Lacrosse, indoor soccer ask for more floor time

By Brady Grove, Times Reporter

The Strathmore Lacrosse Club is looking to the new Strathmore Motor Products Sports Centre to increase its floor time and help expand its player base, but the Strathmore Minor Soccer Federation is also looking at the new facility for the same reasons.
Strathmore Lacrosse Club president Jon Peters told Strathmore town council on Dec. 19 that getting enough floor time is one of the club’s biggest challenges.
“We are looking to make lacrosse more competitive in Strathmore (and) we’ve been doing really well as an association competing against Calgary teams over the years,” said Peters. “But now we’re not advancing as much as we want, and the biggest problem is floor time.”
The lacrosse club is looking for a 19 per cent increase in floor time which works out to 52 hours of play.
The lack of available floor time in Strathmore has led to money flowing into Calgary facilities, and more travel for players and their families. The club currently plays at the Strathmore Family Centre, but it is forced to wait until the ice is out before starting the lacrosse season.
The lacrosse club was offered more time during its regular season and Peters said that would help with local tournaments. But it doesn’t solve the issue of getting the club more practice time in the off season to improve its players and grow its base.
In the 2018 season, the club had 235 players on 13 teams ranging from mini-tykes (ages 5-6) to juniors (ages 16-21). Most of the teams in the lacrosse organization are B and C teams but the peewee division had its first season with an A team.
According to Peters, the club’s goals for the 2019 season include increasing the player base by 11.5 per cent to 262 players and adding three new teams. The club also wants to increase its focus on the novice division (age 9-10).
The Strathmore Minor Soccer Federation faces many of the same challenges as the lacrosse club, especially when it comes to floor time. The federation is also trying to advance and grow its indoor program and avoid having families travel to Calgary.
“We don’t have any proper facilities to play in for our indoor program right now,” said federation president Mark Shorhen. The indoor soccer program’s ages range from four to 18 comprised of about 250 players this year, with two competitive teams playing games in Calgary.
Currently the teams are practicing on hardwood in school gyms, but they play their games in Calgary on turf which is creating a tactical disadvantage, according to Shorhen.
The lacrosse players face the same disadvantage with about half of the playing surfaces being concrete and half being turf, according to Peters. The Strathmore Motor Products Centre will have turf.
One of the big issues with the new sports centre is discussion around the installation of boards for box lacrosse. The boards are needed for lacrosse but they represent a safety issue for the soccer players.
“Unlike lacrosse and hockey where you have some equipment to protect you from the boards, soccer has absolutely none,” said Shorhen, who added that he is concerned about someone getting tripped or potentially roughed up near the boards and causing a concussion or another serious injury.
According to Shorhen, indoor soccer is getting away from the boarded system and Alberta is currently the only province with boards in indoor soccer. Most of the Calgary facilities have boards but the newest ones do not.
A decision is yet to be made on the installation of boards in the sports complex. The lacrosse and soccer seasons only overlap for about a month in March, according to Shorhen.
“Soccer’s opinion is we do not want boards,” said Shorhen. “If they do get put in we will still probably use it if we have the numbers.”
Removable boards have been discussed but cost has been seen as a potential issue. Shorhen said he was told it could cost up to $6,000.
Shorhen and Peters are friends, and both want their sports and athletes to have more local options and reduce travel to the city, which is a big barrier for some families.
“At the end of the day everybody wants the kids playing sports,” said Peters. “We’re all willing to work with it but we just need the direction to be set and everybody to say exactly what they are going to be doing.”