A fresh new sport has emerged at Hapnot Collegiate - and the school’s newest team will make its in-game debut this weekend in Winnipeg.
The Hapnot Kopper Kings lacrosse team will play its first-ever games at the AA varsity level this weekend, starting with four games in Winnipeg April 27-28. The Kings are slated to play the Portage Collegiate Trojans April 27 and 28, face the J.H. Bruns Broncos April 27 and Murdoch MacKay April 28, each at Shaughnessy Park in Winnipeg. The team will play field lacrosse outdoors, unlike previous attempts at starting lacrosse in Flin Flon which focused more on indoor box lacrosse.
The program is the brainchild of phys. Ed teacher Erik Rogalka, who grew up playing and coaching competitive lacrosse in Winnipeg. Rogalka officially started tryouts for a team earlier this year and received substantial interest from students, both ones he recruited and others through word-of-mouth - even though none had never played competitive lacrosse before.
“When I came up and took the job here, one of the big things that I set a goal for myself was to get a program started. We're the only team in the north,” he said. Rogalka is serving currently as the team’s coach.
“I have had kids who wanted to get involved in a contact sport here at Hapnot and it all kind of came to fruition this year.”
Rogalka held information sessions on the sport, then held trial days where he taught basic stick skills and cradling. From there, he started building a team.
“Once we had the numbers, it was just a matter of getting our place in the league and essentially getting all the funding and organization done to make it happen,” he said.
“It’s always interesting to see what you're going to have coming out, especially when you're starting something new. We definitely don't have a ton of experience on the team. I don't think we actually have a single guy that's played any organized lacrosse up to now, so those first couple of practices were really, for me, just about getting a stick in their hands.”
Some of the money to run the team came from Hapnot’s in-house student athlete user fee, but much of the funds needed to start it dame from grants and sources like Sport Manitoba, the Manitoba Lacrosse Association, the Northern Neighbours Foundations and others, including local businesses.
“That was all a huge help,” said Rogalka.
Meanwhile, the players have taken to the game in stride.
“I like to say lacrosse is one of those sports that, if you put in the time, you can get really good at it quite quickly. It's tough to be great, but you can get pretty good pretty fast if you're dedicated. Although we have a lot of new guys, it has been nice to see guys taking their sticks home and they're just cradling a ball on their walk home, or they're coming in the gym over the lunch hours and playing some wall ball,” he said.
“It's nice to see that the guys have kind of taken to it and they're putting in their own personal time to get better. That’s really nice to see.”
There is a Manitoba high school lacrosse league, which started up for the season in mid-April - the division the Kings are in is a six-team loop, but it is almost entirely based in Winnipeg. Being based almost 800 kilometres away, the distance - as it so often does - plays a big challenge for the team. Those Winnipeg teams have also been playing the game for much longer - programs in the league date back decades, not months like Hapnot’s does. There is also no nearby competition for the Kings to face off, meaning between now and when provincial playoffs begin in June, the only games the team can play will either be against each other or require hours of bus travel.
Expecting a championship for a team full of rookie players isn’t the goal, said Rogalka - the goal is to get people interested in the medicine game and to have the program stick around.
“My goal is to have this program run for many years, while I’m at the school and hopefully long after I’m gone. Right now, with the experience we have, it’s going to be a season of experience and of learning. I’ve had that conversation with the guys and I think it’s gone over well - they all understand that everybody’s new to this and it’s a new thing,” he said.
“The fact we haven’t had a contact sport here for a while was definitely a big pull, the fact that, ‘Hey, maybe I can go and lay some body’ - but I tell the guys that, ultimately, that's not really what the sport is about. Here, it’s a chance to do something new. You get to be in the first batch of students to ever play this sport under the Hapnot banner. I think that’s something they can take great pride in.”
