Finn Halladay’s box lacrosse season won’t end once the Penticton Heat peewee season is over.
Halladay will represent B.C. in the Canadian Box Lacrosse national championships in Whitby, Ont. Aug.1-10.
“He is really excited and is looking forward to competing,” said Halladay’s father, Del, who coaches him in Penticton and on Team Interior. “I’m pretty proud too, it is a rarity that anyone from Team Interior cracks the roster, let alone from Penticton.”
Del said Finn took a different approach in his playing style at the camp held the weekend of May 16 at the Langley Events Centre as opposed to taking on a larger role, especially with carrying the ball, that he feels he must with the Heat.
“He just played good defence,” said Del, who played lacrosse for Canada’s national team and 10 years in the National Lacrosse League. “He didn’t try to beat three guys and get a goal. I think that really helped him.”
Del added that a strength for Finn is his ball-carrying ability. Evaluators saw Finn as a player who is effective defensively and can break out of the zone with the ball and make smart decisions.
Finn, 11, started playing lacrosse when he was four and Del said he is “a lot better at his age now than I ever was.”
The Heat had four other players try out. Athletes first had to make their district teams (Vancouver Island, Fraser Valley, Vancouver and Interior) to make it to the main camp, which had 30 runners and four goalies. Team B.C. consists of 18 runners and two goalies.