Marc Carmichael, the first lacrosse coach in the history of Point Grey secondary, was on the sideline at O’Hagan Field in late December, shouting instructions at a field of helmeted players.
“Don’t think of it like soccer!”
“If you hit his stick, you’ll destabilize it — hit it!”
And among the directions, a question: “Who’s the kid in the blue helmet? Tell him to come over here.”
The secondary school has never had a field lacrosse team and neither has any Vancouver public school. The Hounds are the first, ever. They join Vancouver College, whose program dates to 2003 and now has junior and senior teams, in a large regional league that includes teams like the Maple Ridge Ramblers and Delta Pacers, where there is a new lacrosse sport academy.
Like the many Hounds who are new to lacrosse, Carmichael is new to coaching this sport. (He also coaches senior girls soccer at Point Grey.) His teenage son plays in city club and petitioned with teammates for a school team, which now counts 15 players from Grades 8 to 12 although there are not enough seniors for a team.
Half the players are rookies.
“There is no stereotypic player group,” said Carmichael. “We would love to recruit any player who has the desire to learn and play the game. We have a few girls interested in playing and the senior players are now getting wind of what the game can offer.”
Called the fastest sport on two feet, lacrosse draws on elements of hockey and soccer and has a meaningful aboriginal tradition, but the first abilities players need to develop are their stick skills.
“You can’t really do a lot if you can’t catch a pass,” said Jared Lynd, 15, one of the players who pushed for a team at Point Grey and who competes with the Vancouver Killarney Minor Lacrosse Association.
“Also, I try and sometimes throw the body around, thrown my shoulder into someone,” he said.
The Hounds are bolstered by a few players whose Bantam “B” box team, the Burrards, came from behind to win gold at provincials this summer. The city’s only minor league has supported Point Grey with equipment and other intangibles like encouragement and guidance.
One of the winning team’s coaches was Cody Macvey, who also assists at Vancouver College where Matt Esaw is the head coach.
Esaw was thrilled by the addition of a second Vancouver high school program and said the Hounds are “ground-breaking.”
The schools that have teams typically have successful lacrosse programs in their community, such as Delta, Coquitlam and Langley, he said. Teachers and parents volunteer to coach student-athletes who are already passionate about lacrosse. Vancouver College draws students from around the Lower Mainland and so has a number of players who compete with suburban clubs.
“However, it is a little tougher for schools in Vancouver who are not very familiar with the sport,” Esaw wrote in an email to the Courier. “That being said, things are changing in Vancouver.”
The membership at the city’s minor lacrosse association is swelling, and Canada’s national summer game is the fastest growing sport at North American universities and colleges, according to the U.S. Lacrosse Association. This means scholarships and post-secondary opportunities for Vancouverites like Lord Byng's Jishan Sharples.
The Burrard’s PeeWee “C” team also won provincials this July, and Corvin Mack, a student at Prince of Wales secondary, was named to the provincial bantam all-star team and the B.C. aboriginal team. Tyler Vogrig is another success; the Grade 12 student at Van Tech was chosen first overall in the provincial midget draft.
Since the Vancouver College program launched a decade ago under the guidance of Jim Canil, the Fighting Irish have sent five graduates to play at Canadian universities, including Esaw who graduated in 2005, as well as Nate and Sam Clare, named an All-American as a freshman in 2011. All three played for SFU.
Since its beginning, the Fighting Irish program, as Esaw put it, “… welcomed any student with open arms, gave them a stick, and let them play.
“I believe this is the mentality of most of the other lacrosse teams starting up around the lower mainland,” he said.
That’s certainly the idea at Point Grey.
“The intent of this club is to introduce the joys and challenges to students who have dropped out of sports like hockey and soccer,” said Carmichael. “For brand new kids, it is a great fitness sport with a quick and rewarding learning curve.”
Over-run and out-scored in their first game, the Hounds improved as the minutes ticked by and found a way to score three goals in the final quarter.
“It is amazingly rewarding,” said Carmichael.
Lacrosse is not yet sanctioned by B.C. School Sports, but the March championship goes ahead independently, said the coach. “Because it is a club, players can join during the season.”
In the first exhibition game of their maiden season on Dec. 18 at O’Hagan Field, the Hounds wore donated jerseys and counted at least 10 players on loan from their more established Fighting Irish hosts. The score, terribly imbalanced, was irrelevant.
Carmichael and volunteer assistant coach Nicole Ferrie explained the game as it unfolded, pulling players aside and also shouting across the field as he did.
To a player she said, “You see how fast this game can be? You can never outrun the ball. Pass it instead.”
Ferrie’s son plays in the Vancouver minor league and her knowledge of the sport is as evident as her ability to share it with the teen boys. The Hounds will continue to develop before the spring championship.
On that topic, Carmichael bellowed one more important message at his players: “You’re looking up, boys!”
