Minor lacrosse in the foothills will be flying under a new yet familiar flag going forward.
Okotoks Lacrosse board members voted in favour of changing names from the Okotoks Mustangs to the Okotoks Raiders Minor Lacrosse Association in order to facilitate alignment at every level of the sport.
“The vision that we saw was that we wanted the kids to have something to grow towards,” said Okotoks lacrosse association vice-president of organizational development Clint Bymak. “So a little kid can aspire to be a Raider playing at the Junior level.”
Okotoks lacrosse features boys and girls programs from the mini-tyke level to Junior to men’s and women’s masters in box lacrosse as well as a comprehensive field lacrosse program.
“I think it makes it easier for the community to understand if we’re all the Raiders,” said Bymak, who tabled the motion. “It’s a move towards taking our program to the next level similar to the (Coquitlam) Adanacs or the (Orangeville) Northmen.
“Most successful larger lacrosse programs have that larger agenda.”
President of Okotoks minor lacrosse Don Turner, who moved to the foothills from the lacrosse hotbed of Orangeville, Ontario, can speak to the successful vertical alignment emblematic of the sport’s vaunted programs.
“I moved from Orangeville a couple of years ago and my son played. He was a Northmen,” Turner said. “You’re born that way, you put on the jersey and you’re a Northmen until you’re too old to play. Then you join the alumni group.”
Graduates of the Mustangs program in past years have moved on to Junior teams in Calgary, and, as such, have lacked the program loyalty evident in lacrosse strongholds, Turner noted.
“We’re trying to build brand loyalty for kids and a little bit of enthusiasm towards always trying to be an Okotoks Raider,” Turner said. “We need to fire up the imagination of the kids and hope they always want to stick around lacrosse.”
The name change could be reflected as early as this summer through new uniforms and colours for the box and field lacrosse teams under the minor lacrosse umbrella.
“I’m designing the new logo and our idea is to reach out to corporate Okotoks for sponsorship,” Bymak said. “And put their names on our jerseys and make it more of a community thing.”
The name recognition that comes with taking on the name of the Raiders, one of the marquee Junior A box lacrosse teams in the province, should help that venture — even with the Jr. Raiders facing off the floor issues all season. The other three members of the Junior A division in Alberta tried unsuccessfully to have Okotoks booted from the league.
“Some people might look at that as a negative with all the name calling that’s gone on, but I don’t see that,” Bymak said. “I think it’s more about what the Raiders’ kids do for us.”
The Okotoks Jr. Raiders have been closely aligned with Okotoks minor lacrosse since moving to the Foothills from Calgary. Former Jr. A Raider coach Jesse Fehr is the Okotoks field lacrosse program coordinator and head coach, while Jr. Raider players such as Bret Davis and Jordan Getz chipped in with coaching duties this past summer.
However, there is no direct affiliation at this stage between Raiders minor lacrosse and the Jr. Raiders. Junior Raiders president David Fehr said he is optimistic that will one day change.
“Clearly the lacrosse community in Okotoks values the Raiders’ contributions to the program there,” Fehr said. “We’re just really hopeful that we can find a way to eventually get our draft picks on to the Junior B side of things in Okotoks.”
Registration for the 2013 season for Okotoks minor box lacrosse opens in mid-January. For more information go to www.okotokslacrosse.com.
