Lacrosse Season Details (Niagara Thunderhawks Lacrosse)

What is Rep Lacrosse?

“Rep” is short for “Representative”, Rep teams are the teams that represent the Club in competitions with other clubs. It’s the highest calibre of lacrosse within the club. Rep teams are rated annually from “A” to “E” and participate in league play and provincials under the Ontario Lacrosse Association.

Thunderhawk Rep Offerings

The Niagara Thunderhawks Club (the Club) offer Rep level lacrosse for ages U7+ as well as a seperate Junior Thunderhawks (Soft Lacrosse) for those under U7. Our Junior Thunderhawks program is a free, 30-minute lacrosse session that takes place once per week during the months of May – July.

All Rep teams begin regular indoor practises the first week of April. Games typically begin by the first week of May. Due to registration numbers, team balancing and/or planned team tryouts, players may get moved between Team 1 and Team 2 during the month of April. The Thunderhawks organization aim to have roster adjustments finalized prior to a team’s first game. 

Time Commitment – What to Expect

All Rep teams practice at least once per week during the season as well as a minimum of one regular season game per week. It is not uncommon once the season is underway to either have an additional game OR practice in the week. During the regular season, all games and practices will be between Monday to Friday with the exception of tournaments.

Our Club is  a member of Zone 9 and compete against other Zone 9 centres in the Niagara Region during the regular season. In addition to these games, all teams will compete is coach selected tournaments. There are typically two tournaments per season in addition to Provincials for Rep teams U9+. For U7, there is typically only one tournament and they do not compete in Provincials. Tournament attendance is required.

What is Provincials?

Once a year, every Rep level minor lacrosse team aged U9+ gather in Oshawa, Ontario to compete in a provincial wide tournament known as the Ontario Lacrosse Festival. This festival is the largest lacrosse event in the world! In 2024, the event hosted almost 500 teams and approximately 8,000 players & coaches. Rep players need to be prepared to participate in this August tournament. Teams can find their tournament dates on the festival website: https://www.ontariolacrossefestival.com/provincial-dates.

Equipment

The OLA stipulates what equipment is required to ensure the safety of players and goalies. All players are required to purchase their own equipment that meets the safety guidelines outlines by the OLA. For goalies, loaner equipment (other than helmet) is available through the Club. Please see the following to understand the equipment required: https://ontariolacrosse.com/content/playing/required-equipment/box-equipment/box-guidelines.pdf

All players are provided with game jerseys and shorts - there is no need for parents to purchase the game uniform. If parents like, they may purchase Thunderhawk swag through our online store but this is completely optional and not required: https://stores.inksoft.com/niagarathunderhawkslacrosse/shop/home

What are the age divisions?

This age chart is for Box Rep registration, and only for the 2025 season: