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Perhaps you’ve considered taking up the game of lacrosse. You’ve seen the men or women on the playing field flinging the rubber ball in all directions. You’ve seen them stop on a dime, reverse direction, then swivel their strange looking sticks in order to send the ball straight through the goal. And you’ve seen them sweat and grunt in satisfaction as they perform their athletic ballet. Now imagine thousands of them, netted sticks in hand, pursuing a deerskin ball in nothing but a loincloth. Such is the original game of lacrosse – a ritual tension buster for Native Americans in pre-colonial Canada. And lacrosse has only slightly changed over the years to become the game we know today.
Upon first viewing a lacrosse game, one might think it a funky hybrid between basketball and field hockey. The objective of the game is for one team to send a rubber ball through the goalposts of the opposing team. To do so, the team must pass the ball using specialized sticks with a shallow, netted pocket on the end. Players can throw in any direction, but they can never touch the ball with their hands. According to the US Lacrosse Organization, the original game of lacrosse was developed by Native North Americans to resolve conflicts, heal the sick and develop men for battle. The playing fields were up to fifteen miles long, involved over one thousand players and could last for several days. The ball was typically made of wood, stone or clay. Since there was only one ball for the entire game, a good number of players could pass the entire game without ever seeing the ball they were supposed to be pursuing. To fill their downtime, they typically took to beating each other with their sticks.
Thomas Vennum, Jr. in his article titled “History of Native American Lacrosse”, notes that the game of lacrosse was so popular among Native Americans that each region had their own version of the game. In the Southeast among the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribes, players used two sticks, cupping the ball between them. Among the tribes of the Great Lakes (Ojibwe, Sauk, Fox, and Winnebago), players used a one- to three-foot stick. These sticks did not have the characteristic webbed pouch so common today. Instead, the end of the stick had a shallow, wooden depression in which the players would balance the ball. Modern–day lacrosse, however, derives most of its form from the Iroquoian game. Iroquoian players used a three-foot long stick with a webbed pocket. In all tribes, much preparation was necessary prior to the game or battle, and victory was considered to be granted by the gods. Native American lacrosse had its ugly side, too. Wagering was common among the different tribes and often led to violence among the spectators.
Today the game of lacrosse is a lot more civilized in that the ‘battle’ between the two teams is purely figurative. All players end the game without ending their lives, although a few bumps and bruises are still customary. The Canadians are credited with adapting the Native American lacrosse game for their own pleasure. Jean de Brebeuf documented a Huron game in 1636. By the 1800s, French pioneers in the Canadian wilderness were enthusiastic lacrosse players. W. George Beers documented the game’s first rules in 1867. The Native Americans typically called their game ‘baggataway’. The French-Canadians coined the term lacrosse because the characteristic sticks reminded them of a bishop’s croiser or cross.
Modern-day lacrosse is played on a field similar to a soccer field. Players move freely about the field, carrying the rubber ball in the webbed pouch of their stick. When they are within throwing range of a teammate, the ball is flung from one pouch to another. Players of the opposing team may intercept the ball in their own pouch. They may also block a player from advancing to the goal using a ‘body check’. Each goal is worth one point and the team with the most points at the end of the game is declared the winner.
Having originated in Canada, lacrosse remains extremely popular there. The National Lacrosse Association (Canadian Lacrosse Association) was formed in 1867, and lacrosse is now Canada’s national game. Interest in lacrosse has spread throughout most of Europe and the United States. Lacrosse enthusiasm can be found throughout the United States, but is concentrated mostly on the East Coast. The first US college lacrosse team was formed at New York University in 1877. The first US women’s team was formed at Bryn Mawr in Baltimore in 1926. In these early days, no players wore protective gear, as the game was considered to be a non-contact sport. However, the men’s game has evolved in such a way that contact is more common and protective equipment is now the norm. The women’s game has stayed true to its native origins. With less contact, they wear less protective gear.
Professional lacrosse teams abound in Canada, but there are plenty in the US, as well. Lacrosse team names reflect well on the original purpose of lacrosse as a war game. The Albany Attack, the Buffalo Bandits, the Ottawa Rebels and the Pittsburgh Crossfire are just a few examples.
Lacrosse has increased its fan base in recent years. According to the US Lacrosse Organization, fan attendance at the men’s NCAA Lacrosse Championships tripled in the last 10 years. Only the men’s NCAA basketball Final Four game drew a larger attendance in 1995. Since that same year, more than forty new varsity women’s programs have been established. Surprisingly, eighty percent of all lacrosse players are under seventeen. And some of those seventeen years olds will be from Korea, China and even Argentina where plans are in the works to develop their own national lacrosse teams.
Sources: http://lacrosse.org; “History of Native American Lacrosse” by Thomas Vennum, Jr. at www.lacrosse.org; www.hickocksports.com
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