Registration was strong at all levels except the midget level this year for the Westlock Lacrosse Association, which kicks off the 2015 season this week.
Westlock Lacrosse president Stacy Howse indicated there were enough players in the novice and bantam age groups that they are able to field two teams at both.
Howse said they were conducting evaluations last week in order to split the novice and bantam players into two squads.
At the bantam level, evaluations consist of running the kids through drills and then assessing their skill level to determine where they will be tiered. Not the easiest job, considering they know virtually all the kids in lacrosse.
“In the city, sometimes they don’t know the kids as much. Sometimes they’re more like numbers to them, whereas we know the kids,” she said.
Novice is a different story, since those kids are just starting out and splitting them up into two teams is more about establishing parity between the two squads.
Howse noted they are still accepting registrations at the novice level, which is for players born in 2005 and 2006. Any parent whose child still wishes to sign up can call Howse at 780-307-4748 or visit the website, westlocklacrosse.ca.
“It’s not too late if anybody wants to come on out there,” Howse added.
She noted they nearly had enough players at the tyke and peewee levels to establish two teams.
“If we had four or five more kids, we could have done a couple of teams there as well,” she said.
The one disappointment this year is that Westlock is unable to field a midget squad due to a lack of players.
That really hurt for the kids at that level, some of whom have gone on to other programs in order to keep playing, she said.
There is no pre-season for lacrosse, as the rink at the Rotary Spirit Centre was in use for hockey until very recently.
Howse noted that Edmonton teams generally get going sooner, sometimes as early as January.
In any case, she said they are looking forward to the 2015 season.
“We’re quite excited about this season to see where it goes,” she said.
Westlock’s lacrosse teams play within the Greater Edmonton Lacrosse League (GELC).
