It’s out with the old and in with the new this week, as we catch up on some news from the past season of minor lacrosse and look ahead to the future…
Shortly before Christmas, the Nanaimo and District Lacrosse Association held its annual general meeting and awards night. We had space to pass along some highlights in an earlier column, but didn’t have room to mention a number of major awards and results of the AGM elections. Let’s rectify that right now, before dealing with registration for the season ahead.
NDLA awards included Defensive Player of the Year, which went to Hugh Blackman. Meridian Best was recipient of the Most Sportsmanlike Player of the Year award and Dawson Wassell was chosen as Most Improved Player. Honours for Best Goalie went to Tristan Slotte.
Next up were Most Valuable Player awards from the various divisions of minor lacrosse. Named as MVP from the peewee girls’ group was Sarah Ferguson, with Amy Cooke-Yarborough chosen from the bantam girls’ division. MVP from the midget girls was Celine Tardif, while the junior girls’ winner was Toni Angell.
From the divisions of boys’ teams, first winner was Brayden Turnbull as Most Valuable Player from the peewee age group. MVP from the bantam division was Bryce Taylor, who played on the bantam A2 team and was also a member of the bantam Team B.C. that earned a silver medal at nationals.
Ben Cawthorne was honoured as MVP from the midget division. Cawthorne not only played on the midget A2 squad, but was also a member of Vancouver Island’s B.C. Summer Games team that won silver. He was also a member of the midget Team B.C. squad that won a silver at nationals.
Selected as the NDLA Lacrosse Boy from last season was Mitch Davie, a graduating minor lacrosse player who was lauded not only for his leadership and his abilities as a player, but also for giving back to the game as a respected referee.
On the subject of officials, Jacoby Krassman was named as Referee of the Year. In other major awards, Chris Bowman was chosen as Coach of the Year and Debbie Cawthorne was recognized as Manager of the Year. Cawthorne had been a team manager for 10 years with the association, as well as for several Island district teams and Summer Games team. She had also served as a division coordinator and was registrar for the past eight years.
Still with awards, it should be mentioned that the B.C. Lacrosse Association this past year named NDLA volunteers Shawna and Darren Angell as Family of the Year for their contributions to box lacrosse. Also honoured by the provincial association was outgoing NDLA president Gord Cawthorne. Cawthorne was named as Zone 6 Coach of the Year for his work as head coach of the B.C. Summer Games box lacrosse team as well as assistant coach with the midget Team B.C. After serving as association president for five years, Cawthorne decided to step back from the position.
Bruce Merner agreed to be the acting president in addition to equipment manager, with head coach Brian Boas the acting vice-president. Tracey Lassam was elected secretary and Natalie Cashmore was re-elected as treasurer. Although the position of registrar remains open at this point, 2013 registration forms have been mailed out. A drop-in registration session is scheduled for this Sunday (Jan. 20), from 1-4 p.m. at the Beban Park social centre. The registration deadline is Feb. 15.
Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair, and show good sportsmanship.
Ian Thorpe writes about sports Saturdays.