A man from St. Adolphe says it is disappointing that our national sport flies under the radar. Matt Girardin says he has been involved in lacrosse his entire life and is trying to grow the sport in this part of the province.

According to Girardin, most of the lacrosse in Manitoba happens in Winnipeg.

"As far as rural lacrosse is concerned, there is not a lot going on right now," he says.

Having been involved in lacrosse for more than 26 years, Girardin says the challenge of gaining the provincial spotlight has been a struggle for decades.

"I'm not entirely sure what the problem is," says Girardin. "Especially, how our hockey community is so large and it's just an ideal cross training sport, I'd like to see it become more popular."

By comparison, he says in provinces like British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, lacrosse programs are booming.

From a technical standpoint, Girardin says playing lacrosse is not quite as simple as soccer, yet not as difficult as hockey. He notes similar to hockey, lacrosse needs rinks or fields to play on. There is also a lot of equipment needed, but not as much as is needed for hockey.

"It's kind of a balance of not being as expensive as hockey but still not just being able to pick up the sport where it's one piece of equipment or a couple of pieces of equipment," he explains. "There is a bit of an investment in order to make sure that you have the proper equipment to play the game."

In an attempt to grow the sport, last year Girardin ran a weekly program, introducing children to lacrosse, which had about 65 participants. This year, he is hoping to transition to the organized game, which means playing by the Canadian Lacrosse Association rules and then also entering tournaments. His goal for next year is to have a team in each age category in the Red River Lacrosse Association.

Anyone interested is asked to register by April 21st. For more information, contact Matt Girardin at mattgirardin@hotmail.com.