No matter what the sport, it's every athlete's dream to one day represent their country on the international stage. Moose Jaw's Quinn Ingalls will have that opportunity next week.

The local lacrosse player was named to Team Canada on Monday and he will compete in the 2018 World Junior Lacrosse Championship, which will be hosted in Saskatoon from Aug. 8-12.

"I was jumping up and down," said Ingalls on receiving the news that he made the final 23-man roster. 

"It's a childhood dream of mine and I'm happy to accomplish it, I wouldn't have been able to do it though without my coaches and the community of Moose Jaw, everyone has helped me out from childhood to now and its turned me into the person that I am today."

Ingalls initially cracked the 40-man roster earlier this summer and received word on Monday that he had been named to the final roster, which features seven players from Saskatchewan.

To get the opportunity to wear the maple leaf in his home province was something that Ingalls was still trying to wrap his head around when speaking to DiscoverMooseJaw.com on Monday.

"Getting to be in front of a home crowd and having all your friends, family and people you know from your hometown coming out to an international lacrosse tournament is pretty special," said Ingalls.

Ingalls just completed his second season with the Saskatchewan SWAT Junior A team, which plays out of Saskatoon in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League.

His rookie season in 2017 didn't go as planned as Ingalls suffered an MCL tear that ended his season early, but he was able to bounce back in a big way this season. In 13 games, Ingalls posted 17 goals and 47 points, which put him third on the SWAT and eighth overall in the league in scoring this season.

"I had a setback last year and this season was a comeback season, I didn't really expect to do that well at the start, I was just trying to get past my minimum goals, but I had a great rehab and I'm back to 100-percent," said Ingalls.

"I felt that my game has developed and I've turned into a higher tier player. I've had constant support and help from all the coaches up in Saskatoon and in Moose Jaw, constant advice and it's turned me into the player I'm today."

Canada will square off with the Iroquois Nation and the United States during the tournament. Ingalls said that within themselves over the course of the tournament will be the biggest key.

"We're one of the top nation's in the world for box lacrosse, so it's just about us keeping our composure and playing well against Team USA and Team Iroquois," he said. "We're going for gold and we're not settling for anything less than that, so it's going to be really important that we keep our composure."

The tournament opens with Canada taking on Iroquois next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. They go up against the United States next Friday and the top two teams from the round robin advance to the final on Sunday, Aug. 12.