Four years ago the future of field lacrosse in 麻豆传媒映画was in doubt. But this weekend the sport has a bright future as two boys field lacrosse teams from the city will compete in the 2014 Subway, British Columbia Lacrosse Association Field Lacrosse Provincial Championships.
Back at the start off the 2010 to 2011 field lacrosse season, there was only a single team of 17 players in Vancouver.
This weekend the under-14 and U16 麻豆传媒映画Burrards are contenders for the province鈥檚 top spots.
Their U12 team missed the tourney by one point.
In the last four years the 麻豆传媒映画Killarney Minor Lacrosse Association鈥痟as seen its field lacrosse teams jump from that lone U12 team in 2010 to its current tally of five teams and 75 players. 鈥�
Nolan Baylis, a U16 麻豆传媒映画Burrards attacker, is heading to the provincials for the second consecutive time. Last year his team finished fifth out of eight teams.
Baylis plays both field and box lacrosse, but prefers field.
鈥淚t is a slower game and the nets are bigger ... it is more fun to play because you score more goals,鈥� he said.
This season Baylis鈥� U16 Burrards finished fourth out of eight teams in the Pacific Coast Field Lacrosse League to earn a spot at the upcoming championships.
Baylis said there is nothing like getting to play at the provincials.
鈥淚t is really intense,鈥� he said.
John Robbie, the head coach of Baylis鈥� team, was instrumental in the 2010 revival of field lacrosse in Vancouver. 聽
The British Columbia Lacrosse Association was concerned that year because there was no field lacrosse 麻豆传媒映画representative for the 2010 B.C. Summer Games, which put the whole sport in danger of not being in the next Games.
Every sport needs to have enough zones or regions represented to compete in the Games.
Robbie was part of the BCLA executive at the time, so he and Michael O鈥機onnor,聽 coach of the U14 team and 麻豆传媒映画Minor Lacrosse Association president, joined with a few others to revive the sport in the city.
They started by sending out notices to the box lacrosse players to encourage them to join field.
鈥淏ox lacrosse is a little bit quicker, it鈥檚 more reaction-based. Field lacrosse is more of, I like to say, a thinking man鈥檚 game.
There is much more strategy involved,鈥� said Robbie.
Using emails and word of mouth, the building of the 麻豆传媒映画team was slow, but steady.
By 2011 there were two 麻豆传媒映画teams and the U14 team drew attention to the competitive level of 麻豆传媒映画players by earning the U14, tier two provincial gold medal, which also won Robbie, who co-coached the team, honours as the field lacrosse coach of the year from the B.C. Lacrosse Coaches Association.
For the 2012 to 2013 season, 麻豆传媒映画counted four鈥痶eams and this season has five.
Liam O鈥機onnor has been a midfielder with the Burrards in 麻豆传媒映画since 2010.
This will be the Grade 9 Fraser Academy student鈥檚 second time at the provincials with the tier two U14 Burrards.
He said the strategy heading into the championship is to have a positive attitude.
鈥淓very team you can be beaten by, but you can also beat teams that you don鈥檛 think you can,鈥� he said.
The BCLA Field Lacrosse Provincial Championships will be held Feb. 21 to 23 at the Burnaby Lake West Sports Complex.
For more information on 麻豆传媒映画field lacrosse visit .
