Knights drop opener

Dave Huntley feels he’s let Canada’s national men’s lacrosse players down by not making headway with the Canadian Lacrosse Association on concerns of inadequate insurance.

Two Canadian defenders, Cam Holding and Dan Coates, suffered ACL tears at the team’s training camp in Buffalo that will force them to miss the entire NLL season. Both play for the Colorado Mammoth.

Holding, who lives in the U.S. and recently purchased a home with his wife, estimates he’ll lose 50 per cent of his income in 2018. Since the injury occurred in an activity not involving the Mammoth he’ll not be covered by their insurance and won’t be paid while on the team’s physically unable to play list. He’s also trying to determine to what extent the CLA insurance assists with rehabilitation and physiotherapy costs. The CLA’s $9,100 maximum disability insurance falls well short of making up lost wages.

“The biggest thing for me is now I’m out for the NLL season which is a big chunk of my annual income,” Holding said. “The whole insurance game is kind of new to me so I’m still trying to figure it all out.”

Many professional lacrosse players rely on second jobs to supplement their income. Sources say the salary range for NLL players, in U.S. dollars, is about $10,000 for rookie players to $40,000 for a franchise player. There is a chance to earn a bit more in bonuses and playoff shares.

“Most guys have second jobs where both pays combine for a normal decent salary so losing one of those isn’t ideal,” said Holding, who works lacrosse schools and coaches for additional income.

Huntley, director of Canada’s national men’s program, played for Canada’s 1978 gold medal world championship team. He’s been a player, coach and manager in the program for most of the past 40 years. He and women’s director Gary Gait, indoor director John Mouradian and national teams chairman Dean French have raised the insurance issue with the CLA repeatedly since 2010.

The lack of action on this, and other issues, led to the four signing a letter to the CLA board demanding action by March 2018 or else they will resign. This management team has brought three gold and two silver medals for Canada at the past five world championships across the five national teams.

“It’s always been an issue because it’s complicated. It’s not primary insurance, it’s secondary insurance coverage,” Huntley said. “When medical insurance was simple back in the ‘70s, ‘80s and even the ‘90s it was almost a non-event. I distinctly remember in 2010 Billy Dee Smith had a bad knee injury and it was at that point we realized the insurance coverage, even though it was secondary, appeared to be inadequate. It was not substantial especially in how it related to rehab and physical therapy. We brought that to the attention of the board and the executive director at the time.”

Huntley said they asked for a review of coverage but also for greater disclosure in the player agreements on what was or wasn’t covered by the insurance. They wanted players to know the risks so they could make informed decisions on whether to play or purchase additional coverage.

“To my knowledge it’s never had the type of rigorous review we would have liked to see of the policies,” Huntley said.

It was raised again in 2015 and again in March as a priority and still no action, he said.

“We now have two players who are in a bit of a pickle with their insurance coverage,” Huntley said. “They happen to be two guys who are full-time lacrosse players and they don’t have insurance so all they have is secondary insurance.”

Huntley said it’s probably not realistic to expect the CLA to provide insurance that will cover full loss of wages. That’s why it’s important, he said, greater disclosure be provided to players.

Huntley says his group has been patient with the CLA understanding it takes time to review these types of things but it’s dragged on to a point where patience has worn out.

“I’m disappointed that we, as a group, haven’t been able to make any progress on this,” said Huntley.

As athlete director Derek Graham’s role is to be the players’ conduit to the CLA board. Graham, a former Laker, said the board is currently discussing these issues “in camera” and so he is unable to comment specifically on the insurance issue but he said it’s his intention to do everything in his power to help the players.

“It’s not like this board of directors doesn’t care about their national athlete. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Graham said.

“I was a player. We want to do everything we can to help these guys go forward. I think when the dust settles you’ll see we’re going to take a hard look at these things which were already on the agenda to be talked about next month in Winnipeg (at the CLA AGM). We’ll be presenting motions to the board that will help deal with some insurance issues.” The Fleming Knights men's basketball team dropped their OCAA home opener 83-72 to the Loyalist Lancers on Wednesday at the Peterborough Sport and Wellness Centre. Nate Scott topped Fleming with 21 points while Evan St. Hilaire-Boney had 17 and Lavar Williams 13. Noah Korovesi led Loyalist with 15 points.