A 14-year-old Wallaceburg lacrosse star is beaming after being named to the Team Ontario bantam lacrosse team.
Tanner Cole, a Grade 8 student at Holy Family Catholic School in Wallaceburg, told the Sydenham Current he never gave up after being cut from the team in previous years.
“I tried out two years back and didn’t make it. I got cut first try out,” Cole said.
“It’s always been my goal to play at the highest level of lacrosse, so I tried out this year again and I was fortunate enough to make it.”
Cole said the tryouts for the provincial club were grueling.
“The tryouts were six hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with an hour lunch. Drills, scrimmages, running basic stuff and some more complex stuff. The drills were pretty hard and plays we had to run. They started off with 90 kids and 22 goalies and by the second camp there were about 35 kids and eight goalies. The last there were four goalies and 22 kids. 18 kids total made it.”
Cole and his Team Ontario teammates will be playing in the Nationals in Saskatoon from July 21 to 26.
“We go to Saskatchewan, play teams from B.C, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia,” Cole said.
Throughout the process of trying out, Cole said he learned that kids from Wallaceburg can compete with players from the larger centres.
“I can play with the bigger cities because they are all ‘A’ ball clubs every year and we are usually a ‘B’ or ‘A’ and ‘C’ two years ago. I just didn’t think I would be able to play at that level, but after the first couple camps I got use to it and I knew what to expect,” he said.
Leading up to the tournament, Cole said he is going to keep practicing, try harder in practice and do better in games.
“We will have three or four practices before together” with the Team Ontario squad, he said.
His club team, the Wallaceburg Griffin bantam team is having a good season too.
“We aren’t doing too bad. We went to an ‘A’ tournament a couple weeks ago and we finished second.”
Besides bringing home a gold medal, Cole said he is looking to soak up the experience out West.
“Have fun, play good ball and try my best.”
Cole said he credits his coach Todd “Toad” Knight, Jamie Knight, Rick Brown, and his parents for leading him and teaching him along the way.
Next year will be his first year of midget and he could see some time as an affiliate player with the Wallaceburg Red Devils.
Cole’s parents said some fundraisers are in the works in the coming weeks to help off-set some cost to send him to the Team Ontario tournament.
We’ll provide those details when they become available.
