Hard work pays off

Donnella Swan

Times Contributor

 

It was a tough year for the Bantam girl’s lacrosse team. Coming together, out of 18 girls, only one had had experience playing the game before. 

“I feel they did very well this year” said head coach Todd Betterton. 

Having many beginners, everything had to be taught fresh from the start. 

“Catching, passing, shooting, ball control and just the basic fundamentals of lacrosse were the biggest challenge” said Betterton. 

Fundamentals were not the only thing however. Team building and how to work well together was a big aspect as well, and that goes for any kind of team sport. 

“It took a lot of courage for these girls to come into a game like lacrosse because it is a contact sport” said Betterton. 

Despite all odds however, the girls learned to play well together. They learned the basic rules and fundamentals of the sport and on their second last game they took hold of success. 

Winning 3-2 against a Calgary team, Betterton said “the fans erupted; it was like winning the Stanley Cup for them”. 

Betterton was quite pleased with the total outcome of the season. It was his first year out of six years of coaching to have that many beginning the sport. However, he said they were really a great bunch of kids and they supported each other tremendously. 

“They tried to execute everything that I taught them” said Betterton. 

Betterton hopes that because of the great season that the girls had, that more interest will be generated. Hopefully by next year there will be more interest developed and there could be more girls lacrosse teams started up in Strathmore. 

Betterton who is also President of the Strathmroe Lacrosse Club,  wanted to thank all the kids in the lacrosse association for their hard work this season, all the parent volunteers that were there to help throughout, all the coach volunteers, the hard working referees, and to all the arena staff that makes lacrosse such a special sport.