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By Adam Beauchemin
For Ottawa’s Mary James, there’s no better compass than the sport of lacrosse.
“I just go where the game calls me,” she says.
So far, that hasn’t led her astray.
In a short six-year coaching career, the Peterborough-born coach has already had a massive impact on the Ottawa lacrosse community and now, she’s earning recognition for her efforts.
This fall, James was named the Ottawa Black Bears Inaugural Community Lacrosse Builder, and this summer, the fourth-generation Metis coach will be inducted into the North American Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the Haudenosaunee Nationals.
While James is receiving plenty of accolades for her impact on and off the field, she says lacrosse is much more than just a sport — it’s about community and connection.
“They say lacrosse is also known as the medicine game and that it does a lot of healing, and I think that’s true,” she signals.
“That really sticks with me.”
From Peterborough to the world stage
James hails from the lacrosse hotbed of Peterborough, Ont. Like many in her hometown she spent her seasons alternating between the two big sports — lacrosse and hockey — from an early age.
“Growing up in Peterborough, it was pretty normal to play hockey in the winter and lacrosse in the summer,” she explains. “It’s big in that community, so that was very influential.”
After finishing high school, James moved to Ottawa to attend the University of Ottawa. She arrived in the new city with no intentions of continuing her lacrosse career.
However, James stumbled upon an interesting post on a uOttawa student engagement page — the posters were looking to start up a field lacrosse team at the U of O. James reached out, and next thing she knew, she was back on the field.
James officially retired from playing after graduating university, but her journey in the sport was far from over.
In 2019, she was invited to coach a new provincial lacrosse team starting in Quebec, kicking off her coaching career. It didn’t take long before James found herself leading multiple teams within the program.
Now, James leads several teams within Ottawa and Ontario, including Ontario’s U17 team (which will be competing in the Canada Games in August), the University of Ottawa’s women’s Field Lacrosse Club and the Gloucester Lady Griffins.
In addition to her coaching, James also spent time volunteering with Lacrosse Canada’s Committee on Gender Equity and Inclusion and she works for Ottawa Sport and Entertainment Group.
As James puts it, it’s rare for her to turn down an opportunity — her mantra has been to let the game dictate where she ends up.
“If a program says, ‘we need help doing XYZ,’ that means the game is telling me where to go,” she indicates. “This program needs some support, how can I support it?”
For all her efforts in the community, James was named the Ottawa Black Bears’ inaugural Community Builder, an honour that she didn’t take lightly.
“I think it’s a good representation of the work that I put into the craft — coaching and working with all these different teams and groups,” she says. “I think it means that I’m making an impact on the athletes that I’m coaching.”
The Nationals go international
Last year, James said yes to a particularly special opportunity — to hop behind the bench as an assistant coach for the Haudenosaunee Nationals at the first-ever Women’s World Lacrosse Box Championships.
“That’s the biggest stage and team I’ve coached with to date,” she signals.
James initially considered applying to coach Team Canada at the World Championships, but once again, she fatefully stumbled upon an online post that led her elsewhere.
“I saw the posting by the Haudenosaunee social media and I was like, ‘you know what? I’ve been following them for a lot of years and this is the team that I would like to work with,’” she recalls. “I just threw my hat in the ring with hope, and it was like a dream came true.”
As always, fate — or the game — guided her in the right direction.
James and the Nationals’ efforts culminated in a 21-4 victory over Team Australia in the bronze medal game. Now, the team is being inducted into the North American Indigenous Hall of Fame in recognition of their historic podium performance at the World Championships.
“For the players alone, it’s going to be forever. Not only did you win a bronze medal in the first ever Women’s World Championship, but the Hall of Fame is forever and that’s not something that happens every day,” she notes.
Everything we’ve worked for has led up to this! #OneHeartOneMind pic.twitter.com/rWXiXrS2ET— Haudenosaunee Nationals Lacrosse (@HAU_Nationals) September 28, 2024
The Haudenosaunee Nationals are made up of athletes from the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk), Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora nations, and is the only Indigenous team competing in the sport on the world stage.
“They’re kind of a unique group where they don’t typically participate in other sports except for lacrosse because it is their game,” James says.
As the originators of the game, the Haudenosaunee have a special historical and cultural tie to the sport. The hope amongst James and others in the community is that the Haudenosaunee will be able to compete as their own nation on the world stage once again at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which will feature field lacrosse.
“If you really think about it, historically, there is no lacrosse without the Haudenosaunee,” she reflects. “If you put the sport in a world games, you should probably have those that created the game able to participate.”
To date, the International Olympic Committee has said only recognized National Olympic Committees may enter the Olympics, meaning Haudenosaunee players could play for Canada or USA but not their own team, no matter that they consider themselves a sovereign national, or their tradition of success in international lacrosse competitions, where they are permitted to compete independently.
James says she’s hopeful the IOC’s position will change within the next four years. Both Canada and USA have requested that Haudenosaunee be allowed to enter.
“It would definitely be a goal of mine to be with the Haudenosaunee at the Olympics in L.A. in 2028,” she underlines.
As a fourth-generation Métis with little information on her family history, James says her time as a coach for the Haudenosaunee team has helped her connect to her own Indigeneity.
“I’m learning more about the culture the more I work with the Haudenosaunee,” she says. “It’s different from working with any other team that I have worked with in the last six years — even down to the opening ceremonies when the girls were all in their traditional skirts, dresses, beadwork and the moccasins.
“I just wanna know more. But I think I found the right group of people to learn more.”
As James put it, lacrosse is more than a sport — it’s about culture, history, and healing.
“When my athletes from any of the teams I’m working with are struggling, I tell them ‘come out to the field, bring your stick and throw the ball around and it might make you feel better,’” she highlights. “I firmly believe that the game is medicine.”
James says her time with the bronze medal team was extra significant, because not only were they representing the Haudenosaunee on the global stage, they were also representing women.
“Representing the Haudenosaunee and the female component of that group was really special and coaching with that team was unbelievable,” she says. “Definitely a highlight for me in my coaching career so far.”
As James notes, the women on the team put in countless hours of blood, sweat and tears to achieve what they did, all while balancing their lives outside the game.
“A lot of those women were moms and they were doing double duty — they were being moms and working at their craft,” she notes.
“Those women stood up to the challenge and gave it their all. It really showed from day one to when we won a bronze medal that they put in the work.”
Now, after fighting tooth and nail to earn their spot on the podium at the World Championships, it’s hard for James to consider the Nationals anything but family.
“You see these people twice a month for an entire weekend and you get to know and make these connections with people and they’re connections that are going to last forever,” she says.
