The Vision

Toward that goal, the OLA sanctions a 130-club program that reaches approximately 30,000 members between the ages of 6-45 years. Members participate as coaches, players, officials and volunteers in both the box (indoor) and field (outdoor) versions of the sport. The OLA season begins mid-April and extends to the end of October each year in eighty-eight Ontario markets.

Along with administrative support for the sport, the OLA also sponsors community outreach participation and development programs: TRY Lacrosse subsidizes a registration and insurance option for free introductory clinic or skill programs targeted to recruiting new players; OLA Stick Loan Program provides resources for start-up communities; First Catch School Program delivers introductory education and skills to elementary and middle school students (grades 1-8); and OLA Player Development Camps reach new and existing lacrosse markets with a fun, fundamentals and fitness goal.

Current corporate partnership opportunities are anchored in the existing touch points between the OLA and its members: annual meetings and volunteer training; a 68-event summer tournament schedule; communications and publications (including Ontario Lacrosse Magazine, ontariolacrosse.com, the OLA Directory and Ontario Lacrosse Year in Review); the OLA Awards Program and the 3,000 square-foot Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum.

Driven by television exposure, equipment technology improvements, expanding programs and services and a high-profile professional indoor and field leagues, OLA membership growth created the opportunity to launch a new, exciting, premier youth sport property: the Ontario Lacrosse Festival.

Launched in 2004, the Ontario Lacrosse Festival is the event name of a ten-day lacrosse promotional vehicle hosted in Durham Region in Ontario. The Festival hosts 388 teams and approximately 8,000 coaches and athletes, featuring competition for thirty-four provincial lacrosse championships for 6-21 year-olds. With an estimated attendance of 50,000, the Ontario Lacrosse Festival is the largest youth lacrosse event in North America. The 2023 event dates are Friday, August 4th to Sunday, August 13th.

The mission of the Ontario Lacrosse Festival is to become nationally recognized as a premier youth sport brand.

In 2004, the Canadian Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model estimated Festival economic impact at $1.8 million, spending that will approach $5.5 million this year.