To be competitive in a sport, athletes oftentimes start their careers as toddlers, getting their very first ball or stick when they’re three years old.
There are a few that find a sport a later and find success just the same, working on their craft and reaching elite status to play in the NLL as some of the best players in the world.
Warriors’ defenceman Owen Grant and forward Adam Charalambides were both multi-sport athletes growing up and joined lacrosse much later than three years old. They have similar stories – both encouraged to join the sport in the summers by their hockey teammates, parlaying their skills to NCAA Division I programs and then the NLL.
Grant started playing hockey at four years old and once he picked up lacrosse at the age of 10 and fell in love with it.
“I liked the physicality of lacrosse as a young kid, you could let that out a bit more,” Grant said.
At 15 years old, he had a choice to play AAA hockey and try to get drafted or go to prep school for lacrosse. His lacrosse coach saw his potential and was a key factor in Grant deciding to focus on lacrosse, setting his sights on a DI scholarship.
“I was pretty raw. I had natural talent, but I didn’t have the fine-tuned stick work that you need to be elite in lacrosse,” shared Grant. “My coach at the time sat me down and said ‘You need to keep playing. If you dive head-first into this, you could go somewhere.’”
Two things that helped Grant improve his game were putting a lot of work in on his stick skills and watching a lot of high-level lacrosse.
Grant attended Everest Academy in Vaughan, Ontario and then went on to play at the University of Delaware, racking up numerous accolades, including 2023 Coastal Athletic Association’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Bides grew up in Georgetown, Ontario and picked up lacrosse around 12 years old. He played rep lacrosse from 13-15 while he was chasing his hockey dreams, and when he wasn’t drafted into the OHL as a U16 AAA player, doors opened for him in lacrosse, and he leaned into it.
He was able to develop his skills in a short period of time by doing skill work on his own most nights of the week and playing as much neighborhood lacrosse as possible.
“Especially in the summers, there weren’t many days when we weren’t bringing the net to the grass field playing two-on-two, three-on-three, however many of the guys we could get out there that day – I was playing a ton and doing a lot of wall ball.”
Bides is a coach for the Warriors’ Elite Academy. He trains lacrosse players as his day job and frequents outdoor setups around the Lower Mainland and talks about how great access to public practice facilities are in B.C. He says there were few outdoor box lacrosse setups in Georgetown, so after much pleading (and doing some damage to his parent’s home from shooting practice), his dad bought him a field net.
“I definitely did some damage to the house, but hopefully my dad thinks it was worth it,” he laughed.
“I didn’t really have a set-up to go shoot [in Ontario], there’s a lot of outdoor boxes here in B.C. so kids definitely have a good set-up here.”
Charalambides had some influential lacrosse coaches, including 14-year NLL player Pat Saunders and former Syracuse Crunch forward Blaine McCauley. The Junior teams in the area that Charalambides watched growing up turned out top lacrosse talent and he learned a lot from them.
“Growing up, we looked up to the Junior B players, so having those guys coach us was definitely a really cool experience,” he said.
In high school, he was invited to attend Hill Academy in Ontario which was a pivotal step in his lacrosse career.
“I did one year at the Hill and that really jump started the journey,” Charalambides said. “I went down to Rutgers for school and continued playing and here we are in Vancouver.”
Bides had a list of accolades longer than a CVS receipt, including the 2016 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and 2021 First Team All-Big Ten and Tewaaraton Award Finalist.
Grant and Charalambides are a testament that it’s never too late to start your lacrosse journey. Passion and work ethic are non-negotiable and taking the opportunity to learn from coaches is key.
Young lacrosse players around the Lower Mainland have a special opportunity to be coached by Warriors’ stars throughout the year and Charalambides gets as much out of helping the next generation of lacrosse players as the players get from the elite coaching they receive.
“In my experiences of coaching the camps, the kids that really love it, they actually get so much better in that one week just because it’s so much volume,” Charalambides said. It’s definitely a fun experience each week seeing their growth.”
The next opportunity to learn from the Warriors stars is in December at the Vancouver Warriors Lacrosse Winter Camp. The camp takes place at Langley Events Centre on December 23rd and December 30th and is open to children between the ages of 6-12 of all skill levels.
The Warriors’ coaches at the camp are Grant and fellow defencemen Brett Mydske, Reid Bowering, Jeff Cornwall and goaltender Aden Walsh.
It’s never too late to start putting the work in, so book your spot here!
For more information on the camp visit here.
