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Vernon lacrosse player selected to Canada squad

Aidan Wattie, 16, will play at international box lacrosse tournament in Australia
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Vernon’s Aidan Wattie (9) has been selected to play for Canada’s Development Team at a box lacrosse international tournament in Australia starting March 11. (Morning Star - file photo)

For Vernon lacrosse player Aidan Wattie, spring break will be spent in an autumnal part of the world.

Wattie will be part of the Canadian Development Team traveling to Australia March 11 to play in the 2023 IIJL Commonwealth Cup. He is the only player from B.C. chosen to the 20-man roster.

“I got an email (from Canadian Lacrosse League) that they were creating this team to go to Australia and I applied, sending some information and some video footage of me playing,” said Wattie, 16, a Grade 11 student at Vernon Secondary School.

“It was pretty surprising to be selected. I wasn’t expecting it.”

Wattie has been playing Canada’s summer sport since he was eight, both box and field lacrosse. The tournament in Australia is the box variety (indoors).

He has played on travel teams, taken part in the World Series of Youth Lacrosse (field) as a 13-year-old, and played box in the B.C. Summer Games for Team Okanagan in Prince George in 2022.

Indoors or outdoors, it doesn’t matter for the right-handed sniper who played some games as a call-up for the Vernon Iron Ghost Construction Tigers in The Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League in 2022. He plans to be a regular with the team this year.

“I just really like the way they run systems in lacrosse,” said Wattie on his cell from a Vancouver hotel where he and his father, Chad, were staying on a recent weekend. Wattie is also trying out for a spot on the Team B.C. field lacrosse team. “Lacrosse is different from a lot of other games.”

Wattie hopes to go to college in the United States after high school with a field lacrosse scholarship in his pocket.

He will be one of eight forwards on the Canada Development Roster, and will play four games in Australia.

“I’m really looking forward to getting there and playing. It’s going to be exciting,” said Wattie, who also praised his parents, Chad and Jamie, for their support and all the driving they do for his lacrosse games.

“They’ve been great.”

READ MORE: PHOTOS: North Okanagan U16 Legends rock home lacrosse tourney

READ MORE: North Okanagan well represented for B.C. Summer Games



roger@vernonmorningstar.com

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Roger Knox

About the Author: Roger Knox

I am a journalist with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. I started my career in radio and have spent the last 21 years working with Black Press Media.
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