Rod Wood, vice-president of the Victoria Junior and, now defunct, Intermediate Shamrocks, believes sa国际传媒 Lacrosse made the right move by eliminating the intermediate category and replacing it with two extra years of junior eligibility.
The changes were officially made at last weekend鈥檚 sa国际传媒 Lacrosse Association annual general meeting in Whistler, which Wood attended. The vote was more than 90 per cent in favour of the changes.
That means players at the midget level (ages 15-16) now jump straight into junior (ages 17-21), which will feature various tiers to keep players in the game.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really pleased to see it,鈥� said Wood. 鈥淓ssentially, sa国际传媒 and the Lower Mainland were the only regions in sa国际传媒 to run intermediate lacrosse the way it was run.鈥�
Intermediate exists in Ontario as a five-year program, which is recreational and run by minor lacrosse, explained Wood.
鈥淲e had this very competitive Intermediate A league that took our players, which were probably Junior A-calibre or borderline Junior A-calibre players, and put them into a two-year program and then they only had three years to develop in junior,鈥� explained Wood.
鈥淲here everywhere else in sa国际传媒, the kids come straight out of midget into junior and the kids have five years to develop. By making the new move, we have a five-year program right across the board, there is no Intermediate level.鈥�
So what players and fans will see is Junior A continuing along the way it is, while Intermediate A essentially becomes Junior B Tier I; Junior B becomes Junior B Tier II; and Intermediate B becomes Junior B Tier III.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 long overdue, actually,鈥� added Wood. 鈥淓veryone is hard at work now, putting together new league agreements to reflect the new alignment. There will be a lot more information coming out in the near future.鈥�
Hence, the Intermediate Shamrocks become the Junior B Tier I Shamrocks.
All former Intermediate A teams will be offered the chance to move into the Junior B Tier I league. It鈥檚 not known whether Okanagan will make the move, simply because of logistics.
鈥淚t was their first year in the league and they had a tough time travelling,鈥� said Wood. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure if they will go forward with it, but I know most of the others will. The core Junior A teams will definitely all have Junior B Tier I teams.鈥�
