Lethbridge Lacrosse Association introduces new initiatives

By Lethbridge Herald on May 12, 2023.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Lacrosse Association is three weeks into its season, but have begun a few new initiatives to grow the game in the area in 2023. The initiatives started in the offseason when LLA coaches and board members took the time to go into schools to do Lacrosse and Learning. “Where we would spend the entire day at a school and like we would see 300,400 children in one day and teach them the fundamentals,” said Jackie Anderson-Lea, LLA president. “But then we also have started a program where we’re teaching physical education teachers how to roll it into the curriculum. And that is something that … the Lethbridge lacrosse coaches are doing exclusively for Lethbridge.” The Barracudas Tier I and the Southern Alberta Chaos Tier II junior teams have taken over the southern Alberta elite lacrosse programming. The programming takeover will use a phase-in approach where over the next few years the junior teams will take over all coaching and player development in the south in what will be called the Junior Development Program at the minor lacrosse level. “What we were finding is that by players leaving and being taught elsewhere when they come to that Tier I or Tier II major league draft, they weren’t familiar with the systems,” she said. “They might (be) great athletes but they’re kind of like fish out of water. And so to make it a more seamless transition, we want to provide the same level of coaching and the same level of expertise from the time they have a stick in their hands all the way up to the gauntlet basically.” LLA has placed more of a focus on more coaches by having recent graduates of the Barracuda and Chaos junior program go obtain their National Coaching Certification Program certificate. “We’re sort phasing away from that model of parents only on the bench and actually having legitimate high-level athletes coaching from Tykes on,” she said. LLA ran several Come Try-It events recently, which has resulted in a 47 per cent increase in players playing this season at the minor level. “So very exciting,” said Anderson-Lea. “It was a lot of last minute though. So putting the teams together was a little bit challenging. So we do have some oversized rosters. We had a couple of groups where we’re at kind of that weird cusp where it’s not enough to break it into two teams. But it’s a little big for one team.” These initiatives were a part of a long-term vision for LLA. “We’re totally prepared that there will be some growing pains,” said Anderson-Lea. “It’s a different model but it’s going really well so far.” LLA’s annual Floorbusters tournament is May 26-28.