There's a new outlet for guys in Olds over 21 who want to play lacrosse.
It's the senior C Stingers. They'll play in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League, starting in late April.
Andy Sweetman, who will likely serve -- at least part of the time -- as the team's head coach, says there's been no shortage of guys in Olds who've wanted to play senior C lacrosse.
"We've had juniors here now for probably eight years, and so it seems like every year some of the kids are aging out, they're getting too old to play, and they're staying in the community. So last year, I had a group of them come and say 'well, can we get a senior group together so we can come back and play,'" he said.
Sweetman said there are senior B and C leagues in Alberta.
He described senior B as so competitive that some professionals play at that level. He said senior C lacrosse is more "laid-back."
"A lot of people in that league have families and jobs that they can't really commit to playing a higher level of lacrosse. So we play senior C. And there's still a Western Canadian championship for senior C, so it's still pretty good lacrosse," he said.
Sweetman said they have a list of about 30 people who have indicated interest in playing senior C lacrosse. About 10 showed up for a practice a couple of weeks ago.
People from as far as Calgary and Red Deer have indicated interest in playing on the team, ranging in age from 22 to almost 60. That includes Sweetman, 48.
"Some of those guys would be part-time. But we're not expecting everybody to show up all the time. Because it is senior lacrosse, we know guys have jobs, they have families, they've got lives outside of lacrosse," he said.
"Some of these guys are early to mid 20s, 30s. They're starting families, they've got careers, if you will. And so they don't have the time to play a lot of lacrosse, but they still want to give it a whirl. So we've offered this opportunity to those guys.
"Basically (it's) just one practice a week and then games every couple of weekends from now till the end of June."
They'll be competitive, Sweetman says.
"We've heard rumours that people are already scared to play us, even though we haven't played a game yet," he said with a laugh.
Sweetman figures that's because they'll likely have a pretty young, pretty talented team.
"My son Bryce is a good goal scorer and we've got a couple of good guys who can stay with him and (we've got) good goaltending," he said.
"We're picking up players. It seems like every other day we're getting requests from guys who want to come play from out of town, who want to come play with our team.
"And we've got a lot of guys -- say half the guys have played senior lacrosse before, which will be nice. We have a few guys who haven't picked up a stick in five years, so they're learning again how to play the game -- get that bug again going. (And we have a few) guys like myself who've never played before at all."
