Lacrosse: ‘Now it’s my life, it’s my sport’

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This article was published 29/05/2023 (881 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was just the second time Laylah Laquette-Koch had stepped foot on a lacrosse field.

The first came earlier this month when Edmund Partridge Community School hosted a “lacrosse week” for its students to learn one of Canada’s national sports.

“It was just fun to play and it was pretty easy to start. Everyone was having fun,” Laquette-Koch said.

That led the 13-year-old to the inaugural girls’ lacrosse day at Shaughnessy Park on Sunday, where more than 200 players gathered to compete over six games on a hot spring day.

Filled with angst and without any equipment, Laquette-Koch didn’t have much time to fret, as she was fitted for a jersey while a parent raced to bring the young player a stick so she could join the other 30 members of the Herd, Manitoba’s first all-girls lacrosse program.

“We’re trying to make it as accessible to everybody as we possibly can,” said Ashley Cvetkovic, one of the organizers of the Herd, which practised during a lunch break. “So if there’s girls that come out that don’t have equipment and stuff, we’re doing everything we can to find them stuff.”

The Herd, like Laquette-Koch’s lacrosse skills, is still in its infancy but developing quickly. The club hosted its first practice April 30 at Assiniboine Park and, in weeks, has grown to 35 players as old as 19 years old, ranging from those picking up a lacrosse stick for the first time to high-performance players with their sights set on playing at the collegiate level.

And it’s growing with each session, which run on Fridays for its grassroots box lacrosse program and Sundays for its high school field lacrosse program.

An all-girls’ lacrosse club has been a long time coming since Matt Mason, executive director for the Manitoba High School Lacrosse Association, tabled the idea of a grassroots program years ago. In March, Cvetkovic and the other seven members on the MHSLA board brought the idea to life.

“I fell in love with the sport and, honestly, my kid’s fallen in love with the sport, and I just think it’s such a great sport for girls,” said Cvetkovic, who became involved with lacrosse a year ago. “I like that everyone can come in and learn it and it gives opportunities for everybody, there’s a place for everyone to fit into because we don’t have a ton of girls that have played.”

And a program of its nature is long overdue in Manitoba. The province boasts an undeniable pool of talent in female lacrosse that was left untapped until recently.

Manitoba debuted a girls’ squad at the 2022 Canada Games in Niagara, Ont., that quickly made its mark, going 4-0 in preliminary play. The province later fielded a team in the U.S. Box Lacrosse Association Nationals in Phoenix, impressively placing third among other provinces and states who have grown the women’s game for years.

The Herd has been well-received by its players, as friendships have forged as quickly as the program has grown.

“People have started to connect with each other and I think the lacrosse group is starting to grow,” said 16-year-old Payton Cvetkovic, Ashley’s daughter, in her second year playing lacrosse.

“I thought I’d give it a try because I like to try new sports. When I started playing it, it really clicked with me and now it’s my life. It’s my sport,” she said. “It’s a fast-moving game. I love to run around and it’s really fun to play. I get to connect with teammates and there’s different varieties of it, too. I just love it, it makes me happy.”

Her sentiments are echoed by Hillary Grehan, who, in her seventh year playing, is one of the most experienced of the Herd.

“I haven’t played field (lacrosse) because it wasn’t around when I started. So I’m doing it to learn more about it to hopefully go to college after I’ve graduated,” said Grehan, who has played with boys with Sidewinders Lacrosse her entire life.

“When I started, there were maybe five girls in the league. And now there’s like 30 out every practice. Now there’s just so many more playing in high school and everything.”

Indeed, women’s lacrosse made its high school debut this year, as Oak Park, Dakota and Sturgeon Heights fielded teams. After an overwhelming call for more schools to join, Cvetkovic said she expects seven schools to compete in 2023.

“We’d definitely like to get more high schools involved in the field part of it. I’d like to become a year-round program and start getting girls in at a younger age and start growing the sport and have a separate girls’ league,” Cvetkovic said.

In August, Manitoba will send a women’s field lacrosse team to the national championship for the first time in four decades, and field a national U17 and U22 girls’ box lacrosse squad.

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam