CARLYLE - Ella and Sayde Johnson are twin sisters from Carlyle, and they have been making waves in the lacrosse world.
At just 15 years old, their dedication to the sport is paying off, earning recognition at local and regional levels.
They were first introduced to lacrosse when their younger brother Jett played the game in Regina, and this intrigued his sister Sayde to want to try the sport for herself.
At the age of 11, she joined a team in Weyburn. The squad consisted of all boys, but she loved the sport and continued to play.
After playing for a few years, she coaxed her sister Ella into trying the sport, as she wanted another girl on the team.
Ella is 5’5” and Sayde is 5’11”, and people are often shocked to hear they are twins, but they know each other on the floor as they both play defence.
“To be honest, I was terrified to play,” said Ella.
She soon turned that fear into a passion for the sport.
Together they play for the Weyburn Thrashers and love it. Their season is from April until June.
Being only 15 years old, their parents do a lot of driving and take them to all their games, with some of the regular season games being as far as Swift Current, and to tournaments, whether they be close by or in another province.
The sport is very physically demanding, said Garry Johnson, the father of the twins. There is a lot of running and plenty of hitting.
The girls wear a helmet with a cage, mouth guard, kidney belt, elbow pads and shoulder pads. They have no protection on their knees or shins.
Johnson said this sport is not for the faint of heart, and for the parents they also need to be tough to watch the sport, as there is a great deal of physical contact. His girls always come home with multiple bruises after a game.
Through their league, the team won a bronze medal, and in provincials they took a silver medal.
Ella and Sayde have attended two national tournaments in the past month.
One was held in Winnipeg, the Jenny Kyle Cup Women’s U19 Field Nationals.
This tournament was played outdoors on either grass or turf. There is no body contact when played on the field, but they do wear goggles to protect their eyes. Turf can cause severe burns when a player is pushed down on it.
From Aug. 10-17, the twins went with Team Saskatchewan at the U22 National Box Tournament in Regina.
Saskatchewan has not had a lacrosse team for over 20 years, and they want to try to get the women’s sport running again. They were excited to be a part of this. Forty-seven teams entered the tournament.
Although they did not place in the medals, they had an exciting time and loved the sport.
They went to one other tournament in Edmonton with the Flatland Coyotes for provincial U11-U15s. This team was made up of players that had not played together. They managed to get in four practices as a team, and out of 10 teams placed fifth.
Playing women’s field lacrosse gives the twins a 70 per cent chance at a scholarship to play in the United States.
The season is now completed, and the twins will return to school. In the winter they will pick up curling or badminton to pass the time and look forward to another season of lacrosse.
