FAQ

Why Play Lacrosse?
Did you know many NHL players played lacrosse in the summer as kids to improve their hockey skills? Wayne Gretzky, Paul Kariya, Adam Oates, JoeSakic, Paul Coffey, Joe Niewendyk, Brendan Shanahan, Gary Roberts, KeithPrimeau, Adam Foote, in fact, Adrian Aucoin, Matt Barnaby & Marc Savard actually played in the Gloucester Lacrosse Association! Some of these players even said, "lacrosse was the best sport they ever played" (Shanahan, Niewendyk).

Wayne Gretzky on Lacrosse
"If sport has a high point of the year, it must be the first week of spring." "...When I was growing up, I used to love this time of year. It was when I put my hockey equipment away and I was absolutely ecstatic to see the end of the hockey season. One of the worst things to happen to the game, in my opinion, has been year-round hockey and, in particular, summer hockey. "All it does for kids, as far as I can tell, is keep them out of sports they should be doing in warmer weather. I could hardly wait to get my lacrosse stick out and start throwing the ball around. It didn't matter how cold or rainy it would be, we'd be out firing the ball against walls and working on our moves as we played the lacrosse equivalent to road hockey." "All the good hockey players seemed to play lacrosse in those days and every one of them learned something from the game to carry over to the other - things athletes can only learn by mixing up games they play when they are young."

Wayne Gretzky,
The Great One.

Lacrosse is one of Canada's best kept secrets, a wonderful game of speed and skill, exciting and a whole lot of FUN. It is easy to learn and when you become a part of it, the game is special. Created by our Native North Americans, it is as old as our country itself. Lacrosse and hockey are a perfect match, the skills of one impact tremendously on the other. Lacrosse improves your hand - eye coordination as you catch and throw the ball, demands a good level of physical conditioning to run the length of the rink to catch a breakaway pass, it teaches you to anticipate the play on offence and positional defense when the other team has the ball, it requires discipline to play properly and dedication to play well.

Sure. Your coach will provide you with any contact information you may require. You can also find the information on our web page.

We encourage you to come out and cheer on any of our teams. Some games there may give-aways.

During our normal house league season, our teams play other teams within our zone. That could include Smith Falls, Brockville.

Anyone who is eligible can join prior to April 26 for our House league teams or June 1 for our Rep teams. You can join us at any of our registration sessions, or by calling Jeff Guilimette.

Practices can be held at the North Grenville High school, or any of our home arenas: Osgoode, Spencerville or Kemptville. Our home games can be played at any of our three home arenas. Away games will be held in away arenas.

Be sure to notify the coach or assistant coach, prior to your absence. Being short on away games and having to cancel the game once there is not really fair for those that did travel and attend.

Traveling cost and equipment costs are usually the only other cost but registration in House League. Although some seasons, tournaments are available. Contact your coach for more information. For rep teams, there may be extra fees for tournament play as well.

What is the status of the new rink being ready in time for spring lacrosse. Someone said that the glass in the old rink will be removed in early May. Are the kids guaranteed a place to play for the full season?

The new rink may be ready sometime early June. The glass installed last year in the Kemptville Arena, will be removed mid-May and will be put in the new arena. For all games the teams will be playing in the Kemptville, Osgoode or Spencerville arenas. Some practices may be scheduled to be done in the North Grenville High School gym.

Indoor box lacrosse is a fast-paced action contact sport. However, the rules are designed to eliminate unnecessary roughness. No slashing, no checking from behind and no contact above the shoulders or below the waist with the stick or body is allowed. In KDLA House League play, fighting is grounds for ejection from the league with no refund of fees. The Tyke and Novice programs are focused on skill development with little body-checking allowed in their scrimmages or games. Rep teams, as in hockey, play a full-contact style of lacrosse and the increased skill level makes the game fast and exciting. Just as in hockey, the minor game is designed with the safety of the players in mind. The professional game doesn't reflect the emphasis on saftey and sportsmanshp that is emphasized at the minor level.

This is the first year that my child wants to play lacrosse, where can I find him equipment?

