Canadian Lacrosse Association – Kennedy Lynch has attended Team Canada tryouts three times since she was 13 years old. Now 19, Lynch said all those experiences have helped her grow as she tries out for the Canadian Women’s U19 Field Lacrosse Team.

The first U19 evaluation camp with 70 athletes took place in December 2018. The top 35 athletes were invited to a second evaluation camp mid-January in Syracuse. Lynch made the next cut to the top 25 players and is getting ready to attend the last camp from June 21-30.

“At the first camp I feel like it was more of a go-go-go situation. At any kind of lacrosse camp or college you’ll see girls doing 1v1, just dropping their heads, not working together,” shared Lynch. “I feel like at the second tryout in January we got there and it was a much different dynamic because we were implementing plays, implementing defences. I feel like we were working more so as a team.”

Lynch is no stranger to Team Canada tryouts. When she was in grade eight, she tried out for the 2015 Canadian Women’s U19 Field Lacrosse Team for the experience. She said playing against skilled 17 and 18-year-olds had her playing at a higher level when she returned home. A few years later, she had a similar experience trying out for the 2017 Canadian Senior Women’s Field Lacrosse Team where she played against athletes like Dana Dobbie. By pushing her skills to the next level, she was recruited to the Maryland Terrapins for their field lacrosse program.

Now for the first time, Lynch is one of the oldest athletes at the Team Canada tryouts.

“My experience has been awesome thus far. I feel like last time that I was trying out I was really scared, and I didn’t get the full experience. But this time since I’m older and I feel more confident in my abilities to compete against the girls I’m competing against, it helped my game for the tryout,” said Lynch, who plays midfield.

For those who want to try out for Team Canada one day, Lynch has some advice: “Rather than sticking to the friends you travelled with, who you know, branch out and make new friends because that will build team chemistry and coaches love to see people go out of their way to do that. Always go hard and try not to be an individual player on the field—be a team player.”