By Joel van der Veen

CRAIK —  Charly Nolting’s next stop is more than 3,000 kilometres away.

This August, the 19-year-old Craik resident will move to Madison, N.J., to attend Drew University and play for the Rangers women’s lacrosse team.

She said the move is worth it to be able to keep playing the sport she loves, now at the NCAA level.

“If I was to stay here, I’d be done sports completely,” she said Thursday.

Though lacrosse is growing in popularity in this province, Nolting said women currently have few options for continuing to play past the high school level.

Charly is the daughter of Jason and Shanna Nolting of Craik, the oldest of their three children.

She graduated from Grade 12 last year, and is currently working as a summer student for the Town of Davidson.

Charly started playing lacrosse in Moose Jaw when she was 12 years old, beginning at the novice level, and continuing all through high school.

In 2015, she was named the Saskatchewan Lacrosse Association’s female athlete of the year.

Last year, she and her teammates on the Moose Jaw Midget Mustangs won tournaments in Lethbridge and Calgary, along with both the league and provincial titles in box (indoor) lacrosse.

For the last two years, Charly also played on the female ELEV8 elite field lacrosse team based in Calgary. She and her mother travelled from Craik to Calgary each weekend for the first year.

The following year, she lived in Red Deer with her aunt and uncle and commuted from there. She also took part in the ELEV8 winter training camp, held at the city’s Olympic Stadium.

For the full story, please see the July 17 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.