Central Alberta Lacrosse - Try It Nights

In an effort to increase participation in their girls program, Central Alberta Lacrosse held a series of Try It Nights in the Red Deer area in January of 2023. The organization is working to increase girls participation and were able to use the support from InMotion to host this series of sessions free to participants with volunteer coaches. A challenge for the organization is the cost associated with indoor field bookings. The girls who attended were able to join 3 sessions that were geared to either 13-15 or 15-17 years of age. Central Alberta Lacrosse finds providing multiple Try It Sessions allows girls to try the sport before committing for a season and had great success in 2023 with 43 girls attending.

Impact on the 2023 Season

Last winter the sponsorship by the  In Motion Network (Girls in Motion) allowed us to run some winter “come try it / bring a friend” sessions in the field house in Red Deer.  Now that we are into the season, we have been able to grow from one team last year, to two teams this year with a U13 team being created to join the U15 team created in 2022.  I would estimate that about 90% of the new and returning girls that signed up to play came to at least one session, which is no coincidence.  Being able to create the second team not only shows great growth in our fledgling program, but also creates a much safer environment for the younger girls.  By splitting the team into the two age divisions, the younger girls on our team are able to play against competitors of their appropriate age and size.  In a full contact sport like lacrosse this is very important, and something that as a coach who frets about his players, I am very grateful for. (Jon Weddell - Antler Hill VET, U15 Ruckus,  Head Coach)