Established in 1897 as the sole governing body for lacrosse, the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) is the oldest sport organization in the province. The mission of the Association is to administer, promote and develop the national summer sport of Canada within Ontario.
Toward that goal, the OLA sanctions a 130-club program that reaches approximately 40,000 members between the ages of 6-45 years. Members participate as coaches, players, officials and volunteers in both the box (indoor) and field (outdoor) versions of the sport. The OLA season begins mid-April and extends to the end of October each year in eighty-eight Ontario markets.

Along with administrative support for the sport, the OLA also sponsors community outreach participation and development programs: the Brine/OLA Stick Loan Program provides resources for start-up communities; Lax on Wheels delivers lacrosse equipment and instruction to elementary schools across the province and OLA Player Development Camps reach new and existing lacrosse markets with a fun, fundamentals and fitness goal.


Current corporate partnership opportunities are anchored in the existing touch points between the OLA and its members: annual meetings and volunteer training; a 68-event summer tournament schedule; communications and publications (including Ontario Lacrosse Magazine, ontariolacrosse.com, the OLA Directory and Ontario Lacrosse Year in Review); the OLA Awards Program and the 3,000 square-foot Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum.

Driven by television exposure, equipment technology improvements, expanding programs and services and a high profile professional league, twenty-eight consecutive years of OLA membership growth created the opportunity to launch a new, exciting, premier youth sport property: the Ontario Lacrosse Festival.

 

Launched in 2004, the Ontario Lacrosse Festival is the event name of a ten-day lacrosse promotional vehicle hosted in Whitby and Oshawa, Ontario. The Festival hosts 557 teams and approximately 11,028 athletes and features competition for forty-four provincial and national lacrosse championships for 6-21 year-olds. The 2013 event dates are Friday, August 2nd to Sunday, August 11th.

In addition to the indoor tournament competition, an outdoor Festival Fun Zone is on-site. As participation in the Festival involves the entire family, sponsors and exhibitors provide unique, engaging and experiential opportunities for Festival fans. With an estimated attendance of 55,000, the Ontario Lacrosse Festival is the largest youth lacrosse event in North America.

 

The mission of the Ontario Lacrosse Festival is to become nationally recognized as a premier youth sport brand.

In 2004, the Canadian Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model estimated Festival economic impact at $1.8 million, spending that will approach $5.7 million this year.