Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire ”
The Ontario Lacrosse Association staged their Annual General Meeting 10 days ago.
Among the topics on the agenda was a proposal to expand the age bracket in Junior Lacrosse and make it U22, that is for players under the age of 22 as of January 1st in any given year.
The motion was defeated in both the short term and the long term.
In terms of conducting a 1 year pilot project, the U22 concept was narrowly defeated.
For the long term, which was the original concept floated, the U22 proposal did manage more than 50 % of the vote; however, they needed 75 % in order to be pushed forward.
Going into the AGM, my understanding was the Junior A & Junior B Leagues were mostly in favour of the age extension.
However, what appears to have happened is the Juniors were sandwiched by the interests on either side of the age chart.
The Minor Lacrosse voters saw the potential age extension to 22 as a detriment to players who were graduating from Midget programs into Junior Lacrosse.
At the other end of the age equation, the Major & Senior voters saw the potential age expansion as a potential roadblock to younger players entering the two adult leagues in Ontario.
From an Owen Sound standpoint, the Junior NorthStars relate their relationship with Minor Lacrosse has always been straightforward with very little activity impacting the Minor NorthStars.
Trust me when I say there have been MANY times when a very good Midget aged Owen Sound player hasn’t been available to the Junior NorthStars simply because the player had a scheduling conflict and in those cases, the Minor program took precedence, which is fair.
Meanwhile, looking at the Senior and major programs in Owen Sound and Ontario, it’s very rare that a Junior NorthStar graduate steps directly into the Senior NorthStars or a OLA Major club.
Yes, it’s been done, but I’d say the number of cases would be somewhere around 10 % and the vision of the U 22 supporters is that Senior and Major offers a 10 year opportunity, whereas a large number of Junior players are finished within 4 years on average.
Regardless, the voters have spoken. And while the issue may emerge again in the future, for the moment Under 22 Junior Lacrosse remains a concept.
I’m Fred Wallace