The first team of its kind is hoping to hit the ground floor running.
The Okotoks Raiders, the newest entry in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League’s junior ladies ranks, open their inaugural season this weekend with zero expectations of being your typical expansion squad.
“It’s going to be a good team,” said coach Don Turner. “We have a lot of dedicated lacrosse athletes. We’re going to be very young in the first year or two, but it’s going to be a very good, very competitive team.”
Okotoks should be one of the most youthful outfits in the province with a number of 16 and 17 year olds plying their trade in the seven-team league against teams from Calgary, Airdrie, Edmonton, Sherwood Park and St. Albert.
It won’t be devoid of experience in the league.
Okotoks minor lacrosse products and Team Alberta alumni Julia Porter and Ally Bymak bring some veteran experience to the club after playing elsewhere in the league last season.
“When you start a new team you have the option for anybody that lived in the area that moved away to play for another team to come up and play for you,” Turner said. “There is an actual rule in the RMLL rulebook. It allows a first-year club to recoup some players.
“With their experience they’re obvious choices to be captains or assistants.”
Team Alberta alumnus Natalie Valleau and Mikayla Reschke along with accomplished multi-sport athletes in Lindsay Aitken and Rebecca Toney should give the team a strong core to build from.
The Raiders boast 13 players on the roster with the hopes of potentially adding another import whose currently playing boys box lacrosse in Missouri.
“We’re a little on the low side,” Turner said. “But as a first-year program we’re going to have enough players to start every game so that’s pretty exciting.”
The team was borne largely out of demographics.
A good number of graduates from the Raiders’ midget team were keen on continuing to play under the same banner making for a smooth application process for the club.
“It was actually rather easy. We had a large group of players last year graduating from midget with nowhere locally for them to play,” Turner said. “When I asked them and their parents if they wanted to play a good chunk of them said yeah.
“At the end of last season, August, I put a request out to the board, which I am a part of, to start a team because it does cost a little bit of money.”
The Raiders have a longstanding reputation as builders of the top minor female lacrosse athletes per capita in the province.
The addition of a junior team is a natural evolution.
“We’ve always been really proud of offering programs at every level, every age group,” Turner said. “Both for boys and girls. This is just one more step in that direction.”
Okotoks opens its season on April 30 at Murray Arena in a battle with the Capital Region Saints at 11 a.m. The Okotoks Jr. B Tier I Marauders kick off their season following the ladies match at the same venue.
For full schedule information go to rockymountainlax.com
