Two Sylvan Lake lacrosse players will proudly represent their province at national championships this summer.
Erin Bryenton, 14, and Callin Harris, 10, were selected to represent Team Alberta; Bryenton on the girls bantam team, and Harris on the boys peewee team.
Bryenton will head to Halifax, N.S. in late July for nationals, while Harris will travel to Whitby, Ontario in early August.
Both play lacrosse for Sylvan Lake Buccaneers teams, and for Bryenton, it will be her second year playing for Team Alberta.
“It’s really exciting, because it’s what I like to do,” she said. “I kind of know more what it’s like and it won’t be as hard this time.”
A second-year bantam player, Bryenton described making Team Alberta as her greatest accomplishment so far as a lacrosse player.
During six years in the sport, she’s played in games and tournaments as far away as Las Vegas.
She’ll attend various camps and practices in Calgary and Edmonton to prepare for nationals.
Bryenton was introduced to the sport by her older brother, and likes playing it because of its high level of intensity. She hopes to one day receive a lacrosse scholarship.
For the time being, however, she’s fully focused on achieving success with Team Alberta, and is very much enjoying certain aspects of playing on the team.
“My Team Alberta team is all girls, and my Sylvan Lake team is mostly all boys,” she said, Most of her Team Alberta teammates reside in Calgary and Edmonton.
Ten-year-old Callin Harris is preparing for his first season as a Team Alberta player, and said he was surprised when he received the phone call informing him he’d made the team.
“I never thought I was going to make it when I went into the tryouts, but then I made it past the first cut,” he said. “It was pretty exciting.”
Harris is a first-year peewee player, and competed against a number of older, more experience second-year players for a spot on the roster.
He’s in his fourth year as a lacrosse player, and likes the sport because of the advanced hand-eye coordination it requires of its players.
As a hockey player in winter months, he feels partaking in other sports during the year ensures he is fully prepared for the lacrosse season.
“I play hockey in the winter, and it has really built up my legs,” he said, adding that his lacrosse season this year will be prolonged because of his involvement with Team Alberta.
“It’s usually just two months, but with Team Alberta, it will take up most of my summer.”
Harris and a player from Stettler were the only players from Central Alberta to make the team. The majority of the others are from Calgary and Edmonton.
Harris acknowledged that playing on the team will provide him a new challenge, but feels it will be a good experience.