Shelburne Vets season starts this week with exhibition play

Written By Brian Lockhart

The start of the 2023 box lacrosse season is getting underway this week, with the first Shelburne Vets game of the year being an exhibition match-up between the Vets U13 team and the West Grey Rampage in Durham.

The Vets have held skills development programs over the winter months, and now it's time to put those skills to the test as they take on other teams from around the region.

Lacrosse is a popular activity for even the small kids, and the Vets run programs for kids in the Soft division, ages three and four, and paperweight division, ages five and six, where they learn the game and how to play it, and develop the skills needed to carry the ball, pass, and shoot.

This season, the Vets have U9, U11, and U13 teams entered in competition. They will face teams as far away as Orillia, Rama, and Huntsville.

Box lacrosse is relatively new when it comes to sports. It was developed in the 1920s and refined in the 1930s. The invention of indoor lacrosse is attributed to Paddy Brennan, a field lacrosse player and referee from Montreal, who was annoyed by the constant slowing of field lacrosse by balls going out of bounds. He began experimenting with indoor lacrosse at the Mount Royal Arena. This included the evolution of the equipment needed to play the sport safely.

The sport became so popular it eventually surpassed field lacrosse as the most popular version of the game.

Lacrosse as a sport is a traditional Indigenous People's game and was first encountered by Europeans in the St. Lawrence Valley when they witnessed the game being played in the 1630s.

The Shelburne Vets organization was founded during the winter of 1998, with the first game being played in the summer of 1999. The ‘Veterans' name was chosen to honour all of the Canadian War Vets.