A 10-year-old New Westminster boy was all smiles as he was handed a shiny new lacrosse stick from the school board on Tuesday night.
Adam Guthrie received the gift as a token of appreciation for stringing 240 lacrosse sticks over the Christmas break.
His dad Ross, the equipment manager for the New Westminster Minor Lacrosse Association, had ordered them for the district's elementary school lacrosse program.
"They're known to be not strung very well, so rather than just giving them to the schools that way, we thought it would be a good idea to get them restrung," Ross told the Record. "We were talking about getting some of the older players to do it, which would have been a much greater cost for us, but I thought maybe it's something Adam could take on."
The task itself was no easy feat. Guthrie admitted it was hard at the start, the first few taking "at least two hours."
"I started learning from YouTube, and we have a neighbour who knows how to do it, so he gave me a session," he said. "Now I can do one in 40 minutes."
Guthrie would do about 10 a day, taking almost the whole month of December to finish the bunch.
"We're proud, it's a hobby for him, and playing lacrosse and doing sticks is something he enjoys doing anyways, so it was a good fit," Ross said.
Board chair Jonina Campbell said it was above and beyond of what was asked of him.
"I know kids in other schools that have come home and said to their parents, 'I got to play lacrosse,' and they don't normally get to play lacrosse," she added.
The K-5 program launched two years ago after Paul Manville, the principal of Qayqayt Elementary, tossed the idea around with Darren Flintoff, president of the New Westminster Minor Lacrosse Association. The association provided the funding for the program, which included hiring a couple of instructors from the city's parks and rec department. For a whole week every year, students are taught the basics - from cradling to passing.
