It appears the new Ladner Sport Court is already a game changer for Delta Lacrosse.
The association took advantage of the now covered outdoor box for its second free Try Lacrosse event last Saturday (Feb. 18), hosted by former pro star Garrett Billings.
The Tsawwassen resident led roughly 100 kids through some introductory skills during the two-hour session.
Just like last month’s first event, a large number of the participants were female. That resulted in enough new players registering for Delta to be putting two novice female teams on the floor this coming season for the first time in its history.
“COVID really knocked our female program down,” said Delta Lacrosse vice-president and female coordinator Erin Harris. “Our goal this year and next year is to get back to our pre-COVID numbers without question. We have the draw in the community and population to easily do that. It’s just that a lot of people don’t know about lacrosse in Delta.
“We have some tremendous National Lacrosse League stars and a host of other players on U.S. scholarships. Our responsibility for the next few years is to help the population learn the opportunities for these kids and lacrosse. Hockey does such a good job and we need to match its effort.”
Billings was brought in to oversee the grassroots development program and told the Optimist back in December his goal was wanting the new players coming back for more.
Harris agrees.
“Our real focus going forward is to make sure those grassroot girls joining now, have the most tremendous experience in lacrosse going forward,” she said. “I definitely can speak from my own daughter’s experience. She is a certified coach. All of her confidence comes from lacrosse. When things are tough in school, lacrosse is always a great outlet.”
The association’s marketing efforts that includes social media, signage throughout the community and print advertising in the Optimist for its pre-season events are also paying off on the boys’ side with a big jump in registration numbers at the entry levels.
Homegrown standout and pro star Mitch Jones serves as technical director and is overseeing a pre-season Lacrosse Academy. It’s another program made possible by the covered box.
“There’s a pretty good chance we would have had to cancel today without this. You just can’t have 100 kids running around on a slippery surface,” Harris added. “This venue has created somewhere for the teenagers to just go and play. You have 13-and-14-year-olds practising their behind-the-back shots and showing eight-year-olds how to do it. It’s fantastic.”
It’s still not too late to register for the 2023 box lacrosse season. Visit deltalacrosse.ca for more information.
