June Jamboree brings measure of success

The Kanehsatake Warriors hosted their third annual box lacrosse Jamboree tournament this past weekend, with two Warriors teams - the U11 and U13 - advancing to the finals.

A total of 24 teams competed in the tournament at the Olympia Arena in Two Mountains from June 26-28, including a U13 girls exhibition game between the Warriors and a Chambly all-girls team.

“It’s been a building experience since we took over the lacrosse program in 2023, and every year our jamboree seems to be getting bigger and bigger,” said Teiawenhniseráhte Jeremy Tomlinson, Warriors’ coach and Kanesatake Health Center (KHC) executive director.

The tournament featured eight more teams than last year’s jamboree, with lacrosse teams from Roussillon, Terrebonne, Chambly, Longueuil, and the West Island participating in the jamboree tournament. Four age divisions - U9, U11, U13, and U15 - competed in the three-day tournament, a day longer than the one in 2025.

And this year, a Warriors all-girls team got to take a crack at playing together in a tournament.

The Chambly all-girls team, who regularly play together, won the game 3-0. But KHC sports co-coordinator Selena Kaniehtiiostha Beauvais said the girls’ team, who never trained together, did a great job holding their own.

“It showed on the scoreboard that we played a great game,” said Beauvais. “They kept it really close. Our girls played really good defense ... overall, oh my gosh, I loved it, the girls had a fun time.”

Soon, Beauvais hopes to coach an all-girls Warriors team, a dream which did not come to fruition earlier this season due to low enrollment from girls.

The U9 Warriors competed against three other teams from Roussillon and Terrebonne in fun, uncompetitive, round-robin-style jamboree games.

Warriors’ coach Randy Rahskwe’Ióntha Etienne said his daughter Iohrhenhá:tie Etienne, who plays on the U9 team, is blooming.

“It’s nice to see that she’s becoming more confident in playing,” he said. “At the beginning of the season, she had a lot of confidence playing defense, but when it came to the transition into offence, she still wasn’t sure, but ... it’s starting to materialize.”

Iohrhenhá:tie, despite being nine years old, also participated in the U13 girl’s exhibition game, and won a player of the game award.

“Just goes to show you how far she’s come this year in her development as an athlete,” said Randy.

Part of this development for Iohrhenhá:tie and other players on the Warriors is due to many of the athletes continuing to train during the winter.

“You could see the children that were involved in that winter programming, how much more athletic they became,” said Randy.

Both the U11 and U13 Warriors made it to the finals but lost to the Terrebonne Mustangs. The U15 did not make it to the finals.

But overall, the skills of the players have only improved, and more importantly, the players continue to grow into strong community members, said Tomlinson.

“It’s just been like a continued build on the Warriors’ program itself, which for us goes beyond just minor sports for the sake of minor sports, and it’s really to build something that the kids can buy into, where values are transmitted and where it can help transform lives of these kids,” said Tomlinson.

The Warriors fundraised nearly $9,000 from merchandise sales and raffle tickets, money that goes back into fund the sports program, said Beauvais. She is grateful to the community for their generosity.

Next year, Beauvais hopes to have give-away merchandise with the Warriors logo for the kids and continue to grow the event.

“I’m going to do this every year, and we’re going to outdo ourselves every year and try to make it better than last year,” said Beauvais.

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Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter