Minor Lacrosse players will be out of luck this season, as current league executives have said they will no longer be maintaining the league.
The decision comes about partially from a decline in players, but for the most part comes down to a lack of volunteers willing to take over the league’s executive.
President Shelley Anderson said she has tried to drum up interest in taking over the reigns but so far has received no takers.
“We’ve had special meetings,” Anderson said. “Nobody showed up and put forward names.”
The current league executives have all given prior notice they were looking to find new people to take over.
“All of our children aged out, we no longer have children relevant to the program,” Anderson said.
She said the old executive had hoped parents from the younger levels, such as peewee age, would come forward, giving the league and players a good few years to run, before passing the responsibility on again to younger players parents.
“We said okay, we would just hang in there a bit longer, and someone would come forward,” said Anderson, who adds she has stayed on approximately two years longer than she had initially hoped.
Anderson has contacted the British Columbia Lacrosse Association (BCLA) in hopes they will step in.
“We’re very concerned, and certainly want kids to continue playing in Terrace,” said Rochelle Winterton, executive director for the BCLA.
She said the league is taking steps to help out, but if parents want their children to play they have get involved.
“If kids want to play and parents want their kids to play lacrosse they have to step up and volunteer,” Winterton said.
According to Winterton a list of parents and children involved in Terrace minor lacrosse has been sent to a BCLA executive in Prince George, who will be contacting parents in an effort to round up volunteers.
Winterton said the BCLA would also like to grow the lacrosse league in Kitimat.
“It is a difficult zone,” Winterton said in regards to maintaining the sport in the area.
This would have been the seventh year for the Terrace minor lacrosse league. It was revived in the region after a two-decade hiatus.
“This happened before back in the late 70’s, early 80’s,” Anderson said. “Things went well for a few years and then it died out.”
At the leagues peak in 2008, there were 200 players, the same year Terrace was a provincial host.
Anderson contributed numerous factors to the closure of the league.
She said players and potential competition in other centres have headed down to Junior A and B teams in the south of the province.
The soccer season is also a conflict of time for lacrosse players.
“I’d hate to see it die, its a good sport and the kids have a lot of fun,” Anderson said.
If anyone were to stop forward and join the leagues now vacant executive Anderson said those persons would be assisted by both the BCLA as well as herself.