Squire named to coach 2016 women’s box lacrosse entry

SIX NATIONS — With so many national and provincial champions in men’s Box Lacrosse, Darrel Squire thought, why not a women box lacrosse champion?

He will get his chance to make that happen this summer in Calgary.

“I’ve just been asked to serve as head coach for the first all Haudenosaunee box lacrosse team we ever have had from here to play for the National Women’s Box Lacrosse team,” Squire said with pride. “That a real honour.”

The tournament will be held in Calgary Women’s Sr. Box Lacrosse, July 18 to 24.

“It will be more or less like the President’s Cup or the Iroquois Nationals but for Women,” he explains. “There will also be teams from most of the provinces competing for the National Title.”

July isn’t that far away and from now until try-outs he will be personally asking some of his former woman players he has coached in the past to come out.

“We have to start some fundraising right away and the try-outs start May 8,” said Squire. Selections and team practices will continue until they leave for Calgary.

The OLA is co-operating by shutting down their women’s league schedules during the tournament so the best women players in Ontario can participate. Squire has been quite successful coaching women’s lacrosse both field and box leading Six Nations teams to several Ontario Lacrosse titles.

The seemingly ageless Squire retired from playing at a competitive level only about three years ago and despite advancing years he remains in amazing physical shape.

“This appointment has given me a new spark,” he admits. “I’m looking forward to coaching a team who will play old time, two way lacrosse.”

There is going to be no shortage of high-level women players from here and other Haudenosaunee communities to select from and he has already groomed many of them at various levels of the game so it won’t be like starting from scratch for him.

He was instrumental in attempts to begin a women’s box lacrosse program here at Six Nations which ran for a few years in the early 2000s and before.

The name Squire and lacrosse are synonymous around Six Nations and has been for years.

Darrel never played minor lacrosse per-say, but certainly grew up with a lacrosse stick in his hand. His natural talent and excellent cardio along with perhaps a little help from his Squire gene pool, allowed him to go straight into Jr. with no formal background.

He played for Six Nations first Jr. team, at that time it was Jr. C, with his father Joe Squire and uncle Mel Squire at the helm. He went on to play for the Majors Series Six Nations Warriors on a team that played out of Brantford, which included his cousins Bill and Jim Squire in the 1980s.

More recently, he also had some success coaching the Can/Am Six Nations Wolves.

Squire played on the Six Nations President’s Cup winning Sr. B’s. before last season’s Rivermen repeated as Six Nations Can/Am Champs, 20 years apart.

More details about the women’s Sr. team including tryout schedules are to come.