About Lacrosse
The sport of lacrosse is a Native American sport that is today played in the high schools, universities and also at a professional level. The sport is played for the most part on the east coast of the United States and in Canada. It is a team sport that is played with a long handled crosse that has a webbed pocket and a small solid rubber ball a little smaller than a baseball.
The game is played on a rectangular field with two small goals at each end. The object of the game is to score as many goals as possible and outscore your opponent. The ball can be carried in the crosses' pocket or passed. Physical contact with the opponents is allowed within the rules and the sport has sometimes been compared to ice hockey because of its physicality and set up of the teams while in possession of the ball. There are four types of lacrosse: box lacrosse, intercrosse and men's and women's field lacrosse. Box lacrosse is the national sport of Canada.
Lacrosse is thought to have originated as long ago as the 5th century but over time went through many changes and modifications. The sport was as much a community and religious ceremony as it was a sport. The players were considered warriors and the goal was to bring honor to the tribe and themselves.
In the middle 1600s a Jesuit missionary saw the Iroquois playing the game and he became the first European to write about lacrosse. He named it la crosse or the stick and some believe since he was French the name referred to the French for field hockey or le jeu de la crosse while others use a more religious term saying it stood for crosier the staff that is carried by bishops.
Today the sport is relatively regional and is mostly found on the east coast of the US with colleges and universities in the Midwest and the Western United States having it as an intercollegiate sport. Since the turn of the century the sport has expanded to even other areas of the country but only in small pockets and still remains the most popular and most recognized on the eastern seaboard of the United States. Canadians because of their long winters invented a smaller version of the sport to be played in their ice arenas and named it box lacrosse. The sport was accepted and grew quickly and became the one of the most popular sports in the country that is played year round.
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