The first-ever all-female field lacrosse tournament is happening this weekend at Nanaimo's Harewood Centennial Park, with games starting on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. (Submitted/Claire Palmer)

By Jordan Davidson

all-female lacrosse

‘It’s a lot of fun to watch:’ inaugural all-female field lacrosse tournament hits Harewood fields

Nov 1, 2024 | 2:55 PM

NANAIMO — A first-of-its-kind all-female field lacrosse tournament is taking over a south Nanaimo sports field this weekend.

The 2024 Van Island Girls Cup Tournament starts at Harewood Centennial Park on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. at Sherry Field with a blessing from local Snuneymuxw First Nation elder Lolly Good, followed by a U-18 game.

President of the Nanaimo District Lacrosse Association Bryan Norby said this is the first multi-divisional all-female field lacrosse tournament to take place on Vancouver Island.

“We have 13 total teams including teams from the mainland, just under 300 athletes coming to Nanaimo to enjoy our brand-new Sherry Fields facility in Harewood right next to Barsby (school). These are two brand new AstroTurf fields that are absolutely amazing and are a big help for Nanaimo field lacrosse moving forward.”

Teams from U-13, U-15, and U-18 divisions will be represented, with games happening all weekend leading up to the final medal games on Sunday with the public invited to come and watch the action.

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Norby said female field lacrosse is completely different from box or co-ed field lacrosse, with the players having a bit more freedom of movement to make plays.

“The girls wear almost no protective gear so there’s a lot of rules involved in the game that protect the girls from hurting each other. There’s no contact, there’s no cross-checking, there’s no stick slashing, it’s all about athleticism and moving the ball around, and it creates a really cool game… the U-18 can really run and really move the ball and it’s a lot of fun to watch.”

Members of the U-15 Raiders lacrosse team who took home the silver medal in provincials last season. (Submitted/Claire Palmer)

He said female lacrosse is “exploding” in popularity locally, encompassing about half of the lacrosse players in Nanaimo.

“In box lacrosse, we have about 450 athletes…which is absolutely huge. Now for field lacrosse, I think we have around 200 athletes, give or take… so we have teams at U-11, U-13, U-15, and U-18 in both co-ed and female, which I don’t think any other association in B.C. can match that.”

Norby hopes they can make this tournament an annual occurrence on Vancouver Island, as the rosters for the U-9 and U-7 teams continue to grow, attracting both male and female players.

He said bringing in kids at younger ages is the best way to build their local lacrosse association.

“As they get older, as we know, they kind of teeter off and find other things to do, but if you can build your base at U-7 and U-9, it kind of starts the pyramid to build up to a really successful association. And we do have a large number of U-7 and U-9 kids.”

Sherry Field at Harewood Centennial Park will play host to the female field lacrosse tournament, with players excited to get on the newly completed astroturf field. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow