Last season, Xenia Dumont wasn't really sure if she was good enough to play for Team B.C.'s bantam girls' lacrosse team.
Fast forward one year and the 14-year-old St. Thomas More Collegiate student is doing just nicely, helping the provincial girls' team to a share of first place at the Canadian national championships being held at Queen's Park Arena this week.
Dumont has scored four goals and added two assists for B.C.'s to date, and was in the lineup for the gold-medal game against Ontario played Thursday (after Record deadlines).
"I didn't try out last year because, I don't know, I was on the younger side," said Dumont after scoring a goal in B.C.'s 3-2 loss to Ontario on Monday.
"I lost a lot of confidence playing. I felt I was never doing something right. . I guess I changed."
Part of that change was accepting the challenge of making the B.C. team.
New Westminster coach Naomi Walser, an assistant with the B.C. girls' midget team, said teaching the finer points of the game to the girls takes different methods.
"Girls don't generally showboat with their stick like the boys do. So with a lot of girls, we start with stick skills," said Walser, who grew up playing lacrosse in Ontario before settling on the West Coast 15 years ago. "(Girls) are learning to be fluent with both hands."
What's interesting is watching the dynamic unfold and how girls react when they know they can do a skill well, Walser said.
"When (learning) comes, it opens up a whole new opportunity for adventure for them," she said.
The proof is evident.
tberridge@royalcityrecord.com
