At the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games, box lacrosse was one of the biggest attractions, as the men’s game made its return to the Games for the first time since 1985, and the women’s competition made its Canada Games debut.

For Jordan Osborne - who played defence for Team Saskatchewan and is from Mistawasis Nêhiyawa - the road to Niagara began a decade ago, when she started watching her older brother play lacrosse.

“He’d break a window or two around the house playing wall ball,” she said. “I always thought it’d be cool to try lacrosse, so I started talking about it and borrowed his stick.”

Her interest in the sport quickly caught the attention of her entire family. Shortly after, her grandfather gave her a stick of her own.

After Osborne, her teammates, and their opponents put on such an impressive competition in Niagara, lacrosse was subsequently added to the sport schedule at the St. John’s 2025 Canada Games, and will be a fixture at all Canada Summer Games moving forward to support Indigenous participation at Canada’s largest multi-sport event.

In addition to being Canada’s national summer sport, lacrosse also provides an avenue for education on Indigenous heritage.

“When I was down in Niagara, there was a booth where they were showing traditional lacrosse sticks,” Osborne said. “I thought it would be nice to have one, because that’s how they made the sticks a long time ago when lacrosse was starting - it’s just made out of wood and leather.”

At a preparation tournament before the Games, Osborne also used her sport as a platform to raise awareness about issues that continue to affect Indigenous communities in Canada.

“I bought red and orange ribbon for whoever wanted to put ribbon in their hair when they played,” she said. “And I brought red and orange paint, then I put that on my jersey for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Every Child Matters. I got approached by a few people, saying how they liked my jersey and what I did with it.”

Coming from a small community, the only team Osborne had the chance to play for when she was younger was the local boys team, where she was the only girl on the team. As a consequence, some of the early moments that still stick with her are ones of isolation.

“My first memory would probably be me by myself in a separate changing room, because it was a boys team,” Osborne said. “I always had comments like, how lacrosse isn’t a woman’s sport, how I’m not going to make it anywhere because I’m a girl playing a man’s sport, and I’d get made fun of for playing a boy’s sport.”

Playing with all boys forged the strengths and weaknesses that became apparent when she started training with Team Saskatchewan. She needed to work on her passing and catching, but she was able to read the play well, and show her aggression when she needed to.

“Since I played with boys for so many years, the only time I would get the ball was if I got the ball - none of them would pass to the girl,” she said. “Once I started playing, I realized it’s a very aggressive sport, and I just love how aggressive it is. Since I was younger, I’d always try to get right in there when I was playing lacrosse, to try and prove that I can play lacrosse too.”

Demonstrating the importance of including women’s lacrosse at the Canada Games, Osborne contrasted her early experiences in the sport with a recent interaction she had while watching her younger brother’s team - and seeing a young girl come out of the dressing room.

“There was a girl putting on her shoes, getting ready to go play, and I went up to her and I told her that I was happy she was playing,” Osborne said. “But after that, I saw four other girls come walking out of the dressing room.”

Osborne said the young girls in her community knew she had been to the Canada Games last summer, so asked her for tips. She helped to coach the girls from the bench throughout the game - a rewarding experience for Osborne, who will be studying to become a youth care worker at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in the fall.

“That just makes my inner child happy, seeing girls play lacrosse,” she said. “I’d love to coach a girls team, just so I can inspire girls - that it’s possible to go far in something they love doing.”