It seems that over the past few years, roughly one out of
every three organizations in minor sports that I chat with is
undergoing almost an annual search for coaches that will allow
them to operate their league with the number of teams that
matches the number of registered youngsters.
At least a few of these organizations have given very serious
thought to actually limiting the number of teams and turning
away registrants solely on the basis that the work involved in
trying to beg, plead and cojole friends and acquaintances into
coaching wasn't part of the mandate they expected when they
stepped to the plate as board members.
There are a whole slew of valid and understandable reasons why
parents are passing on the opportunity to jump head first into
the coaching ranks. Job commitments, demands of other family
members and a fear of over-bearing parents are all provided
with regularity as perfectly valid reasons that one cannot
commit to the task at hand.
Which is precisely why non-parental coaches such as Jeff Lahay
become such a critical component of any minor sports
organization in the environment in which we all live. Let me be
very clear. Each and every local minor sports association has a
Jeff Lahay - hopefully several of them. The 22-year-old coach
of the Sudbury Rockhound Peewee lacrosse team just happened to
be the one I interviewed as the Ontario Lacrosse Association
provincial championships kicked off over the August long
weekend.
A graduate of Laurentian University, Lahay grew up in Orillia,
an area where lacrosse is often the sport of choice for young
boys (and some young women) over the course of the summer. It
was not really all that shocking that Lahay would take to the
sport right from the start - in his second year of playing
lacrosse, Lahay was part of a national championship team,
capturing the Peewee crown in Edmonton.
He continued playing right through until his minor midget year,
by his own account using the sport as a great conditioning tool
for his hockey career each winter.
"I always enjoyed the creativity of the game…and obviously the
physical aspect," Lahay said with a smile.
Attending Laurentian University to study commerce, Lahay hooked
up with Sport Psychology major Caleb Leduc and helped to
co-found the school's field lacrosse team, with the help of
L.U. professor George Sheppard.
"We created the proposal for the Canadian University Field
Lacrosse Association and the next thing you know, we're
drafting a constitution," he explained.
Needing to prove the program was sustainable, Lahay, Leduc and
company embarked on a weekend road trip that included stops in
Ottawa and Kingston and three games, all in a matter of
slightly more than thirty hours.
By the time Lahay graduated, the Laurentian lacrosse team was
ready to begin play in earnest.
"I never did get to play any official games," he noted.
It was during this time in Sudbury that Lahay became involved
with the GSLA (Greater Sudbury Lacrosse Association), both as a
player as well as a house-league coach.
Moving back to Orillia upon his graduation, Lahay worked
briefly within the coaching ranks of his hometown, but it was
only a matter of time that the draw of the North prevailed. "I
think a big part of the attraction (to coaching in Sudbury) is
the mentality of the kids - they're still in the learning
stage."
Relative to many other hotbeds of lacrosse in Ontario, the
sport is still in its infacy locally, revived less than ten
years ago. And that can be a positive, according to a young man
who grew up with the sport.
"The kids don't believe they know it all. They still want to
get better…and obviously, the people that are involved here
make it all very worthwhile," Lahay said.
With the former player not having any particularly strong
allegiance to any one of the Rockhound teams, he serves a very
useful role for the burgeoning organization.
"I got the team that nobody wanted to coach," Lahay laughed.
"It was a really rough start for numbers at the beginning."
Over the course of the season, the Peewee Rockhounds have
clearly evolved, winning more and more games with every new
tournament entered.
But as far as the GSLA executive is concerned, winning is
somewhat secondary to this particular story. They are simply
thankful that the likes of the Jeff Lahays of the world still
exist - and that this one happens to really like the lacrosse
scene in Greater Sudbury.
Randy Pascal is the voice of Persona 10 Sports and the founder of SudburySports.com.
