Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a fast-paced team sport played by two teams of ten players for men or twelve players for women each who use netted sticks (called the crosse ) in order to pass and catch a rubber ball with the aim of scoring goals by propelling the ball into the opponent's goal. Popular mostly in North America, lacrosse is the continent's oldest sport and the fastest growing sport at all levels – youth, high school, college, and professional. Lacrosse is especially popular in the northeastern part of the US and is Canada's national summer sport. It is expanding westward, with burgeoning lacrosse communities in Colorado, California, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas.

In its modern form, men's lacrosse is played by three attackmen, three midfielders, three defensemen, and one goaltender on a grass or artificial turf field. Men wear helmets and other protective equipment as body-checking is an integral part of the game. Women wear protective eyewear (except for the goalie, who wears a helmet goalie mask), but less overall equipment because hitting is not permitted in the women's game except minor stick-checks.

The sport was invented by Native North Americans. Its name was dehuntshigwa'es in Onondaga ("men hit a rounded object"), da-nah-wah'uwsdi in Eastern Cherokee ("little war"), Tewaarathon in Mohawk language ("little brother of war"), and baaga'adowe in Ojibwe "the Creator's game". Since there was only one ball, early players concentrated on injuring their opponents with the sticks. Sometimes games lasted for days, and in the end some players were violently injured or even killed. They used balls made out of deerskin, clay, and sometimes wood. Lacrosse played a significant role in the community and religious life of tribes across the continent for untold years. Native American Lacrosse was characterized by a deeply spiritual involvement, and those who took part did so with dedicated spirit and with the goal of bringing glory and honour to themselves and their tribes.

Evolution of the game

Lacrosse has witnessed great modifications since its origins in the 1400s, but many aspects of the sport remain the same. In the North American Indian version, each team consisted of about 100 to 1,000 men on a field that stretched about 500 yards to half a mile. Sometimes, the fields were even several miles long. Rather than having traditional goals where the ball has to pass through the goal posts, many of the Indian teams used a large rock or tree as their goal. They would hit the deerskin ball against the goal to earn points. omedicine-men acted as umpires, and the squaws urged on the men by beating them with switches. These lacrosse games lasted from sun up to sun down for two to three days. The games were played to settle intertribal disputes and also used to toughen braves in preparation for future combat.

The game became known to Westerners when a Jesuit Missionary, Jean de Brébeuf, saw the Iroquois Indians play it in the 1600s. In 1763, after Canada had become British, the game was used by the Indians to carry out an ingenious piece of treachery. On the 4th of June, when the garrison of Fort Michilimackinac (now Mackinac) was celebrating the king's birthday, it was invited by the Ottawas, under their chief Pontiac, to witness a game of "baggataway" (lacrosse). The players gradually worked their way close to the gates, when, throwing aside their crosses and seizing their tomahawks which the squaws suddenly produced from under their blankets, they rushed into the fort and massacred all the inmates except a few Frenchmen.

By the 1800s, lacrosse evolved to become more of a sport and less violent as French pioneers adopted the game. In 1867, W. George Beers, a Canadian dentist, codified the game, shortening the length of each game and reducing the number of players to ten per team. The first game was played under Beers's rules was at Upper Canada College in 1867, as Upper Canada College lost to the Toronto Cricket Club by a score of 3-1. By the 1900s, high schools, colleges, and universities began playing, and even the Olympics included lacrosse.

In the USA, the sport is popular in Maryland (where it became the official team sport in 2004), New York, New England and other areas along the eastern coast. In addition, its popularity has started spreading to the west coast, spurred by the sport's increasing visibility in the media as well as the growth of college and high school programs and "pee wee" leagues throughout the country. This explosion has been made possible because of plastic crosses which were invented by Baltimore-based stick maker STX in the 1970's. This innovation has completely replaced the wooden crosse. In recent years, collegiate lacrosse at the Division I level has been dominated by a handful of universities, including The Johns Hopkins University, United States Naval Academy, University of Maryland- College Park, Princeton University, Syracuse University, and University of Virginia.

There are currently 57 Division I Men's Lacrosse teams, 31 Division II Men's Lacrosse teams, and 130 Division III Men's Lacrosse Teams. There are also currently 82 Division I Women's Lacrosse teams, 35 Division II Women's Lacrosse Teams, and 153 Division III Women's Lacrosse Teams.

