Three young box lacrosse players from Quesnel will be making the trip to Cowichan next month to compete in the B.C. Summer Games.
Dyson Leneve and Colby Couturier, who are both 16, and Hayden Nicholson, 14, are all excited to test out their skills against some of the top athletes in the province.
The Observer caught up with them at the Quesnel Lacrosse Association’s year-end awards and pizza party at West Fraser Centre.
For Couturier and Leneve, this will be their second B.C. Summer Games, although last time they were competing in field lacrosse.
Leneve has also gone to the provincial championships for hockey and to rodeo finals, so he says he will be ready for the spotlight.
“It’s just the speed of the game,” he says, when asked to describe what he can expect from the tournament.
“It’s a lot faster when you go down south.”
He says the team they will be playing on, which includes members from Prince George and Williams Lake, will have one strong advantage, however.
“The physical part of our game will be harder on those southern teams because they’re more about the speed than the body contact,” he says.
Couturier is looking forward to hanging out with the fellas on the road trip, but is intent on improving his skill set too.
“We’re playing against the best guys in the province, so it’s going to be serious,” he says.
“Hopefully I learn a lot because I’ve been playing against these yahoos over there,” he says, gesturing toward his peers, who are eating pizza behind him.
Nicholson is eager to challenge himself against new competition.
“From what I’ve heard, they practise half the year, while here it’s two or three months,” he says.
He has not had the opportunity to play with all his team mates, as they have only had two tryouts and no practices to date, but all the guys know each other from local tournaments over the years.
“I’m looking forward to going out there with new players and seeing if their skill helps me improve.”
sports@quesnelobserver.com
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