A lacrosse festival held in Yorkton over the weekend was a huge success.
鈥淚t鈥檚 getting bigger every year,鈥� offered Adam Stewart one of the organizers and a coach with the local Yorkton Fighting Pikes organization. 鈥淭he last two years it鈥檚 really take off.鈥�
This year the festival saw five fields being utilizes at Crosthwaite Park teams across a number of age groups. Teams involved in the event included host Yorkton, along with Prince Albert, Kelvington, Sturgis, Estevan, and Regina.
Stewart said locally numbers are growing in part because they now offer programming as early as an under eight team.
鈥淏ack when I was young we didn鈥檛 have the young age groups,鈥� said Steward, adding having players able to start younger builds a foundation for the program.
It also helps that the teams are not in a formal league, but instead play in a festival format in different communities over the season.
The festival format allows teams to evolve over the season, said Stewart. For example in the under eight group there are 22 players registered in Yorkton, which is enough to field two teams, but they practice as a group, and then are split into teams, the rosters changing from week-to-week as they head to a festival.
鈥淚 really like the festival format,鈥� he said, adding it puts more focus on skill development than in wins and losses that can become the focus in a points-based league.
鈥淵ou can afford to lose a game.鈥�
Stewart said they are building toward a goal with events like the one held in Yorkton, at least at the three oldest divisions, and that is a provincial crown. The Fighting Pikes will send teams in all three divisions to the provincial tournament to be hosted in Sturgis June 14-16.
Looking at the under-15 Fighting Pikes Stewart said they have a real shot at winning the provincial title/
鈥淚t is a very strong team,鈥� he said, adding many of the players have been together for three years, often playing against older teams which has helped with skill development. 鈥� ... And. We鈥檝e been pretty successful. Our younger groups are always very strong.鈥�
