Attack coach earns award of excellence

When Pat Pembleton exchanged his stick and gloves for a whistle, he had no idea what he would one day accomplish.

Once a grand champion on the floor, the Brantford-native has established himself in the senior women’s box lacrosse circuit over the last two seasons as head coach of the Grand River Attack.

Pembleton, no doubt, had a memorable summer this year.

This season with the Attack, he earned his first coaching title, taking his team to a provincial championship.

On Saturday, Pembleton added an Ontario Coaching Excellence Award to his ever-growing resume and his career behind the bench is only getting started.

“It’s gratifying for sure. It means people are paying attention to what you’re doing,” Pembleton said.

The OCEAs held their third annual event this past weekend. Their awards recognize coaches from all over the province who exemplify the dedication and the commitment needed to inspire athletes.

The show was held in the auditorium of the Innis Town Hall Theatre in Toronto. Pembleton attended the breakfast ceremony to accept his first of perhaps many coaching awards.

“It was amazing. There were videos of all the coaches that won the award in their different categories, who they were coaching and what they had to say about them.”

“It was overall a nice thing to be a part of.”

Pembleton was born on the Six Nations reserve and began his lacrosse career at the age of six, playing on the reserve before moving to the Buffalo area at the age of nine.

He played in the Niagara-onthe-Lake box lacrosse system through his junior years, playing all the way up until his junior season.

“When I was growing up, that was really the closest place to play,” Pembleton said. “My father worked out of the Tuscarora reserve and a lot of the native players played out of Niagara-onthe-Lake.”

“It was just a natural fit.” After his time in Niagara, he transitioned to playing for the Tuscarora reserve senior men’s team. He played with the club based out of Lewiston until the team dissolved in 1993-94 — the year they won the Presidents’ Cup.

During that time, his parents moved to Fort Erie, a town Pembleton said was good fit due to its native-American community. Pembleton still calls the southern-Niagara community home and continued his career in Tuscarora until he finally retired in 2004 at age 40.

Even though his professional career is over, Pembleton still tries to get out on the floor as often as he can.

With almost 50 years’ experience in the game, it’s no wonder the current head coach of the Grand River Attack was also chosen to coach the Ontario U19 women’s box lacrosse team this past summer.

Pembleton coached the team to a silver medal on the national stage, an experience the long-time coach said was humbling.

“It was young, talented women who knew how to play the game,” Pembleton said. “We only had five weeks to prepare, we were under the eight-ball from the start… the talent level was unbelievable.”

“I enjoy coaching, it actually relaxes me and it’s giving back to the people who want to learn the game. Somebody took the time out to teach me, so it’s just me going full circle with it.”

Pembleton will be returning for his third season with the Grand River attack in the spring of 2018.

“It’s all about trying to repeat for next year. I have a very talented team, girls are willing to work and that’s exactly what it takes.”