Sticks battle at national lacrosse tourney

THE Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility saw hundreds of interstate visitors this week with young lacrosse players taking part in one of Lacrosse Australia’s national championship.

The association’s Under 15 Boys and Girls National Tournament ran for a week and ended on Tuesday, making the competition’s first time in a regional Victorian location.

Eighteen teams of more than 300 players from Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and New Zealand took part in the event.

Dan Kadow travelled from Western Australia to watch his son Zac compete with the Western Braves and said the event showcased the rising talent in Australian lacrosse.

“There’s definitely a lot of up-and-coming players and they’re definitely going to be ones to watch out for over the next few years,” he said.

“My son’s just turned 12 this year and I think he’s one of the youngest in the competition. It can be a bit intimidating so he’s definitely had to prove himself but he’s loving it.

“All the players have shown great sportsmanship. I’m blown away by the facilities here as well. It’s a great put-on.”

Lacrosse Victoria’s general manager Michael Sholly said the competition’s Ballarat debut was about boosting the sport in the region.

“We chose Ballarat as part of the Commonwealth Games program of taking sport to regional towns,” he said.

“We want to grow the game here. We have a supporter in Tasmania who’s looking to support Ballarat lacrosse with a summer competition and recruiting AFL or soccer players to come join because there’s similar strategies.”

Sholly said the competition provided an ideal pathway for developing players.

“Because this is bigger, we have multiple teams in each state whereas once they get to under 18s, it’s the one state girl’s and one state boy’s teams,” he said.

“Some of these kids will go on into under 18s next year for Victoria. This is really the first time we see them playing at a high-performance level.”