STICKING TO IT

bY CHRIS BUSH
Nanaimo News Bulletin

It's Canada's national sport.

International teams compete in its World Cup every four years.

Both men and women play it, at elite levels of competition.

And it's not hockey. Stumped?

You're not alone.

photo by Nanaimo News

Charlotte Shankar

Few people, says Nanaimo's Charlotte Shankar, are aware of the importance and global scope of lacrosse.

"If you walk around with a lacrosse stick nobody knows what it is," says Shankar, who plays for Canada's national field lacrosse team. "They think it's a butterfly catcher or something."

She knows better.

Her interest in the sport began at age 12 when she started playing for a team in England. "My school played field hockey but I changed schools and they only played field lacrosse," says Shankar. "It was a winter sport there. If you didn't do that you didn't do anything and I always wanted to be in sports."

She continued playing until her university days in Edinburgh, Scotland. She gave up the game while studying linguistics but picked up her stick again when she came to Canada two years ago.

Now she's a mid-fielder with the Victoria Tsunamis. And she's on the national team.

"It's a great honour, but the competition's just not as big (for the squad)," she says candidly. "A lot of people who are really good are attending American colleges and they just couldn't turn out."

The competition will be top-notch at the Women's World Cup tournament April 27 to May 4 at Edogawa, Japan, near Tokyo. Canada ranks fourth in the world, after the U.S., Australia and England.

The Canadians will hold a two-week training camp in Melbourne, Australia before heading for the tourney.

Shankar does much of her training at home.

"We have a schedule made up for us, so every day I have set things to do, like stick work and then there are things we do to improve power, speed and endurance, like weights, springing and jogging." she says.

The drills condition players for the fast pace of the sport.

The field is a little smaller than a soccer pitch. Other than a crease line that encircles the goalie, there are few boundaries.

And once play starts there are few interruptions.

The women play by different rules than men use. The women's game is non-contact. And their sticks have shallow nets which require more finesse to handle the ball.

"We're more civilized than the men," Shankar jokes. "We rely on grace and speed."

Her toughest game? A match between BC and Ontario at the national tournament finals last year.

"We were well matched and there's a big rivalry between the two teams," she says.

Ontario won 12 - 10 in overtime.

Some of her rivals from that game will become her teammates in Japan.

They'll also be working together towards another goal: fund-raising.

Attending the World Cup costs each team member about $3,000.

Return to the Women's Field lacrosse page.
Return to the British Columbia lacrosse main page.
Return to the British Columbia field lacrosse main page.