Paul Rai – Darmouth College- BA (Economics), University of Alberta- MBA

Director The Lacrosse Program

Paul brings over twenty five years of lacrosse experience to AAD.  Paul's lacrosse experience started over 30 years ago with the Gold Bar Miners, which transformed into today's Edmonton Miners Club. He played his minor lacrosse with Gold Bar Miners and travelled to many national championships with the organization. As an adult he played Senior lacrosse with the Miners, and then with the Edmonton Outlaws where he was the player/coach of the 2002 Presidents Cup National Champions. Paul has been coaching lacrosse for ten years with the Outlaws, the Sherwood Park Junior Titans and minor lacrosse teams around Edmonton. Paul served as the Head Coach of the 2006 of the Team Alberta Bantam National Club. In 2007 he served as the Chair of the National Committee for the Alberta Lacrosse Association. Paul has also been actively involved with the Edmonton Razorbacks Field Lacrosse Club, working with the U14 team that travelled to New Jersey for two lacrosse tournaments during the summer of 2008. He also was the head coach of the Team Alberta North that participated in the 2008 National Field Lacrosse Championships and the offensive coordinator for the U19 Alberta field lacrosse club that participated in the Canadian Championships last summer. 

This past summer, Paul coached in the Warriors minor box lacrosse system working with two teams (Midget A and Pee Wee A). He also was the Head Coach with the Sherwood Park Titans Junior B box club.  Paul is currently serving as the Regional Scout for Canada’s U19 team scheduled to play in the World Championships in July 2012.  He is also a regional scout for 3D Blue Chip Camps. 

Paul attended Dartmouth College (NCAA) and played four years of Division I hockey for the Big Green.  His experience at Dartmouth taught him about the skills required to be a successful student-athlete.  He now dedicates his time to imparting this knowledge to his students at Vimy Ridge. 

Pau's three children have all participated in AAD programs. His oldest two children are attending prep schools in the US studying and playing hockey and lacrosse. His youngest is a student-athlete in The Hockey Program. Paul has hands on experience of the values that AAD teaches its student-athletes. His children have experienced the guidance of excellent coaches and teachers and have benefitted greatly from their dedication and commitment.

Mr. Rai has worked with student-athletes for over a decade assisting them in identifying post secondary academic and athletic opportunities. Paul is one of the founders of VIMY LACROSSE and is actively involved in the day to day activities.

Mr. Rai's Favourites

Lacrosse Memory - Winning 2002 President’s Cup

Lacrosse Stick – Gait Tourque

Lacrosse Coach – Tom McCaskill

Coach – Ken Hitchcock

Movie – Field of Dreams, Avatar, Rocky

Athlete – Alexander Ovechkin

Music – Alternative Rock

Book – Anything related to politics

TV Show – The Wire

Treat – Sour Candies

Jimmy Quinlan - B Ed (Major - Mathematics, Minor - Physical Education)

Lead Teacher TLP Power

Mr. Quinlan is very excited to be joining the Lacrosse Program. Mr. Quinlan began playing lacrosse at the age of seven for the Sherwood Park Titans because his older brother had taken up the sport. Bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to the lacrosse program Mr. Quinlan aspires to teach young players how to think about and understand the game. He played all his minor lacrosse in and around the Edmonton area, having played for the Sherwood Park Titans, Millwoods Warriors, and Edmonton Miners at different points while growing up. Mr. Quinlan has won three national championships while playing lacrosse in Edmonton. The first championship was the First Nations Trophy (Under 19 Field Lacrosse) in 1998, followed by a Founder’s Cup (Junior B) in 1999, and a President’s Cup (Senior B) in 2007. Mr. Quinlan had a busy junior career playing for three different teams in three different provinces. Two years were spent with the Edmonton Miners (Jr. B), after which Mr. Quinlan moved to B.C. to play two years for the New Westminster Salmonbellies (Jr. A), and finally landing in Ontario to join the Orangeville Northmen (Jr. A) for one year. Upon graduating from junior, Mr. Quinlan joined the Coquitlam Adanacs of the Western Lacrosse Association, playing for four seasons before returning home to play the past two seasons with the Sherwood Park Outlaws.

