Wiikwemkoong lacrosse star hoping to coach in world junior lacrosse tournament
By Sam Laskaris
REGINA – One of the top Indigenous lacrosse players is hoping to soon find out how his coaching skills rank on the world stage.
Jeff Shattler, a member of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, has been named as the head coach for Anishinabe Baagaadowewin.
The team represents those from the Three Fires Confederacy – Ojibwe, Odawa and Bodewadmi.
The Indigenous lacrosse program is hoping to make its international debut this summer at the International Indoor Junior Lacrosse (IIJL) world championship, scheduled for Aug. 8-14 in Winnipeg.
The Manitoba capital was supposed to host the 2020 world tourney last summer but that was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shattler is hoping sufficient pandemic restrictions will be lifted by this summer to allow the nine-team tournament to proceed.
“We’re planning for the worst but hoping for the best,” he said.
Anishinabe Baagaadowewin is one of two Indigenous squads scheduled to compete at the world event.
The Haudenosaunee (formerly known as the Iroquois team) has participated at every IIJL tournament since its inception in 2015.
Also scheduled to take part in this year’s championships are teams representing Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Poland and the United States.
Shattler, who is 36 and now lives in Regina, is still playing the sport professionally. He’s a member of the National Lacrosse League’s Saskatchewan Rush.
Anishinabe Baagaadowewin founder Isaiah Kicknosway approached Shattler to see if he would be willing to be part of the team’s coaching staff, and possibly even the head coach.
“I was honoured first off,” Shattler said. “It was an amazing opportunity. I never really thought too much about being a coach. I had to jump in when given the chance. And I’m going to jump right into it.”
Though he’s served as an instructor at various lacrosse camps and clinics over the years, this marks the first time Shattler has coached a team.
“It’s going to be something new,” he said. “I can just prepare with pen and paper.”
Because of the pandemic, however, Shattler’s preparations for the world event will have plenty of obstacles.
“It’s going to be really tough to pick the team,” he said.
That’s because it remains to be seen what format any possible tryouts will have. Shattler speculated team tryouts might be staged in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia or possible even in his current hometown of Regina, where Saskatchewan health authorities are allowing up to 30 individuals to be on a lacrosse floor at once.
If need be, Shattler said it might even be necessary to hold tryouts virtually. He said he could record some drills and then ask prospective players to hop online and perform those drills.
Anishinabe Baagaadowewin officials have also named the two individuals who will serve as Shattler’s assistant coaches.
Though he did not have a say in the selections, Shattler is well acquainted with both assistants, Roger Vyse and Aimie Caines.
Shattler and Vyse were teammates in the NLL with the Buffalo Bandits. And Shattler played with Caines on the Brampton Excelsiors, in Ontario’s elite spring/summer circuit, Major Series Lacrosse.
“There’s a lot of history there between the three of us,” Shattler said of the familiarity with his assistant coaches.
Shattler has played 15 seasons in the NLL. He won his first league title in 2009 as a member of the Calgary Roughnecks. And he won another NLL championship with the Rush in 2018.
The pandemic forced the NLL to cancel the remainder of its most recent season last March. The league is now hoping to start its 2021-22 campaign this fall.
Shattler is planning to play just one more season in the NLL with the Rush.
“I’m going to go for one more year and then go out on my own terms,” he said.
Shattler’s resume also includes winning silver medals with Team Iroquois at the 2011 and 2015 world indoor lacrosse championships.