Beaudoin selected to work world championship
Nico Beaudoin, far right, has been selected as one of 51 officials representing 14 nations and three Continental Federations which will form the team of officials for the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship. SUBMITTED PHOTO.
Nico Beaudoin fell in love with refereeing lacrosse at a young age.
The 28-year-old Welland native donned the officiating stripes when he was 14 at the urging of his parents.
“It was my first job. It was the first thing I ever did for money,” the Notre Dame graduate said. “We were at the rink all the time as kids so we started.”
Along with his twin brother, Sebastian Beaudoin, the two began officiating paperweight, tyke and novice games.
“We would ref games and then hurry up and get dressed and go play our own games after. Those were really fun times,” he recalled. “We always loved it and always had a passion for. We’ve always done it.”
The brothers also began working field lacrosse games.
“We would spend weekends driving around Ontario reffing tournaments. A big part of it was the social life. You get to meet so many cool people,” he said.
The Beaudoin brothers played a year of junior B lacrosse in their hometown before Sebastian joined the St. Catharines Spartans while Nico suited up for the St. Catharines Athletics for four seasons.
“When we finished playing junior is when we started taking officiating a little more seriously,” Nico Beaudoin said. “People approached us and were told we had some potential so we pursued it. We went through the Ontario program. We worked our way up and eventually got into some junior box lacrosse.”
Nico Beaudoin continued to officiate while attending both Robert Morris and Brock, where he played field lacrosse before heading to the University of Victoria to earn his teaching degree.
This summer, Nico Beaudoin will spend part of June in San Diego after being selected as one of 51 officials representing 14 nations and three Continental Federations which will form the team of officials for the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship. They were selected in consultation with National and Continental federations based on the officials’ quality and past performance at previous World Lacrosse events and events held within their federations.
Beaudoin is one of nine Canadians selected.
“I was fortunate enough to be selected to try out. I thought it was a great weekend and around Christmas I got e-mail saying I was selected,” he said. “It’s nice to be rewarded and selected out of all the people that applied. I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’s going to be awesome.”
Nico Beaudoin, who continues to officiate box lacrosse in British Columbia where he now resides, feels the field game and box game go hand in hand when it comes to officiating.
“I always loved field lacrosse,” he said. “It’s a much more technical game. A lot more intricacies. I find they translate to one another. All these little technical things I’m working on help me in the box game.”
While he has worked diligently to rise up the ranks, Nico Beaudoin was quick to give credit to his many mentors, including local Niagara officials Brent Coulombe, Ryan Dutkas and Frank Lawrence.
“We knew a couple of people from Welland area that were refs and helped us out a lot,” he said. “I owe lots to what we’ve done in referring to people like that. They were mentors and guys we looked up to.”
He also marvelled at how many officials from Niagara have moved on to bigger and better things — Coulombe, Dutkas, Lawrence and Sean Grenier have all worked World Field Lacrosse championships and National Lacrosse League games. Chris Williams, Jeramie Bailey and Ryan Fowler are other locals working in the NLL.
“The word powerhouse comes to mind,” he said. “We’re not out there winning games but it’s really impressive.”
Sebastian Beaudoin recently signed on with the NLL as well and will work behind the scenes for a time before making his debut.
“I still have a dream of reffing in NLL and the ultimate dream would be to step on the floor with my twin brother and ref a game together,” Nico Beaudoin said. “I think that would make my parents proud and be awesome for us too.
“We’ve always kind of done everything together, reffing included.”
Nico Beaudoin is enjoying life in Victoria, where both he and his girlfriend are teachers.
“I’m very fortunate to have met some absolutely incredible people here in Victoria who have helped me and connected me with the right people.”
He is also looking forward to coming back to Niagara to watch a game at Canada Games Park.
“The last time I was back they were still building it,” he said. “I can’t wait to get back in the summer and go catch a game there.”
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