My name is Jordan Hendrycks & I will be the U17-1 Head coach this season.
I have coached this level for the last 4 years, this year being my 5th. I am 27 years old and Lacrosse is my life’s passion. I grew up in the Kanata Blazers hockey association until my mother got me to try lacrosse in the off-season when I was in grade 5 or 6. From that moment I fell in love with the medicine game. In my 5 years of Jr lacrosse I went from Rookie, to depth, to wearing an A on my sweater to being the captain of the ship. Nepean is a brotherhood and the memories that lacrosse in Ottawa has made for me from that brotherhood is something I will always cherish. It is exactly why I want to come back year after year. Outside of the box game I earned a scholarship to play at the Division 2 level at Lake Erie College. I truly believe that Lacrosse can take you to some wild places you didn’t know existed or to new heights that you didn’t think you could go. I hope to achieve that with this group this summer.
The 2025 summer season has come with some new adjustments & improvements to past processes, as it is the Nepean way to always strive to improve. As a coach I have woven that same approach into my tryout process. As you all know this age group is a rather large one, which is an incredibly great problem to have in Zone 5, so this year’s tryout format has been, in my opinion, improved.
For this year’s U17-1 tryouts, players will be separated into 4 teams, floor times will be split & Scrimmages will be had for all tryouts to maximize exposure, opportunity & evaluators focus. ALL Players are expected to show up 1 hour before the 1st Tryout. All players will be given the April 6th Tryout & April 7th Tryout, before Roster Updates are made available on the Nepean website here. Instead of emails, letters, and in-person interviews, Nepean has decided that the names of players who are invited back to tryouts will be posted on our website. Our April 7th tryout is late so the roster update will be posted before midnight.
Below is the tryout Schedule if you have not seen or heard. We have added a Scrimmage against Gloucester U17 April 8th – This game will also be split in half because we will be fielding 2 teams. Currently we have 62 athletes registered for U17 tryouts; 6 are Goalies & the rest runners. This means that after the April 7th tryout, I will be Releasing 2 goalies & 20-25 runners. This will leave enough to roster two teams to scrimmage the Griffins. The tryout continues the next 2 days (April 9th and 10th) where both teams that played the Griffins on the 8th of April, will be full time scrimmaging against one another for the next two tryouts. After April 10th’s tryout comes to an end, all tryout jerseys will be returned & the final roster will be posted on the 12th of April on the website. This gives the coach & Evaluators proper time to ponder & reflect on the final roster selections. I have attached a file if you are a visual person.
I believe as a Non-parent coach, that it is my responsibility to ensure that my tryout & selection process is as completely unbiased as possible. Every year I select Evaluators that have no relationship to the current lacrosse community, without lacking lacrosse knowledge or evaluation experience. As it is a priority for the association, it is also a priority with myself that I make this clear, NOBODY MAKES MY TEAMS BEFORE THE TRYOUTS BEGIN – I MAKE MY SELECTIONS PURELY OFF WHAT IS DONE AT THE 5 TRYOUTS. To re-enforce this in my process, I have attached TWO evaluation forms; 1 for runners, 1 for Goalies. This will give you and your player complete transparency on evaluation criteria.
Each player will be evaluated by a different evaluator each and every session. That evaluator will list his or her name on the session for which they are at. By the end of tryouts, there will be 1 of these forms per player, where all observations are comprehensively compiled, like a resume. If your player is released and cannot make certain tryout dates for team 2, then these can be provided for information or if there is a complaint received from the competitive director regarding the selection choices, these can be provided to explain observations.
This is a very competitive age group, with the roster size of 18 runners & 2 goalies, it is inevitable that some of you will be looking for answers, reasons or stories to mend the pain for your child if they do not make the team. I have no hard feelings with anyone who feels they want feedback on the decision & will NOT VIEW YOU OR TREAT YOU OR YOUR CHILD ANY DIFFERENTLY FOR DOING SO. The association asks that you respect the 24Hr rule before reaching out to the president and/or the competitive director.
In U17-1 the players start to learn and play offence/defense. This a new change for some players who may have been on team 1 their entire career but now at this new level have trouble finding their way in this game. Part of this tryout is also a learning experience for them as players. I encourage all players to show their skills on both sides of the ball so that if a player is in a position or spot that doesn’t benefit from their skill set, to tryout Defense or transition for a couple shifts. We are lucky to have a lengthy tryout process, because if a player has an off day or is in the wrong position, then they will have the opportunity to find their way through.
This Year we are in 3 out of town A level Tournaments.
- Laker Classic – May 23-25
- London Tournament – June 6-8
- Orangeville tournament – June 20-22
Team fees are estimated from 500-700$ this year
Our U17-1 Staff will include Connor Dent & Aaron Forestor. Both with Deep Jr Careers in both A & B circuit & successes at the NCAA Div 1 & 2 levels. Aaron aka “Coach Ronnie” Brings NLL experience himself which I hope to utilize in assisting the players with the pathways forward with lacrosse. He will be our Head Offensive Coordinator.
Connor will be our player development coach, where he will be in charge of managing warm-ups for players and goalies Pre-Game & on the floor warm-ups, assisting with Offensive & Defensive drills & will open doors on our bench. I am confident that this staff dynamic will be the foundation of a competitive, entertaining & confident Lacrosse team. I will be looking for a team manager & also a certified trainer. This will be something arranged after tryouts as a measure against bias.
All the best & good luck at tryouts!
Jordan
A message from the board:
Welcome to the 2025 lacrosse season. The Nepean Knights Minor Lacrosse Association is happy to have you join this year’s competitive tryout process. The Board would like to provide you with some important details that may ease the process along the way. To begin, we invite you to review our Tryout Process page on our website. This outlines the standard process your player will follow, and also lists some requirements. We encourage you to review the required equipment and have your player try on their last year’s equipment ahead of time to ensure it fits. No player will be allowed to step onto the floor and tryout unless they are properly equipped.
Members of the Board will be at tryouts and available to you if you have any questions. We will also have competitive clothing available for your player to try on so you can order the right sizing should your player make a competitive team. We ask that you have your player do a “fit check” on day 1 of their tryout.
The tryout process can be intense and riddled with emotions. As a Board, we recognize how difficult this can be for some players/families. We respect all feelings and encourage you to reach out to the Board when needed, however, we ask everyone to respect the 24-hr rule. This means taking the time step away and consider the message you would like to send before doing so. We will make ourselves available to you for discussions on any topic at that point.
If you have general questions regarding the competitive program, coaches, or the Association, please feel free to contact your respective Competitive Director below, our Coach Mentor, and/or President and Vice President.
We look forward to seeing you all on the floor and running another great season with our Knights Family.
Nathan Grenon, Competitive Director: [email protected]
Tanya Mewhinney, Girls Director: [email protected]
Jeff Zywicki, Coach Mentor: [email protected]
Josh Hornung, President: [email protected]
Martine McFarlane, Vice President: [email protected]