NATION LACROSSE
Sharing the Creator's Game
10 members of the 2024 U19 Nationals Team Alberta Field Bronze Medal Winners who our very own Nation Lacrosse Coach Dave Welton had the privilege of coaching at some point during their minor career. So proud of all of you!!
Friday Night Lights October 25th
On October 25th, we had a very special guest coach. Gord Henry from the National Sports Academy (NSA) spent the evening teaching high level stick skills and enhanced player vision and improved floor awareness on ball and off ball. This also allowed our younger goalies to experience offence initiated from different areas of the offensive zone.
Coach Gord is 3rd generation lacrosse player from B.C. with 2 of his uncles in the B.C. Lacrosse Hall of Fame and his son a former Victoria Jr A Shamrock and NLL Swarm player. He has coached all levels of Box and Field up to Junior and has been selected numerous times as Team Alberta Head Coach in Box and Field.
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Coach Jared was able to help his goalies track the ball from a variety of different offensive sets.
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Next week we will be having Coach Logan Sundholm former Founders Cup Champion with the Calgary Shamrocks as our special guest Coach.
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Friday Night Lights Oct 18th
October 18th was our second Friday Nights Lights camp and what a turnout. We now have 41 players in 3 age groups including 7 goalies from all over southern Alberta. Our players hail from Lethbridge, Taber, Brooks, Medicine Hat, Duchess and Gem.
This week, at U17, we taught how to play defense using Junior A tactics. The players did very well at applying what was taught, which made for very competitive 2v2 battles.
Our goalies were able to learn how to identify their proper angles based on where the ball was on the floor, at the same time being at the proper depth in their net.
The energy at the camp is enthusiastic and infectious, which helps make this a fun, encouraging learning environment. Thanks again to Chase, Jayden, Connor, Mike and Dennis. Also thank you to Doris and Margaret who are always there to help with administration.
​This coming Friday we will have a special guest. Here is a clue, he has coached both box and field Team Alberta teams and loves to ride horses.
Friday Night Lights Oct 11th 2024
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Hello Everyone:
Well we have our first Friday Night Lights under our belt and hopefully everyone had fun.
A big thanks to our Junior Players; Chase Misek (Mounties Jr A Goalie), Jayden Richards (Mounties Jr A player), Connor Materi (Chaos Jr B player). Also thank you to our Nation Assistant Director Jared Ferris (Founder Cup winning goalie) and to helpers Mike Materi and Coach Dennis LeBeuf.
Next week we will be introducing the basic pattern that all offences are build on to the U13s. This will incorporate stick skills and player movement while maintaining player balance on the floor. The U15 will review the swing drill and increase their lacrosse IQ while refining their skills. At U17 we will add 2 man and 3 man defence to our existing practice.
At Nation we believe in a progression approach to teaching lacrosse. We will strive to share with the players how each “lego block” fits with the next and why and when we choose to apply that learning.
First School Tribal Game
During the week of Truth and Reconciliation, Nation Lacrosse worked with Irvine School and Seven Persons School to teach the basics of field lacrosse and to make a lacrosse game between the 2 schools to embody the way the game was played back in the 1700s when the Jesuits first witnessed the game being played by the Indigenous people of Turtle Island. This was posted on their social media following the game.
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Seven Persons Students join Irvine School for a Healing Game of Lacrosse
event Published September 30, 2024
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This past Friday, September 27, to honour The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a group of students from Seven Persons School, accompanied by teacher Tanner Pruden, made the journey to Irvine School to participate in a traditional lacrosse game. Dave and Elizabeth Welton of Nation Lacrosse visited both schools last week to hold workshops on lacrosse skill development and understanding.
During the week, all students at Irvine painted rocks and prior to the game sat in an orderly row along the sidelines with their rock in front of them. “As part of our rock ceremony, we have done some learning that rocks have a special history for Indigenous culture. We understand that they have been here forever, tell a story and have special meaning for Indigenous people,” explained Vice Principal Heather Gust.
