With the help and support of her wonderful family, Janelle Sullivan opened the doors to Slash Sports on January 11, 2013.  Janelle and her siblings, Josh and Janessa, all started their lacrosse careers in the Red Deer Lacrosse Association in 2000. Since then, the three siblings have continued to compete competitively and grow the sport in Red Deer and surrounding areas.  

After graduating from the minor program in the Red Deer Lacrosse Association, Janelle and Janessa eventually competed on the same team in the Red Deer Major Lacrosse Association; the Junior Ladies Riot and the Senior Ladies Rage Teams. In 2015, Janessa began dedicating her time as a coach to the Red Deer 17U Girls team and the Senior Ladies Rage team, and led them to many successful seasons.  Janessa continues to volunteer her time as a beloved coach. Janelle went on to win a silver and gold medal at ladies nationals in 2015 and 2016 and received a tournament MVP award, National game MVP awards and the Mayor’s Recognition Award for winning a national championship.

Josh’s major lacrosse career has been divided between the Red Deer Junior Tier 1 Rampage, the Junior A St Albert Miners, the Senior B St Albert Miners and the Senior A Coquitlam Adanacs.  Josh holds three National gold medals and a bronze medal from the Presidents Cup with the St Alberta Miners. He also received the 7th Man Award while playing with the Coquitlam Adanacs.  For the whole Sullivan family, 2015 was the highlight of Josh’s career, and one of their proudest moments, when he signed his first year in the NLL with the Colorado Mammoth.  He has continued to play with the Mammoth since 2015 and was the proud (and very deserving) recipient of the Fan’s Choice Award in 2017.  Josh’s career highlight (and undoubtedly his family’s proudest moment) was when Josh and the Colorado Mammoth beat the Buffalo Bandits in June 2021 to win the NLL Championship!!  None of the above would’ve been possible if it wasn’t for the world’s best mom and #1 fan and supporter, “Mama Sull.”

A big thank you and photo credit for the professional Mammoth photos to Jack Dempsey/Colorado Mammoth.

A move to a larger location had been in the picture since 2018, but due to the busy season of lacrosse, there was only ever 3 months out of the year where a move could have been a reality. In early 2022, Janelle began discussing a the possibility of her vision for a new and improved store with Scott Galenza (now Slash Sports’ ball director) who suggested the idea of expanding into baseball and softball. Scott, who is nothing short of a men’s fastpitch superstar, grew up playing fastpitch and knew there was a large void to be filled in the ball world. With that being said, Scott and Janelle were determined to expand the specialty lacrosse store into baseball and softball, and provide the best ball store in Central Alberta…and the rest is history!

Scott Galenza grew up playing men’s fastpitch and his accomplishments throughout his career have been nothing short of amazing! He has played high-level, competitive fastpitch for over 35 years and continues to play at an elite international level. He has been instructing ball clinics for over 25 years, is a certified CanPitch instructor through Softball Alberta & Softball Canada, as well as a certified coach through Softball Alberta & NCCP. He has won 17 provincial gold medals and multiple silver & bronze medals at Western & National Championships. He has received numerous National Championship awards including National Team MVP, National Tournament MVP, National All-Star Team MVP, National pitcher of the year, ICS II All-World Infielder and National All-Star Infielder awards.

Scott has been an incredible addition to the Slash Sports team and has already drawn more ball players into Slash Sports than Janelle ever thought possible in such a short period of time. Scott is the lead instructor at Slash and specializes in private and semi-private softball lessons of all sorts. Since the Slash Sports Cage has opened, Scott has single-handedly kept it busy with numerous private lessons, hitting & fielding clinics with Team Canada Softball player Cory Jones, not to mention softball & baseball catching clinics and pitching clinics. However your ball player is looking to improve, Slash Sports certainly offers the clinics and the instructors to get them there!

Hosting a tournament and looking for a vendor?  At Slash Sports, we love setting up a booth at lacrosse tournaments!  If you’d like us to attend your tournament, please let us know the dates and times, size of the event (ie: number of players participating) and anything you’re asking for in return (ie: donations, the cost to attend, etc).  Please understand that we receive an extremely high number of requests and although we wish we could make it to every tournament, realistically we can only make it to so many. If we cannot make it to your tournament this year, we will do our best to make it the following year.  That being said, the more notice we have, the better. Many tournaments fall on the same weekend and precedence will be given to those who let us know as far in advance as possible.

We know firsthand the value and importance of sports in children’s lives and want to keep lacrosse & ball as affordable as possible for all our customers.  We offer a wide range of equipment at competitive prices and an extremely convenient shopping experience. We have quality equipment for players just starting out and the latest and greatest for players competing at the highest level possible.  Our customers travel from near and far to shop with us, not only for out outstanding selection, but also for our exceptional customer service. Although we are a specialty lacrosse & ball store, we deal with many different companies and have access to a wide range of other sporting equipment.  Hockey, ringette, baseball, football, volleyball… need something that’s not lacrosse or ball? Let us know what you’re looking for and we will try our best to fulfill your needs. Once you’ve shopped at Slash Sports, you won’t want to shop anywhere else.

We want to give back to those who support us and are happy to review your sponsorship request.  Please send us details of what you’re asking for (include specifics), the date you’re requesting this for and what the donation/sponsorship proceeds will be used for.  Please understand that we receive an extremely high number of requests for sponsorship and all requests will be evaluated through a selection process. We ask that you understand we are not always able to fulfill all sponsorship requests.