal with failure, on the importance of working with a team, on discipline.

I hope that we are also teaching them how to lead, because trained or not, they will be asked to do so. I hope that when they are placed in leadership positions, they know how to lead ALL types of people, not just other white women. I hope they have worked in teams where people look, think, act and believe differently than they do. I hope their peers and supporters are women of ALL racial backgrounds. I hope that the leaders we are training today elevate every group of women, not just white women. And if that is something you believe in, you have everything you need within your power to DO something about it. It all starts with building relationships and recruiting with intention, start today.

Here are a few organizations to start with ... add your own in the comments!

• Harlem Lacrosse

• Eyekonz Sports

• CityLax

• Harlem Jets

• Nations United Lacrosse

• Detroit United Lacrosse

• Brooklyn Lacrosse Club