You can find basic, generic equipment at most sporting good stores. If you want to see or purchase some good lacrosse gear, the KDLA recommends you go to KAOS Lacrosse (formerly Xtreme Sports) in Ottawa. Specializing in lacrosse equipment, this retailer can find any thing you are looking for in regards to lacrosse. In Kemptville, Sun Mountain Sports, carries some STX Lacrosse equipment, but can order for you anything from their catalogue of products. For those closer to Brockville, The Soccer Den, carries a good selection of lacrosse gear.

I want to help volunteer some time as a shot-clock operator, but can't guarantee to be there for every game. Is that Ok?

We only require shot-clock operators for home games. We are currently looking for volunteers for shot-clocks and score keepers, and will soon have our game schedule finalized and will know when and how many games we will need volunteers for. If you can volunteer for at least 4 games this season it would be great. But if we don't have scheduled volunteers for the game, the coach my ask another parent to help out for the game.

Definitely, talk to your coach for some at home practice drills that can be done.

This is my sons second year in Tykes. He got a free stick last year, but doesn't get one this year. How come we don't get a discount ?

The free lacrosse sticks for the first year PPT (Peanut, Paperweight, Tyke) players are an incentive for new players. The cost of the sticks come out of sponsorship money to encourage new players.

The house league season starts at the end of April but there's been nothing posted yet ?

As of March 30, the arena are having the ice removed at the end of the week. Giving time for melting, cleanup, line painting, etc, we plan on being in the arena by the end of April. We should have a confirmed date for the first week of house league play, in the next week or two.

We currently only have about 60% of our house members signed up. But looking at the currently numbers and the projected number of players to sign up during the first week of house league play, it looks like we may have 1 Paperweight, 1 Tyke, 2 Novice, 3 PeeWee, 2 Bantam, 1 Midget and 1 Intermediate.

My son is in Tyke again this year. Last year we had only one game. Will it be the same this year?

No, this year, we will only have a PeeWee, Bantam, Midget and Intermediate teams for our Competitive season.

No we do not. The Nemesis Field Lacrosse program out of Ottawa, is the closest team for field lacrosse.

Last year the Rep team cost was less then $150, why does it say $200 approx. for this years fee cost?

Our Competitive team costs are based on a number of factors: OLA registration per player, at home arena costs for practice and home games, referee cost per home game, tournament registration costs, equipment cost, provincial and zone fee costs. Also included in the costs are coach, trainer and ref training. If new sweaters (jerseys) are required, and no sponsor is found, then the cost of sweaters per player is included. Some teams base they cost per player on the exact player participation. IE. If you only play in one tournament you only play for that tournament. The approximate cost of $200 was not to dramatically increase the cost over last year, but is an approximation of those factors. For those players that are playing in the houseleague program will already be paying into the cost of player registration, coaching, etc. and with a minimum of 10 practices, 10 games, 2 tournaments, zone championships and the provincials, the cost is approx $150 again depending on the number of players. If the player does not play houseleague, then the registration cost for competitive would be about $200. The exact cost per player will be determined during the first week of the competitive season.

My son is 10, will there be competitive try outs for the novice team for 2006?

If he was born in 96 or 97 then he'd be in Novice. In the past we haven't had much interest from the parents to have a competitive team at that level. After march break, those that have signed up for the winter program and/or house will be asked their option on a team this year. Having a competitive team at this level will allow them to play against any of the 8 other associations with competitive teams at that age group within our Zone. Right now our house league program is only allowed to interlock with two other associations, (something that is being challenged to change at the Semi-Annual general meeting in the Ontario lacrosse Association next week end). If they open it up to play any association in house , our kids will get better games out of it. If not, then we were thinking about signing up our houseleague kids as a competitive team, so they can go play, nepean, gloucester, cornwall etc if they want. And also allows them to participate in tournaments in Cornwall, or Gloucester. The comp fee per player, on a 12 person comp team is 20$, plus then the divided fee for each tournament and home comp game. If they decide to go this way, then it will probably be about $80 per player (12) for the comp team on top of the house league cost, that will cover 3 home comp games, and two tournaments. But that is a ball-park figure.