Field lacrosse a big part of Brock
Brock field lacrosse coach Tim Luey. Photo by: BROCK UNIVERSITY
Tim Luey would love nothing more than to see Brock University become the hub of field lacrosse across the region.
The 34-year-old head coach of the Badgers field lacrosse team feels the university has everything a buddy lacrosse player would want, including a top-notch facility in Alumni Field.
“This should be the centre, or certainly a big part of lacrosse, across Niagara,” Luey said.
To help promote the sport, Luey has been organizing and running the Brock Men’s Elite Lacrosse Showcase for high school teams for the last few years as both a fundraiser and a way to expose the school to prospective players.
“It’s a great recruiting tool for us,” he said. “Every year, we’ve probably recruited one or two kids per year, high-end players, and it’s been good exposure for Brock University. “I’me involved in minor lacrosse as well and we have all of our minor lacrosse teams practising at Brock as an example.”
Holy Cross, E.L. Crossley, Denis Morris, Notre Dame and Silverthorne Collegiate participated in the round-robin tournament Friday.
“When I started coaching at Brock I really wanted to focus on local kids because the business case for a local kid to play lacrosse at Brock is a bit of a no-brainer for a lot of kids,” Luey said. “We’re just trying to increase our school awareness. A lot of the teams that come for the tournament are local teams. We have some out-of-town teams to supplement the competition but Holy Cross and Denis Morris are here every year and we usually have one or two other local schools.”
DM head coach Matt Vinc enjoys the opportunity to have his squad play at the Showcase.
“It’s a great way for a lot of our students who are pretty close to university to see what kind of facilities they have and maybe open some doors for some of them, play in front of the Brock coaches, and get exposed and maybe pursue another avenue in sport,” Vinc said.
Luey, son of well known former lacrosse player and builder Bob Luey, said the response to the event has been solid.
“I would say four or five of the teams that are here now and the same four or five that have been here the last few years. They all seem to like going. That makes it easy from an organization perspective because we don’t have to go out and recruit a ton of teams.
“Everybody seems pretty happy. The fact everybody keeps coming back says the response is pretty good.”
As a player, Luey had more than his share of success, highlighted by five Baggataway Cup Championships for Brock (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007). He was also part of two OFSAA (Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association) championships for Holy Cross (1999, 2001), two U19 Ontario Championships for the Niagara Raiders (2001, 2002) and one Minto Cup Championship for St. Catharines Athletics (2003).
He joined Brock as a defensive co-ordinator before being promoted to head coach two years ago.
“I viewed my time at Brock and nothing but positive and view my job coaching here as one of the best jobs there is in lacrosse in Niagara.
“To coach high-end lacrosse in my back yard is awesome.”
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