Although not yet of the magnitude of the Klondike or Alaska gold rush days, the recent arrival of American field lacrosse player Payton Sanders may be the beginning of a Go North Young Man wave of US players to the Jr. Bellies.
On a recent roadsie to Victoria I sat down with the personable young man for a short Q&A session.

Q. Tell me a little about yourself.
A. Although originally from California with a stop in Texas, I now call Denver home. I’m a senior at the University of Denver where I play defense on the Division 1 field lacrosse team. At school I am majoring in Business Management.

Q. How did you end up with the Jr. Bellies?
A. At school I played with current Bellies player Graig Smith’s brother Cliff. He and a few other B.C. boys on the team were always talking about how much fun box lacrosse was so I got in touch with Bellies’ GM Doug Zack back in January and arranged to come up and play. I had also have played against Kevin Crowley and the former Jr. Bellies who are now at Stonybrook.

Q. After a half dozen games what do you think of box lacrosse? What has surprised you?
A. I love it. Other than seeing a few of the NLL Mammoth’s games I didn’t know much. The game is so much faster on the floor than it looks from the stands. I also like how much physical contact there is in the box game. It is more physically intense than the field game and the trash talking and occasional fight are also parts of the game I am really enjoying. The bounces off the floor and boards took a little to get use to but I think I’m making a good adjustment.

Q. What are your lacrosse and career goals?
A. I would really like to play in the NLL after my school career is over next season. Along with that I want to stay in lacrosse as a coach at the high school or college level.

Q. How have you liked this new Canadian experience?
A. The guys on the team have been really welcoming and good bunch to get to know. Canada has been great and although the beer is more expensive it’s stronger!

Spoken like a true Canadian lacrosse player!