Dear Lacrosse Friends,

It is with great sadness to learn that the NorthStars Field Lacrosse organziation exists no longer. Due to financial and enrolment limitations it was felt that in the best interest of the sport to join up with the Newmarket Lacrosse Association (a box lacrosse league).

When I came up with the idea for this league in 1996 I was only 17 years old and still in high school. I loved the sport of lacrosse and wanted as many people as possible to enjoy it as well. What was originally supposed to be a league for my high school-aged friends somehow turned into a youth sports league for boys and girls 8 to 18.

Our first season we had 115 players and ran one of the first ever minor field lacrosse house leagues. We participated in the Ontario Minor Field Lacrosse League and were more and more successful each passing year.

I built the league with the intention of keeping it separate from box lacrosse. Many minor lacrosse organizations across Ontario use their field lacrosse program for tryouts and practice for the upcoming box lacrosse season. Some even enter their entire box lacrosse team into the short field lacrosse season. Many of these organizations do not care about field lacrosse and do not know how it is properly played. They end up surprized to find their players can't beat eachother up and coaches can't swear at the officials and get away with it.

Field lacrosse is the best sport in the world. It's played outside during the spring. It's growing every year and players who excell in field lacrosse can get scholarships to U.S. colleges where the sport is huge - box lacrosse players cannot.

Our organization promoted the sport of field lacrosse and was the only organization in Ontario to run just a field lacrosse program. We had many wonderful parent volunteers, coaches and great kids who quickly began to love their new found sport. Which makes it sad to see such a great organization lose independence and success.

Thank you to all who helped over the years. It was a great learning experience for me and I met many nice and caring people - both young and old. I will continue my efforts to promote field lacrosse as time allows me. I hope the sport continues to grow at the rate it is now because it truely is a great game.

I'm sad to see the NorthStars disappear, but I'm glad to have started something that positively impacted hundreds of lives in the Newmarket area.

Goodbye NorthStars. Thanks for the memories!

Scott Cameron