The Under 19 Men’s Lacrosse Championships is an event sanctioned by the International Lacrosse Federation (ILF) and held every four years. The first event was held in 1988 in Adelaide Australia.

In September of 2005, during the Canadian U-19 Men’s Field Lacrosse Championships in Saskatchewan, the suggestion of British Columbia applying to host the World Championships in 2008 was raised in casual conversation.  The idea tweaked great interest and shortly thereafter a bid committee of four people was formed to put together the bid package for the event. By the end of December the proposal was submitted to the ILF and on March 23, 2006 the group was officially notified it had been awarded the 2008 World Championships.

Soon after that, the 2008 Under 19 Men’s World Lacrosse Society was formed to organize the Championships. The four original bid committee members carried on their involvement as directors of the society. Not long after that the Society added a fifth director and the core group was set. Each of the five directors took on various areas of responsibility and planning of the Championship tournament was underway.

The following three years of planning, organizing and executing went by amazingly fast and the tournament was an unparalleled success.

Thanks to the fabulous support of fans and sponsors the event turned a profit much greater than anticipated. The Society directors decided to carry on the events legacy by forming the 2008 U19 World Lacrosse Foundation with the purpose of managing this fund and setting up a grant structure to assist young Field Lacrosse participants in achieving their goals.