The Strathmore Venom Lacrosse Club had several teams perform spectacularly last season, as some teams earned silver and bronze medals. In doing so, they broke out of many years of struggles and finally had some great tournament results, and they need you to help them build off of that year.

Prior to last season, the last time the Venom represented in provincials was 2016. Outside of the on-field success, the Venom's Vice President Travis Gauthier said it was also nice to have a full season after several COVID years. Even though the winning last season was great, Gauthier added the COVID years put a dent in the amount of players, so they're looking for more people to continue building the program.

"Just two years of coming off COVID, our numbers took quite a bit of a hit, so we're just trying to look to build on a great season last year how we ended," he said.

Since the Venom enjoyed great team success, Gauthier is hopeful that more players will join to be a part of the resurgence.

"You get the kids talking back and forth at school and talking about 'I got this cool bronze medal or cool silver.' It gets them creating that interest in their friends as well."

While joining lacrosse has the obvious benefit of physical health and getting active, Gauthier added there are many mental benefits as well.

"You're getting kids involved in the team aspect of sports, it helps build their character and makes them have to make quick decisions and facing adversity. But most of all they get to have fun."

Gauthier is particularly excited about some big things coming to the club, with one of them being a new partnership with the Calgary Roughnecks! For the Venom U7 team starting this year every player will get a stick and a jersey from the Roughnecks as part of their Little Roughnecks program. He's also excited to host the annual Redneck Rumble, which is a huge tournament with teams all across the province that features 80 games in 3 days from June 2-4.

"It's quite the show we put on, we got two DJ's running on both floors, so it's a party atmosphere which is really exciting for the kids."

If you're a parent that may be concerned about the physicality of lacrosse, Gauthier says that won't be a problem. They introduce contact at a younger age, which actually makes the sport much safer, as the players then learn how to give and receive hits, preventing dangerous collisions.

"At U9 it's place and push, so you can't actually run through the person when you hit them, you have to plant your feet and just push them so it kind of eases them into it a little more." 

"It's more shoulder to shoulder, just kind of bouncing off each other."

If you're interested in signing up, you can visit the Venom's website for more details and how to register, and you can also check out their Facebook and Instagram.

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