Girls Field Lacrosse Comes To Chatham-Kent

The Chatham Field Lacrosse Association just wrapped up its first season with the U-13 group. With practices and games once a week, the squad of female athletes had a fun filled summer learning a new sport.

Girl’s field lacrosse is a unique sport. It is often confused with it cousin, box lacrosse, which is a full contact sport. Girl’s field lacrosse is a non-contact sport, which requires hand-eye coordination and stamina. It is a very safe sport and is referred to as the “fastest game on two legs”. The sport has many rules which are intended to keep the players free from injury. For this reason the only equipment required to play are eye guards, a mouth guard, shoes and a lacrosse stick (crosse). The game is played on a grass field with nets at both ends. Size of the field varies as to the age division playing. The nets are 6 by 6 feet in size and are protected by a goaltender who wears protective gear to prevent injury.

With Lacrosse being our nations’ national sport, it was decided that there is a need for another warm weather sport for girls in Chatham-Kent. North of London, the sport is quite prevalent with many associations playing in the Ontario Women’s Field Lacrosse Association. University scholarships are available at most institutions both in Canada, U.S.A and abroad.

Rocky Gaudrault and his umbrella corporation The Junctura Group, has always had a keen eye for spotting the next hot thing and they have snapped up the sport for Chatham-Kent, sensing what its future holds, and is committing to its development. Perry Haines is the founder of the Chatham Field Lacrosse Association, and is the driving force bringing the sport to our community. He wanted to provide another option for the youth of Chatham-Kent to be active and have fun while playing a great challenging sport. This is a sport which involves hand-eye coordination, upper and lower body strength, team work and stamina. With all these attributes being trained during the program there will be some tremendous athletes produced.

The season consists of an introductory program to teach the skills and rules, which leads into a scrimmage for the last half of the practice. Next season will have house league teams playing once a week with the possibility of a rep team which will be part of the Ontario Women’s Field Lacrosse Association.

The 2016 season will be opened up to other age divisions. Including an introductory program for kids aged 5-9 which will teach the basics in a fun atmosphere. Families who may be interested in this exciting sport can contact Perry Haines via email @ apeck@ciaccess.com. Registration for the 2016 season will be held in January with play commencing early April.