Young lacrosse players will have a chance to work on their skills in a socially distanced camp setting at NDSS Field Aug. 24-27. (Jeff Armstrong)

By Alex Rawnsley

Stick Skills

High tempo, socially distanced Nanaimo lacrosse camp to focus on fundamentals

Aug 21, 2020 | 6:26 AM

NANAIMO — Games and competition may have been shuttered for 2020 but lacrosse continues to grow its presence in the region.

The Fusion West Lacrosse Camp is slated to be held at NDSS Aug. 24-27. The camp is geared towards children aged seven to 16.

Program head coach and professional lacrosse player Kevin Crowley said the focus is on the fundamentals for both field and box lacrosse.

“The proper form for catching, passing and scooping up loose balls. We don’t have any contact right now so we’ve found creative ways for players to work on their fundamentals while maintaining their social distancing.”

Originally from New Westminster, Crowley plays in Philadelphia for two teams in different leagues, being drafted first overall in both the Major League Lacrosse (MLL) and National Lacrosse League (NLL) in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

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He’s the only player in lacrosse history to be drafted first overall, twice.

“In my career, the east coast guys used to make fun of me saying I had ‘west coast hands’. For some reason we’re a little stiffer, less fluent with the lacrosse sticks,” Crowley said. “I’m big on crushing that stereotype with the younger generation and I want these guys to have smooth, fluid, efficient stick work.

Crowley added skills taught for one lacrosse discipline often translate to the other and experience in both areas is why Canada produces some of the sport’s best players.

Locally, the sport continues to grow with the camps enabling many adults who moved away from lacrosse to reconnect.

“Lacrosse is a generational thing and I think a lot of people don’t realize that, how big the sport is Nanaimo. A lot of the dad’s (of kids at camps) played with my uncle on the mainland or played in a masters program, so it really is a very small world.”

Crowley is also helping branch the sport out at different levels.

He is involved in the creation of a north Island travel team with the aim of competing in the lower mainland and the United States when travel restrictions allow.

–with files from Dan Marshall

alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley