Shaydon Santos knows more than most when it comes to box lacrosse.
The former 12-year National Lacrosse League defensive standout and Whitby, Ont. product has deep roots in Canada’s indoor summer sport.
It’s no surprise that when Santos called it a career to set up the Box Lacrosse Academy in California, he had a grand design.
Fast forward seven years, and Santos added another new piece to that solid foundation when he brought up an all-star team from Colorado and California to take on five of the Lower Mainland’s intermediate A clubs, including New Westminster last Saturday.
Although the Americans failed to win a game in the week-long tour, they showed their competitiveness and, most of all, had fun.
“If the kids play the game the right way, I knew they’d fall in love with it,” said Santos following the team’s final stop in Coquitlam on Tuesday.
Santos realized the current perception in the United States regarding indoor lacrosse had to change.
Most believe it to be a largely recreational indoor version of the field game that is routinely played with minimal equipment and six-foot nets, he said.
Along with former Burnaby Laker and University of Denver coach Matt Brown, who was just recently named NCAA assistant field lacrosse coach of the year, Santos started up the non-profit U.S. Box Lacrosse Association dedicated to developing and promoting the game down south.
The enterprise has been a textbook of starting from scratch for players, parents and future officials.
Everything was needed from creating an official rule book, to proper equipment and skills and strategies to properly play the game.
The results have been encouraging.
USBoxLa was the first youth-based program to play in Canada at the Calgary Canada Day Tournament in 2009.
Since then, minor teams from his program have won gold medals at the novice, bantam and most recently midget A levels
“What started with two teams has turned into eight teams this year,” Santos said, adding that a total of 16 U.S. teams joined him in Calgary this year.
What originally began with just nine kids has grown to 3,500, and the numbers continue to climb nationwide.
Other like-minded box veterans like former Burnaby junior Ben Prepchuk in Arizona have also started up box lacrosse cells that are popping up all over the States in Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Texas and elsewhere.
“They’re all our buddies … We’re all box guys who love the game,” said Santos. “It’s just going to get easier and easier.”
With the groundwork for the teen program already sown and plans to return again to B.C. next year, Santos said the next hurdle will be planning for when the players enter junior-age eligibility.
“We have to keep offering programs for them, so the natural thing is we have to do a junior team. It’s good for the game,” he said.
Santos’ enthusiasm for the box game can be excused if his dream appears too far fetched to the average Canadian.
He forsees the possibility for a Pacific Northwest league in the next couple of decades and perhaps, one day, even entering into a great Minto Cup junioir A championship with the best in Canada.
“Tell me that wouldn’t be exciting,” he said.
To view a video of game highlights between the U.S. and Coquitlam intermediate teams, go to www.royalcityrecord.com and click on this story.
