ELORA – The Centre Wellington Minor Lacrosse Association is bringing a whole day of lacrosse to the community this weekend.
The association has teamed up with the Junior B Mohawks and the Fergus Junior C Thistles to put together the day-long event on May 29 at the Elora and District Community Centre, with the minor lacrosse games starting at 10:30am.
“We’re really excited about it,” said Nathan Joyes, president of the association.
“And we just want to make sure that as many members of the community that are interested are able to come out and attend and check it out.:
He added, “We want to share it because we know that Fergus and Elora are really kind of growing.
“And we want to make sure that the new people to the community are able to see the beauty that is a lacrosse game and share in the excitement and the fun that you get from playing it.
“And some of … the creativity that some of the players have, it’s just unreal.”
The association has also partnered with an athletic trainer who will conduct workout demonstrations and will be offering tutorials and information sessions in the afternoon.
RTHC Health Company in Elora will also be on hand to talk about the “athlete blueprint and taking your game to the next level,” Joyes explained.
Eramosa Physio and Grand River Physio will also be available to speak on different topics surrounding maintaining your body as well as injury recovery and watching out for concussions.
“That is a very informative day for the guys for sure and just the general public as well,” Joyes said.
The day will also include an open trial lacrosse event.
“Kids that have never played before or people that are just interested are able to come out and for about 45 minutes in the early afternoon they can come out and give lacrosse a shot,” Joyes explained.
Also on the schedule are the Fergus Junior C Thistles versus the Orangeville Northmen at 3pm with the CWMLA U7 Select Riverhawks battling against the Orangeville Northmen at 5pm.
The day will cap off with the Elora Junior B Mohawks going up against the Hamilton Bengals at 7pm.
Joyes said it was important to the association to come together with the junior programs and put on an event that would share lacrosse and their programs to the community.
“It was just really important for … all three clubs to come together and kind of put on a large event that would showcase all the talent that we have across the board,” he said.
“From the young players (five and six years old), all the way up to the 21-year-old players that we’ve got, and the pathways that you can take through your lacrosse career and the journey that you can have with making lifelong friends and just being just a great athlete for life.”
Another important piece of the event is the mental health discussions slated for 2pm with the Canadian Mental Health Association of Waterloo Wellington.
“We’ve seen an increase in deaths by suicide over the past number of years,” Joyes said.
“And just bringing awareness to that has been important to us and just making sure that our athletes are taking care of not only their physical body, but the mental side of themselves as well.
“It’s not just sports, we don’t talk about it enough in people,” he added.
“And we have a great platform and we can share that with the community and bring additional awareness.”
Joyes wants to thank Wayne England from the Centre Wellington Minor Lacrosse Association, John Clayton and Kyle Goss from the Elora Junior B Mohawks and Dean Harrison from the Fergus Junior C Thistles for their help in getting the event together.
For more information on the event or to view the full schedule for the day, visit cwminorlacrosse.ca/article_feed.html.
