Lacrosse continues to rebound from setback

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This article was published 05/05/2023 (1066 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sport of lacrosse is on the rebound in western Manitoba.

After losing two seasons to the pandemic, Wheat City Lacrosse returned in 2022 with 35 registered players, about half of what they had in 2019. This year, they’re back up to nearly 50 and still accepting kids in the under-nine and U11 divisions who want to give Canada’s official national summer sport a try.

“I think it’s completely forgotten about, to be honest,” Wheat City Lacrosse co-organizer Marty Zdan said of COVID-19. “Last year was 35 kids and that was the return from COVID. It’s in the rearview mirror, especially when we were able to do our winter camp and get the ball rolling and get as many kids who haven’t played before to give it a try.

“Now this spring we’re at 50 and counting so that’s 15 and maybe we can get to 20 more.

“A lot of kids are returning, a lot are new. It’s very good.”

Zdan, who reintroduced the sport to Brandon in 2018, said he had noticed a reluctance among kids and their parents to return to activities initially after the pandemic. He suggested that has dissipated.

“That’s definitely turned around,” Zdan said. “The kids are playing basketball, baseball is going, softball for the girls, spring hockey is going for all ages. I think everyone is in fifth gear and doing all the sports they can now. I think it’s back to normal.”

The association is running U9, U11, U13 and U15 Wranglers teams this year for the box lacrosse season, but since the sport hasn’t yet hit the critical mass to allow it to form a league in western Manitoba, they play exhibition games against teams from Winnipeg and southeastern Saskatchewan — Cardiff, Carlyle, Moosomin and Redvers — plus attend tournaments in Winnipeg and Saskatoon.

But there are encouraging signs in Westman, with Carberry’s lacrosse association joined by a new program in Neepawa organized by Marla Steen.

“Neepawa is on the scene this year, I’m happy to say,” Zdan said. “They have a bunch of kids in all the age groups and I think their first games are on Saturday in Carberry.”

This year, the association has drawn four girls, plus players from Hartney, Souris, Sioux Valley and nearly 10 from the Rivers area. The latter is not an accident, since Rivers has become home to the association to start the season.

“(Coach and co-organizer) Rob (Wilson) and I decided to take the club in a bigger, stronger direction and to give the kids a proper facility right from the start of the season,” Zdan said. “We moved out to Riverdale Community Centre and have been there since April 10. We will start the first seven weeks of our season in Rivers.”

They return to the Keystone Centre’s Flynn Arena at the end of May for four weeks.

In previous seasons, the association started practising outdoors at the North End Community Centre, and went indoors after the ice came out at one of the Keystone Centre’s rinks.

Wheat City Lacrosse had explored opportunities in Souris and Rivers a couple of years ago when the Keystone Centre wasn’t an option, but those plans were eventually dropped. After one of Zdan’s sons had a great experience playing hockey in Rivers last winter, and with the existing ties to Rivers players already in the program, it became a good fit.

“The big thing was getting our players off the North End Community Centre and getting them into a real facility right from day one of the season,” Zdan said. “You have to have a real facility for the kids to experience the game properly.”

He said it’s also been a popular choice among the youngsters and their parents.

“The reaction has been really good,” Zdan said. “We encouraged car pooling right from the start and it seems like everyone has taken that message and is doing some ride sharing. The kids from Rivers, it’s great for them. They’re meeting other kids, not just the regular Brandon kids you’re on a spring (hockey) team with. It’s a totally different situation.

“It’s been great. As they play more games and spend more time practising, it just makes for a better team overall.”

It’s also good for Rivers and the Riverdale Community Centre. Zdan said there’s even a chance it will help the sport to grow.

“I’m beyond thrilled and they’re thrilled to have us,” Zdan said. “Normally the lights would be off. It’s quite self sufficient. Rob and I are older adults who take responsibility for the place and make sure the players do as well. They’re happy to have us, and I think we’ll eventually have a few more people out from the community to watch. Hopefully we’ll get more players, and maybe down the road five years, Rivers has its own team for an age group.

“Ultimately that’s the best thing that could happen out of this long term.”

The sport is a passion for Zdan well beyond the three months the box lacrosse season runs.

In October, he and Manitoba Lacrosse representatives did some work with teachers during their LIFT (learning information for teachers) day, with eight or nine teachers in both sessions.

He also ran winter programming for 10 weeks at Maryland Park School, drawing nearly 60 players.

“We had some drop-ins as well,” Zdan said. “We had kids who came all the time, we had kids who came half the time and then we had kids who dropped in and only played once or twice.”

There is hope on the horizon as well for one of the sport’s more vexing issues in Westman.

Programming isn’t currently available after the U15 level, but there is the potential for high school field lacrosse, with approval given for a trial run as a club sport.

That would mean players from the three high schools can come together once a week to try the sport.

“It’s very encouraging,” Zdan said. “You have to start somewhere. It’s no different than us going to the grade schools and teaching Grade 3s or Grade 4s lacrosse. Now you’re just teaching kids who are probably going to pick it up quicker … You can do sixes, we don’t need a team of 30 kids. They just need 10 or 12 kids.”

Anyone who wants to see Wheat City Lacrosse in action can head to Rivers on Sunday.

The U13 Wranglers face Carlyle at 10:30 a.m., and the U15 Wranglers meet Carlyle at 11:45. The U13 South Winnipeg Sidewinders play Carlyle at 1:15, with the U15 squads mixing it up at 2:30.

The six-game event then ends with the Wranglers entertaining the Sidewinders, with the U13s playing at 4 and the U15s at 5:15 p.m.

“We had our opening weekend last weekend in Rivers,” Zdan said. “Our young kids and our U13s played, and it was the first game for at least a third of the kids and they had a ball. They were tired and had a few bumps and bruises, but they got up and kept playing and in the end they had big smiles on their faces.”

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