Jory Clermont impressed during Victoria Shamrocks training camp, so much so that he’s made the intermediate team and will be getting some long looks from the big club this season.
The Victoria Shamrocks selected Clermont in the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse draft. During his time in the Shamrocks training camp, Clermont went through twelve practices with more than 50 other players to be selected to the Shamrock’s intermediate team.
“It’s crazy because I didn’t really know what to expect coming in to it,” Clermont, Grade 11 at Ballenas Secondary, said.
“There were lots of guys there but each week there were less and less players left over and when it got own to the end, I found out I made the team so it was pretty awesome.”
As a member of the intermediate team, Clermont will is also looking to play field lacrosse in Burnaby to go along with box lacrosse for the Shamrocks.
Being on the radar for the Senior A Shamrocks team is something that Clermont is excited about and he’s looking forward to the challenges that await.
“I’ve been playing a lot on defense and that’s where I’m going to start the year off,” Clermont said.
“I’ve played forward my entire career so far so it’s been a bit of a transition but I’m sure that I’ll grow to love playing defense over time.”
The intermediate team took on the Junior A Shamrocks in an exhibition game last week and only lost by a score of 13–7, something that Clermont said was expected but wound up closer than anyone thought.
“Everyone was still adjusting to the systems and it was pretty scrambled at times but we kept it closer than we figured it would have been,” Clermont said.
“We’ve got a really good team and once we all start to gel together, we’re going to be a pretty dangerous team out there.”
The intermediate Shamrocks’ season starts May 3 at home against the Burnaby Lakers.
It’s been a challenging road for Clermont so far, having to make the commute from Nanoose Bay to Victoria while trying to balance school and work on top of lacrosse. Clermont is looking to re-locate to Victoria next year but will continue to try and make things work for now.
“It’s tough, for sure. Driving down to Victoria for practices and then having to come back home later in the night and sit down for homework, it’s pretty tiring for sure,” Clermont said. “I’ve got lots of things going on but in order to get to where I want to be, these are things I’m getting done to make sure I can accomplish my goals.”
Those goals, Clermont said, are to maintain good grades in school while excelling in lacrosse in hopes of garnering a full ride scholarship.
Clermont has been receiving attention from a few NCAA Division 2 schools but nothing has really caught his attention yet.
“It would have to be a pretty sweet deal to make me jump at it,” Clermont said.
“I love playing box lacrosse, so it’d have to be a full ride, somewhere either close to home (Washington) or somewhere warm. That would make me change my mind and go that route.”