My name is Hunter Gibbons and I’m excited to return as Head Coach of the Nepean Knights U17 Girls' Competitive Team this year in addition to coaching the U15/U17 Girls' House League Program.
I am deeply passionate about lacrosse and bring a wealth of experience from both playing and coaching roles. In my first year as a Head Coach in 2023, I led the U15 Girls’ Team to a Provincial Silver Medal in the 'A' division, followed by a top four finish at U17 Girls' ‘A’ Provincials in 2024. After the 2024 box lacrosse season, I managed and co-coached the Knights U17G Sixes Team to the first ever OLA Sixes Provincials in October. Beyond my local coaching commitments, I am an evaluator and coach with Team Ontario, contributing to the identification and development of elite players within the province. Having worked predominantly with the 2024 U22 Women’s Team, a highlight of this experience was helping coach the team to an international win vs Team Japan in Utica, NY last September. My coaching philosophy is to create an environment where every athlete has the opportunity to be successful, and my style emphasizes work ethic, accountability, and skill development. With tryouts and sort outs just around the corner, please find below some details on how the Nepean Knights U17G program will run this year.
Competitive Program
U17 competitive players participate in the house league program and have an additional practice on Tuesday evenings in Manotick from 7:00pm - 8:30pm. They will play each of three teams in zone 5 two to three times over the course of the regular season and attend two away tournaments (May 23rd-25th in Kitchener & June 20th-22nd in Whitby). Provincials will take place August 5th-7th (Tuesday - Thursday) in Whitby. The organization has a board member that blocks off rooms at hotels for all tournaments. There may be an additional travel weekend in July where we play inter-zone games in preparation for Provincials. Other team events include team building and film sessions. Competitive runs from April until the second week of August. A second weekly competitive practice is added after house league ends in June. Competitive team fees last year were approximately $485 per player.
Tryouts for the competitive team are Wednesday, April 16th at Howard Darwin from 6:00pm - 7:30pm. Full equipment including a mouthguard is required. Please complete this Google Form if your athlete intends on trying out.
I strongly encourage all interested players to try out for the competitive team regardless of playing experience. If you are currently registered for house league only, but wish to try out for the competitive team, you must register for competitive as well. Any athletes who do not make the competitive team will be refunded the competitive registration fee. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
House League Program
The house league program runs primarily in Richmond on Monday and Wednesday evenings and is a combined U15/U17 program. Monday nights are skills and drills and Wednesdays are game nights. House league runs from April until the end of June.
Other Notes
If you are in the catchment of Gloucester or are unsure, please reach out to [email protected]. They can walk you through the process of getting a release from Gloucester if your child wishes to play competitively.
All players new and old are welcome to come to the Nepean Knights Girls' Try Lacrosse sessions on April 5th from 1pm-2pm and April 6th from 12pm-1pm at Bell Arena. Players are encouraged to bring a friend(s) if they would like. A helmet, gloves, and running shoes are required, and sticks will be available to use. This is a great opportunity to get out and have some fun on the floor before tryouts/sort outs and to meet some of the coaches.
Please find below a message from the NKMLA 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.
Tanya Mewhinney, Girls Director: [email protected]
Jeff Zywicki, Coach Mentor: [email protected]
Josh Hornung, President: [email protected]
Martine McFarlane, Vice President: [email protected]
Please do not hesitate to reach out should you have any questions.
Looking forward to a great season,
Hunter Gibbons