Following the rock ceremony, a group of Grade 6 students read out their individually created land acknowledgements. Dave Welton then spoke briefly before the game began. “We don’t play the game; we make a game. It’s part of the Indigenous history passed onto us from the first people of Turtle Island and then that game moved west in various forms of stick ball.” There are four reasons to play lacrosse, continued Welton, because it is a gift from the creator, to celebrate, to resolve disputes as well as being a part of healing.
Despite the blustery day, players from both schools enthusiastically ran onto the field with Welton acting as referee. At times the game was organized chaos with about 40 players on the field, but everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves and engaged fully in the experience.
At the close of the game, Welton congratulated both teams for playing a fantastic game and telling the students he thinks good medicine was made on the field. The winner of the inaugural Truth and Reconciliation lacrosse game was Irvine and Welton expressed the hope that a tradition has begun. Welton’s parting gesture was to gift a lacrosse stick that is over 60 years old to Irvine School.
As Seven Persons was about reboard the bus after the game, Tanner Pruden explained, “they had the option to come out today and about 36 students wanted to join. There was a focus on tribe against tribe and to spread awareness of lacrosse in general.”
By Samantha Johnson, Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer
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Feb 2024
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This past week Feb 3rd, saw the Junior RMLL Combine and on Feb 5th the Junior A Draft. 10 SALA players travelled to Calgary in hopes of impressing the Junior A coaches and gaining valuable experience competing against Calgary's best in several scrimmage games. Several coaches were impressed with the quality of SALA players. 2 days later the Junior A Draft took place in Calgary where the Raiders Jr A and Mounties Jr A drafted their prospects in 10 rounds. The first pick of the Calgary draft was our very own Garrett Janzen Raiders. Followed by Kayden Yeaman 4th Mounties, Alex Mundell 7th Raiders, Taylor Tisdale 13th Raiders, Dash Robichaud 17th Mounties.
This was a historic draft with 5 Sting Nation players being selected in the top 20.
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This is the second year in a row that Nation Lacrosse has had a #1 pick and the second time in 3 years that SALA has had a #1 pick.
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Congratulations Boys in a job well done. Good work Cody, Sean and Evan in coaching the boys up for this moment. Lastly congratulations to the parents who have supported and driven the miles to help their players pursue excellence.
Atticus Gr 1 student at Bow Island Elementary was our wood expert. Just by looking at a traditional lacrosse stick he was able to identify it as made of Shag Bark Hickory wood. We were so impressed that we sent him a Nation Lacrosse hat that was presented to him in a school assembly. Way to go Atticus!!!
Journey to 2024 Jr A Draft Day
Dated Jan 2024
The journey to draft day for 5 Sting Nation players started 5-6 yrs ago, at U13, where they all played SALA club lacrosse in Brooks and Lethbridge. Did they know they were destined to this day? No. They were exploring the sport of lacrosse.
Some liked it more than others. They played Sting lacrosse, an allstar "B" team, in tournaments. By the way they didn't win a single game.
Some played Jr Roughnecks with the best from the CDLA in the NLL Jr tournament and got to eThey all began the journey towards U17 with a passion for the game. This group at U17along with their teamates, won Gold in an A tournament as Sting Nation in Saskatoon. Their belief was solidified. At Canada Day, they earned a Silver. With renewed confidence they set their sites on the U.S. Box Nationals in San Jose and finished with Silver, losing to the Fusion Team from B.C. Sting Nation had a record of 12 - 2 with the losses coming in the finals. These players were part of a great team culture. They worked hard on their skills and lax IQ, listened to their coaches and were part of a great team leadership group. Everyone was unified towards the group vision. To be their best, to be great teamates and show strong character in adversity and most importantly have fun. Experience high end coaching and rub shoulders with the NLL pros and win games and even come 2nd in the tournament.
Then they were selected for Team AB and represented the province well, finishing with a Bronze at Nationals U17. They embraced the process and are now on the draft lists of both Jr A Clubs in Calgary.
Ready for the next adventure.
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