Lacrosse offers winter camp to work on skills

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This article was published 03/01/2024 (728 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Local lacrosse players are being offered a 12-week camp to prepare for the start of the next season in April.

While single-sport training year-round has increasingly become the model for young athletes in recent years, Wheat City Lacrosse president Marty Zdan said his association is balancing the competing interests of wanting to offer more programming while being mindful of the time young players are investing in the sport.

“It’s very important,” Zdan said. “Obviously, we don’t want to go full-time 12 months, but in the winter months, typically there is no lacrosse being offered anywhere in the province. To give the kids somewhere nice and warm where they can come play and stretch out and get the cobwebs off their sticks and getting back to playing catch and throw, it’s a pretty huge advantage.

“As long as you have the right facility, you can teach lacrosse pretty much to any age group, but it can be hard to find the proper spot, and as we know, hockey takes precedence in a lot of rental areas that have anything to do with a rink.”

The 12 weekly sessions will be held at the TC Indoor Sports Facility from Friday until March 22, and are available to male and female players born between 2008 and 2017.

The camps are split into skill levels, with group one essentially serving as an introduction to the sport and focused on skill building. Participants can borrow a stick to take part.

“We’re teaching basic lacrosse skills,” Zdan said. “It’s simple drills and some fun games, and depending on group numbers and the breakdown of ages, we’ll split up into separate groups for age-specific drills.”

Group two is aimed at experienced U13, U15 and U17 players, with skills work combined with game concepts.

“That’s where we’re going to do some more technical concepts, more game situations,” Zdan said, noting group one players could be moved up. “Things will just be a little quicker and more physically demanding. There will definitely be a fitness component to group two.

“Ultimately, that’s getting players ready for spring time and getting their fitness up to what it should be.”

The sessions currently have about 25 participants, although Zdan expects this number to grow as word spreads.

“We have kids signed up who are first-timers for the entire 12 weeks, we have some signed up who can only come half the time,” Zdan said. “We’ll be accepting players probably until the last week.”

The concept isn’t entirely new. The association has run winter camps previously in school gymnasiums, and also at The Fieldhouse south of Brandon.

But when the new TC Indoor Sports Facility was opened recently by Faron Asham in the former Wheat City Curling Club, its expansive turf field perfectly suited lacrosse’s needs.

“This year, we were kind of looking at taking it to the next level and Faron let me know they were doing some work at the curling rink,” Zdan said. “We went and had a look at it, and it should meet our needs perfectly. The schools are great, but when you’re not using the hard balls, especially for the older groups, and full gear, you’re kind of limited in what you can do and you get to your ceiling pretty quick.

“Now there is a full facility and it’s turfed. For group two, we’re going full gear right from Jan. 5. It just gives a better feeling when the kids are wearing the gear and running around and getting hot. It’s just more realistic for when we do step into playing in the spring.”

Manitoba Lacrosse is also offering a weekly winter camp in Winnipeg, which has drawn some Westman players.

Spring box lacrosse season will begin in early April, with scheduling discussions already taking place with the associations in Carberry, Neepawa, Winnipeg and southeastern Saskatchewan. Registration is likely to begin in February.

One big advantage to playing a sport with fewer participants is the road to provincial teams is less clogged. Westman had a healthy representation on provincials teams, with Riley Mangin, Knox Zdan, alternate captain Jace Woloski and Ari Lang playing for the U13 Manitoba squad and Mason Woychyshyn, Cash Zdan, Owen Ducharme, captain Vaughn McLeod and assistant coach Rob Wilson on the U15 club.

In addition, Izzy Graham suited up for the U15 female team.

The association started in 2018, and while Zdan noted registration numbers are a major metric to measure the sport’s growth, the opportunities provided are another way to look at it.

“It’s no different than Brandon youth hockey and the Brandon Wheat Kings,” Zdan said. “This past year was quite phenomenal for our players. We had nine players make three provincial teams.”

Zdan said it’s a nice feather in Westman Lacrosse’s cap, while also motivating the players to get better.

“That tells me that not only are we providing the players with the skill, but they’ve got the character, the professionalism and the leadership as well,” he said. “That’s coaches we have no interaction with and they’re making their own decisions. That says a lot from our kids to take on leadership roles on provincial teams like that.”

There is also a move to get the sport into schools which Wheat City Lacrosse is spreading with Lacrosse Manitoba, with the hope an instructor can help introduce the sport to physical education classes. Zdan had spearheaded a similar initiative prior to the pandemic.

“There are more kids out there who want to play,” Zdan said. “We just have to give them an option and a day to play with a lacrosse stick and nets and see if they enjoy it.”

The fees for group one are $200 for all 12 weeks or $20 per session, with group two costing $250 or $23 per session. More information is available at the association’s website by visiting www.wheatcitylacrosse.ca.

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