Four members of the Okotoks Mustangs program are about to put it on the line for national bragging rights in lacrosse.
Mustangs Ally Bymak and Julia Porter were named to the Alberta Bantam Girls Lacrosse team, as was Okotokian Natalie Valleau at the Midget level, for the Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA) Female National Championships, July 29 to Aug. 2 in Victoria.
Meanwhile, Chas McArthur will be the sole male representative from the Mustangs program at nationals as he sets course for the CLA Midget Box Championships, Aug. 4-12 in Whitby, Ont.
For Bymak, qualification on to the provincial team was a long time coming.
The talented 13-year-old just completed her third season playing up at the Bantam level, but was only eligible to qualify for the provincial team this year — her first season as a true Bantam.
“The last two years I haven’t been able to try out because of my age,” she said. “All my friends would be on it and always talk about how fun it is and getting to know the girls better so it was exciting when I finally made it.”
The tryout experience for Team Alberta was daunting at first, but the emphasis on scrimmages over technical drills worked out in Bymak’s favour, she said.
“I was really, really scared at the beginning because there were so many people, but it ended up working out,” Bymak said. “I’m way better at scrimmages than drills and it was easier because I knew a lot of the girls.”
Bymak, alongside numerous friends and acquaintances from the Calgary Axemen and Sherwood Park Titans on Team Alberta, will be looking to de-throne the powerhouse Team Ontario, the national champion’s for three consecutive years.
Bymak and her teammate Porter are two of just a handful of first-year Bantam players on a roster made up largely of second-year Bantams.
The competition at nationals shouldn’t faze Porter. The High River resident plied her trade last season with the Mustangs boys in Peewee before making the jump to Bantam this year. The pint-sized sniper said rounding out her defence is a primary goal of hers at nationals.
“I want to work on my defence because I’m not the biggest,” she said. “And score some goals too.”
Team Alberta is holding team-bonding sessions and practices on a weekly basis in Red Deer prior to boarding the bus to British Columbia’s capital at the end of the month.
“Our coach told us all as a group that we looked like we worked well together,” Porter said. “It’s going to be a good (showing) I can feel it.”
Valleau is heading west for the second year in a row after experiencing the national competition first-hand as a first-year Midget on Team Alberta when New Westminster, B.C. hosted the tournament in 2011.
Heading into the tournament as a veteran this go around, Valleau said she wants to take more of a leadership role.
“Last year I kind of held back and didn’t play to my full potential as much and just let the older girls do most of it,” she said. “This year I want to try and be out there on the powerplay and penalty kill and be one of the best players on the team and try to lead it a bit more.”
Valleau said she is optimistic Alberta can improve upon its third place finish from a year ago.
“Hopefully this year we’ll get a gold or a second,” Valleau said.
For Chas McArthur, a product of the Okotoks Mustangs program since he first set foot on the lacrosse floor at the age of four, is making his fourth trip to nationals and second at the Midget level.
“I’ve been on the team in previous years and the (coaches) like the way I go for loose balls and I’m not really a shooter, I more like to pass the ball,” he said. “They know I like to try hard.”
The 16-year student at the Edge School in Calgary said the elite Alberta Midget players really benefit from the experienced coaching staff.
“We got Ryan Avery and Sean Cable, two former (Calgary) Roughnecks coaching the team last year and this year so we learn a lot of new things from them,” McArthur said. “It’s always a great learning experience.”
The Albertans finished off the podium a year ago, but McArthur said he is confident they can challenge for the title.
“We’ve got a lot of the same players returning so I’d like to maybe even try for gold this year,” he said.
For more information and full tournament schedules go to www.lacrosse.ca.
