The love of lacrosse spans generations and centuries in South Delta.

From field lacrosse played at Paterson Park at the turn of the 1900s to the Junior A box version at Ladner Arena today, the game has a special place in the local sporting culture, says Jim Canil, president and governor of the Delta Islanders Jr. A team.

“The game goes way back and was played all over South Delta,” Canil says. “There used to be big crowds come out to see the field lacrosse at Paterson Park.”

Canil added the sport was also embraced in small pockets around the Lower Mainland and teams would travel to neighbouring areas such as Richmond and New Westminster to challenge the locals to a game.

Rising from the interest in the sport were team names in South Delta like the Beavers and Westham Islanders—a name the current Delta Islanders have adopted in reverence to the original team.

A reason for the sport’s localized popularity?

“To tell you the truth, there wasn’t a lot of entertainment around in those days and sport was big part of life,” Canil said. “And the young men were mostly into farming and the sport of lacrosse lent itself well to their lifestyle which much of it was spent outdoors working on the land.”

The sport was also a way of crossing cultural boundaries as teams of settlers would suit up with First Nation members.

Today, the sport is breaking through the gender divide with an increasing number of girls taking up lacrosse, Canil said.

And while the sport’s enrolment numbers remain steady, the interest in the game is growing as the Jr. A Islanders compete.

“We know we’re not going to get the same following as hockey, but we have between 350 to 400 players signed up to the local association,” Canil says. “That’s a good number to work with. And we’re seeing more and more hockey players coming on board because lacrosse is a great sport for them to do a little cross training.”

That point is illustrated with the addition of Mitchell Jones to the Islanders’ roster. Jones is one of the top prospects in Jr. B hockey and plays for the Richmond Sockeyes during the winter months, then trades skates for running shoes and turns out for the Islanders.

“A lot of the great hockey players like Wayne Gretzky, Al McInnes and Joe Neuendyke all were good lacrosse players,” Canil says. “It’s just a great sport.”

editor@southdeltaleader.com