Joanne Stanga

Joanne grew up watching her brothers play lacrosse, the game she loved and wanted to play. She often had a lacrosse stick in her hand, however girls were not welcomed or encouraged to play. Her love for lacrosse never dwindled and it wasn’t until she was 17 that she got the opportunity to play on her first girls box lacrosse team, thanks to a group of outstanding local male coaches who got together and created a local girls team to play in the Golden Horseshoe League. As a young adult she moved to Toronto, she continued to play and look for more opportunities for girls and women to play the game she loved. In 1985, Joanne played with Team Ontario Women’s Field Lacrosse Team and traveled to Saskatchewan to compete in the Nationals. It would mark the first of three straight annual trips to the National Championship. Later she was one of the final cuts on the team selected to compete at the World Cup. Joanne continued to share her passion for this sport in administrative duties at the provincial level as well as giving back to her home town of Orillia, coaching both U-19 and senior girls field lacrosse teams. Joanne has been awarded the Orillia Minor Lacrosse Life Time Membership, Lester B. Pearson Award, the Queen Elizabeth 2 Diamond Jubilee IFWLA Award and she has been inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Joanne still inspires young women around the province to pursue their dreams.