Mr. Quinlan is currently the Captain of the Edmonton Rush of the National Lacrosse League. This past season Mr. Qunilan was honored to be named assistant captain of the Rush. Entering his sixth year with the club, Mr. Quinlan is currently the all-time points scoring leader, a title he hopes to work hard to retire with, in many years from now. Mr. Quinlan began his NLL career with the Toronto Rock in 2005 and won a Champion’s Cup that season. Mr. Quinlan wears number 81 for the Rush.

Some of Mr. Quinlan’s Favourites:

NLL Arena - Pepsi Center (Colorado), ACC (Toronto)

Lacrosse Memory - Winning 2005 Champion’s Cup

Lacrosse Highlight - Scoring a hat trick in first National Lacrosse League game

Lacrosse Stick - Reebok 10K with Marc Mesh

Lacrosse Player - Tom Marechek

Lacrosse Coach - Paul Rai

Professional Sport - National Football League

Athlete - Roger Federer

Music - Notorious BIG

Book - Mind Gym, Zen the Religion

Video Game - NHL

Beverage - Vitamin Water (Dragonfruit)

Meal - Pizza (create your own)

Ice Cream - Mint Chocolate Chip

Larissa Roche (BA (Psychology)

Larissa is a recent college graduate, and this is her first year with The Lacrosse Program. She attended high school in her hometown of Thorhild, Alberta, where she was the Valedictorian of the Thorhild Central School class of 2007. After high school, Larissa pursued post-secondary education south of the border, attending Dartmouth College, an Ivy League institution in New Hampshire. She graduated from Dartmouth in June 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychological and Brain Sciences.

Growing up, Larissa played minor hockey with the boys out of her hometown of Thorhild before moving to girls hockey and joining the Midget AAA St. Albert Slash (AMMFHL). In 2006 she helped her team earn a North Division Championship and in 2007 she was named assistant captain. She led her team in scoring in 2005 and 2007, and she remains as the team's all-time leading scorer to date. In 2007, Larissa was named to Team Alberta Under-18 and competed in the 2007 Canada Winter Games. After high school, Larissa played 4 years of NCAA Division 1 hockey for the Dartmouth College Big Green. In 2009 the Big Green became the ECAC League Champions and in 2008, 2009, and 2011 they were NCAA Tournament Quarterfinalists. In each of her 4 years, Larissa was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team. She was recently drafted by Alberta into the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) and hopes to continue her hockey career playing for them in the upcoming season.

Larissa has recently entered the world of coaching, instructing at various hockey schools throughout Alberta in 2011. She is excited about the opportunity to translate her passion for the game to coaching, and hopes to bring an innovative and energetic attitude to The Lacrosse Program.

Ms. Roche's Favourites

Sporting Memory - Winning the ECAC Championship in 2009

NHL Team - Edmonton Oilers

Athlete - Sidney Crosby, Rafael Nadal

Movie - Miracle, Armageddon

TV Show - Friends

Book - Harry Potter, The Hunger Games

Meal - Pizza

Coach - My Dad

Candy - Neon Sour Worms

Funniest Sporting Moment- Doing the Cadillac Ranch on the ice for warm-up

Heather Osgood (B. PE)

Heather is responsible for all of the Program’s fitness training. Heather has been with the program for five years. Heather has designed and implemented training programs for athletes with various sporting backgrounds. She is extremely committed to working with athletes that are striving to improve their sport performance.

 

 

Roger Castle

Roger Castle is the Academic Advisor for The Lacrosse Program. He has 30 years of experience in the education field as a teacher and administrator as well as 8 years teaching in the faculty of education at the University level.. Roger initiated the position of education consultant for the Alberta Junior Hockey League and held the post for five years.He currently works as the education advisor for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL.Roger works with the student-athletes on a daily basis to monitor their academic progress and assist them in identifying post secondary options, including NCAA scholarships. Roger was instrumental in establishing Vimy Ridge as a writing centre for the SSAT exam. Roger is currently in his eleventh year of employment with AAD.