It was a magical run for the U11 Southman Saints lacrosse team and the group managed to go through the season undefeated and capped it all off with a championship.
"It was super fun," coach Sebastian North says with a smile. "It was a really fun season and the kids went undefeated during the regular season, so it was fun and nice to finish it all off with a championship win."
Coaching the U11 age group was special for North who says this group really came together as a team throughout the year. "It's a privilege. I coach whatever I can for my kids and it's a privilege to watch them develop and fall in love with the game. I think that was a part of the magic for our crew and it started right from the beginning. We ran a program that we called a rust buster camp over spring break, it was just an hour a day and it was a way to shake off the rust and learn a foundation. That set us off on a good way, we could focus on the foundational skills and go from there."
The U11 Saints may have started off as a bunch of kids that loved lacrosse, but North says as the season went along, they really became like a family. "It's always fun," the coach says proudly. "This group was a special group. They really supported each other and it's a big team, so lacrosse rosters relative to hockey are larger, so we have fifteen or sixteen runners, so it's a big group. Sometimes, that can get away from you, but that wasn't the case for our crew. They were really supportive, had a ton of fun and showed up and worked hard. It was special to watch them become a team, become a unit. We pointed it out to them toward the end, we said it was pretty cool and they should take it all in because it's such a special group. To watch that from the sidelines, it was very, very special."
As the wins piled up over the course of the year, North says it was very impressive to see the mindset of the team never change, they always came to work, put in the effort and never cheated the details which led to even more success. "Their development and progression were amazing. With Matt Girardin, he started the Southman Saints organization and helped out with the rust buster camp, it set us off on a good way. We really talked about becoming better versions of ourselves over the course of the season, and that's what we saw. To watch the young players develop in skills but also character, that was really cool. That's the kind of stuff you hope for and that's what we hoped for. It pays off, coming together as a team and doing the job."
Being on the bench for a championship game, North says he and the group handled it all with a mature mindset. "It was really fun. The playoffs are double knockout format, so you have two kicks at the can. If you slip and you lose a game, you're relegated to the B side, but you have a chance to move up. For us, that was a cushion and so when our U11's didn't lose any games, when we got the finals, we could have lost one game and still had a chance to win it all, but because we won, we put it away. The kids didn't think about it, they wanted to get the job done and said they wanted to be champions that night. That's what they did. It was a 4-1 victory and seeing them celebrate was amazing. It was a good, close match, lots of sportsmanship on both sides, it was fun to watch and that's a testament to the character development you get to witness, especially at this age group."
North couldn't be prouder of the group and couldn't be happier with the community of people around the team that helped make this season so memorable. "Lacrosse is still sort of this obscure sport, relative to hockey, so for a lot of people, it's their introduction into the sport, especially at this age group. We had some minors playing for the first time, which means their parents were witnessing and learning the game as we go. People just fell in love with the game, one of our national sports. We told the kids at the onset, it's the fastest sport on two feet. Speed, skill, strategy, and you just saw people from the parents to the kids falling in love with it. To top it off, our final practice of the year, we did a parents vs kids game, so the parents got to get a taste for it. I think it was humbling, at least for myself, and it was a lot of fun to watch the parents try and figure this game out."
Looking down the road, North says things are really lookin great for the programs at all ages. "I think it's a bright future. It comes back to passion. I think you see the passion run through the organization and it starts with Matt Girardin and his family. They set the tone and just building that love for the game, keeping it fun and that's what we saw this year. I'd be surprised if all these kids didn't come back, some will move onto U13, some of the minors will be in the major roles next year. I think it's a bright future and I think it's going to keep growing."