New Brunswick's only junior lacrosse team losing their local practice space
Coach says lack of space hurting interest in the sport
Jacob Norton wants to see the sport of lacrosse grow in Saint John but says that not having a place for players to consistently practise is hurting both interest in the game and players being able to hone their skills.
In April, the Saint John Rapids organization sent a letter to the city asking for a regular space where the roughly 60 players, aged 17- 21, that make up the junior men's and women's teams, can hold their practices.
The teams have been using the Peter Murray Arena, as well as going all the way to the Tantramar Regional Civic Centre in Sackville. But as of Tuesday they will be losing the Peter Murray space since the arena will be putting the ice back onto the floor for hockey.
"Before that, we were using gym spaces, like university gyms. We really had no place to practise," said Norton, who is the head coach of the junior women's team and one of the coaches who signed the letter.
"And that's through the entire province. We were looking in Fredericton, in Saint John, in Moncton, Sackville, even up in Miramichi, and we just couldn't find any place to practise except for gyms."
The team will now be travelling to the arena in Hampton, about 40 kilometres away or, when they can't go there, to Sackville, which is 200 kilometres away for the mostly Saint John-area players.
Saint John Rapids compete in the East Coast Junior Lacrosse League, where all of the other teams are based out of Nova Scotia. The league will be holding games until August.
Norton says the situation makes it difficult to attract new players.
"If you have a lack of [practice facilities] and you can only do it in very small areas and only allowed to do random practice times here and there to make sure that everybody gets fit in, they're going to be like, let's just take the easier thing with soccer," he said.
"There's a ton of fields available or, basketball, there's a ton of floor space available."
The letter requested short-term solutions, such as opening the Belyea Arena on Lowell Street for two to three nights a week during the season, being able to use TD Station with help from the city to rent the space, or potentially using an empty warehouse owned by the city.
When asked for comment, the city's spokesperson, Erin White, said in an email "there are no additional updates available to provide at this time. As per previous comments from City staff related to this topic, the City does everything it can to try and book as much time as possible for all organizations looking to use our facilities."
Norton said gyms are far from ideal for box lacrosse players, where the players need boards along the perimeter of the playing area to properly play the game, distinct from field lacrosse, which is played in an open field.
He says the lack of a consistent place is resulting in the team struggling to keep up with the other, entirely Nova Scotia-based teams in the league, which is problem with New Brunswick set to host the Canada Games in 2029.
"Falling behind in lacrosse is huge right now," he said.
"New Brunswick used to be one of the better teams in Atlantic Canada. Right now we are falling behind in that."
Demi Johnston, 21, the junior women's team captain, said the lack of a designated training facility in Saint John is stunting the sports' growth.
"I think a big reason people choose other sports is because it's going to give them the practice and time that they want to dedicate to a sport, and we just don't have it."
Macey Hatfield, 18, said the right space is elemental to being able to compete with other teams.
"Having our own facility, where we could practise as well as play games, would be huge because we don't practise in the same facility that we play games in right now, which is obviously different because the size of the arena is much different," Hatfield said.
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