Blue Devils coming of age as lacrosse grows
By Morris Dalla Costa, Free Press Sports Columnist
No one ever said it would be easy to raise a child. Last year, Brian Laporte, then president of the London Blue Devils of the Ontario Lacrosse Association Junior B League, was waiting for the start of his team's home opener. It would be the first junior lacrosse game played in London.
"Baby? This isn't my baby," said Laporte then. "It's my teenager and it's driving me crazy."
More than a year later, his teenager is proving no less troublesome. The consolation for all the growing pains is the club has won as many games (three) as it did in its first year; instead of playing in the dingy, cavern-like Ray Lanctin Arena, it now calls Nichols Arena home, and it has a young, aggressive coach in Chris Standish.
"Don't forget, while we've only won three games, we lost three by one goal and another by three," said Laporte, who is now the team's general manager. "(The standings) are not a true picture of how we've played."
That's pretty much what you'll get from Laporte when you talk to him about whether there's any disappointment in the first two years of his organization's existence. There's always an up-side no matter how gruesome the team's performances have been.
Bringing a junior lacrosse team to London was a logical step in the growth of the game. Participation in minor lacrosse was at an all-time high. The area was producing good players and there was no place for them to play locally once they got too old for minor lacrosse. The question was whether to form a junior B team or junior A team. Organizers opted to begin at the lower level in an effort to accommodate the expected growth pains.
That decision continues to be grist for the discussion mill. Several top London players have gone off to play for junior A teams in other areas.
"I can see how next year we may be affected a little more by losing players to A teams," said Laporte. "But we didn't have 10 or 12 kids who could play at the A level and that's what you need.
"We see how it goes in the next year or so, but we are beginning to develop more players and we have feelers out about A lacrosse."
Even without success on the floor, establishing a junior B franchise has increased the profile of the sport.
"We're not pleased if we're not going to win more games," Laporte said. "But we're pleased with everything else. The executive is strong, we have good parity in our division with Sarnia, Wallaceburg and Windsor.
"The bantam, peewee and novice teams are stronger. The players playing B now were not as strong when they were playing minor lacrosse as the nine-, 11-, 13-year-olds now. We're going to get nothing but better in the next few years."
Lacrosse doesn't need much selling. It takes all the most attractive elements of other sports and rolls them into one -- speed, scoring, physical play, conditioning and skill. The Blue Devils don't have to worry about what's happening off the floor.
Laporte said the players are treated well and once the club is able to develop players with enough of those skills to win regularly, the teenager may grow into an adult.
"Our top 10 or 12 players are as good as the top 10 or 12 on the other teams," he said. "But it's tough to teach the kids how to win. They have to learn to keep a high intensity level throughout the game. We said it after our overtime win (Wednesday against Wallaceburg), we've said it about 10 times last year . . . hopefully, we're turning the corner. There's very positive things coming out of each game."
So with all that's happened, and not happened, Laporte must have some second thoughts about the venture.
"Are you kidding? Never! It's twice as much work as I thought, but it's a labour of love. We've got a great bunch of kids. Things will turn around."
Did you expect to hear anything else?
