Box lacrosse needs to draw elite athletes
Those actively involved in junior and senior box lacrosse are starting to express some concern that the pool of elite players in the game is decreasing.
It appears the numbers of youth starting out in lacrosse has remained relatively constant but fewer are staying with the game as they grow older.
Lacrosse is unique in Canadian sport in that there are two distinct versions of the game: box and field. From the 1800s to 1931 all lacrosse in Canada was the field variety. In 1931 the game switched over exclusively to box lacrosse as the popularity of the field game waned. Little field lacrosse was played in Canada until 1967 when the World Field Lacrosse championships were initiated.
Canada entered a team in those first games played in Canada as part of the Centennial celebration. The Peterborough Lakers box lacrosse team, under coach Bob Allan, the 1966 Mann Cup champions, was asked to represent the country in the four-team tournament.
Since 1967 field lacrosse had grown in Canada. Many high schools have both boys and girls programs. Canada now regularly enters teams in all international field events, having won the men’s world field event three times.
The disconnect that is troubling to box team operators is that too many young players are forgoing the box seasons and concentrating on field lacrosse at the club or school level.
Many of these decisions to concentrate on field lacrosse are being made by young players and their parents based on the scholarship opportunities available in the United States colleges and university for elite lacrosse players with academic qualifications.
Unfortunately many do not realize that Canadians who take on scholarship obligations in the U.S. are recruited not for their field lacrosse skills but for their exceptional box lacrosse abilities.
The U.S. produces more than enough excellent field lacrosse players from their extensive and growing high school and club field lacrosse program.
What college recruiters are looking for when they scout young Canadian girls and boys for scholarships is the unique skills an extensive box lacrosse program gives them. The young Canadian student-athletes that excel in the U.S. college systems, all come from solid box lacrosse backgrounds.
It is incumbent on the Ontario and Canadian lacrosse governing bodies as well as the club programs to insure box programs do not suffer because of field lacrosse. Field lacrosse is often an easier sell for organizations offering programming. Field is often enough to satisfy a young player’s interest in the game. But for those that have an aptitude for lacrosse, and that becomes evident at an early age, box lacrosse is the route to betterment in the game. Field lacrosse can be an additional outlet for good players but it will be their skills in box that will open doors for advancement.
Scholarships to the United States will continue to be a positive lure for young elite players to parlay their lacrosse skills. What organizations must do is insure that these players realize it will be their excellence in the box game along with the classroom that will attract recruiters.
College recruiters see thousands of great young American lacrosse players to fill their teams but it is those few Canadian players that are able to parlay their experience in the Canadian box game that allows them to rise above the others.
That is evident every year at the number of young student-athletes from Peterborough who win individual and team accolades in NCAA schools.
Minor organizations have to better organize their programs to insure those elite athletes stay at the box game. The survival of box lacrosse, in fact lacrosse in Canada, relies on it.