HMSG’s Welsh U19 squad members (A team in black and B team in red)

Hardworking lacrosse players have come up with a novel way to motivate each other in the run-up to the World Cup.

Following Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, pupils at Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls have been sending hilarious post-workout pictures to one another to prove how hard they’ve been training.

Emanuella, Arianna, Laura and Alex are part of the Welsh squad along with 18 others from different schools across the country, and they also send each other snaps of their nutritious meals via a group WhatsApp conversation.

Training is hotting up for the FIL Rathbones Women’s 2015 U19 Lacrosse World Championship, held in Scotland this June.

Following the recent Home Internationals Lacrosse Tournament, where the A team beat Ireland and the B team won against Scotland, the girls embarked on a nine-day tour in America, playing against top high school teams.

Captain of the first lacrosse team, Emanuella, 18, said: “America was absolutely incredible.

“The standard of lacrosse was incredible – so much higher than anything I’ve ever seen before.

“They do so much lacrosse during their school days, at least two hours a day.

“They all push themselves and each other to do it and we came back really inspired.

“We started a group on WhatsApp to motivate each other with our sweaty selfies and ab core workouts. They show that we’ve been working hard.”

Welsh squad member, Emily, 17, said: “The sweaty selfies motivate us because we see the effort our teammates are putting in, pushing us all to train to the best of our abilities so that when we get on the field we’re all able to see the difference our hard work has made.

“On top of that, our group makes nutritious eating much easier because pictures of delicious-looking healthy snacks are often shared.

“A team favourite is probably the protein pancake recipe and, for the most part, our cooking skills have definitely improved as a result.”

Unfortunately, Emanuella injured her knee during the first game of the American tour, and is awaiting doctors’ orders on how to continue her training.

“Being in America was still such an amazing experience,” she added.

“I watched the team get better and grow as a team, getting to know each other better.

“HMSG has helped me to further my lacrosse skills by taking me to Welsh lacrosse trials five years ago and still to this day I am playing for the Wales squad.

“I am and will be forever grateful that my school gave me the opportunity to do this.

“My favourite part of my lacrosse year was when our team and I went to our most recent Nationals. We have never done as well as we did (in the new format), and it just made every fitness/training session worth it.”