Canada differs from other lacrosse-playing countries in preferring the box lacrosse version of the game. A recent variant of box lacrosse, indoor lacrosse, is played more widely, including the professional National Lacrosse League competition and the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships. Recognised variations of lacrosse include field lacrosse (played outdoors), box lacrosse, indoor lacrosse, women's lacrosse, intercrosse and softcrosse.

One variation of lacrosse with its own unique history is the game of Czech Lacrosse, developed in Czechoslovakia in the Cold War era, by boy scouts who read about the sport played by Native Americans but did not know about the existence of its modern version in the outside world. Another sport resembling lacrosse is polocrosse, a horse sport with similarities to both polo and lacrosse.

Field lacrosse

Men's lacrosse is the oldest sport in America. Lacrosse is most popular in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the USA. Outdoor men's lacrosse involves two teams of 10 players each competing to project a small solid rubber ball into the opposing team's goal. The field of play is 110 yards (100 m) long and 60 yards (54 m) wide. The goals are 6 feet (1.8 m) by 6 feet and contain a mesh netting similar to an ice hockey goal. The goal sits inside a "crease", measuring 18 feet in diameter.

Players line up with 3 offensive players called "attackmen", 3 "midfielders" or "middies", 3 "defensemen", and 1 goaltender, or "goalie." Each player carries a stick (the French settlers, on seeing the American Indians using the stick, called it la crossier (crozier); hence the name "Lacrosse"). Attackmen's and midfielders' sticks measure between 40 inches (1 m) and 42 inches (1.07 m), while defensemen and one midfielders carry a stick up to 72 inches (1.8 m) long. The sticks have a metal shaft and a plastic head, with either a string and leather or mesh basket called the "pocket". Goalie sticks vary in length but are typically between 50 (1.27 m) and 60 (1.52 m) inches long, and significantly wider than field players' sticks.

Players scoop the ball off the ground and throw the ball in the air to other players. Players are allowed to run carrying the ball with their stick. Unlike women's lacrosse, players may kick the ball, as well as covering it with their sticks, provided they do not withhold it from play. Play is typically quite fast, and resembles a combination of soccer, basketball and ice hockey. Players are permitted to hit one another with their bodies and sticks, although rules govern the manner in which this may be done. For NCAA play, games consist of four fifteen minute periods, while at the youth and high school levels games are typically shorter. Considerably more goals are scored than in soccer or hockey, with typical games totaling ten to twenty goals.

Intercollegiate lacrosse is rapidly growing in popularity in the USA, where crowds of over 40,000 have attended the national championships. Outstanding individual men's lacrosse players have included Maryland legend Frank Urso, Canadian twins Paul Gait and Gary Gait, and the three Powell brothers.

Box and indoor lacrosse

Canadians most commonly play box lacrosse, an indoor version of the game played by teams of six on ice hockey rinks from which the ice has been removed; the enclosed playing area is called the box, in contrast to the open playing field of the traditional game. This version of the game was introduced in the 1930s to promote business for hockey arenas, and within a few years had almost entirely supplanted field lacrosse in Canada.

In box lacrosse the goal is smaller (4' X 4') than in outdoor lacrosse (and the goaltender usually bigger, with considerably more padding). The attacking team must take a shot on goal within 30 seconds of gaining possession of the ball, and play is rougher than in the field game (see below). It is also five on five with a goalie, intead of nine on nine as in field lacrosse.

Indoor lacrosse is a version of box lacrosse played professionally during the winter not only in regions where summer lacrosse is popular but also in regions where lacrosse is rarely played in summer. It was intended to be less violent than box lacrosse, although changes in box lacrosse rules have reduced some of its violent play and a change in indoor lacrosse rules to permit crosschecking (hitting another player with the stick with one's hands apart on the shaft) have made it more violent. The chief differences between the two forms of the indoor game now are that indoor lacrosse games consist of 4 x 15 minute quarters compared with 3 x 20 minute periods in box lacrosse, and that indoor lacrosse players may use only sticks with hollow shafts, while box lacrosse permits solid wooden sticks.

A professional indoor league, the National Lacrosse League, was founded in 1987. It is a modified indoor game, with nets that are 4 feet high and 4 feet 9 inches wide. Its creases are 9 feet 3 inches in diameter. There are currently eleven teams in the NLL, streching from Portland to San Jose.

Women's lacrosse

The rules of women's lacrosse differ significantly from men's lacrosse and are specifically designed to allow less physical contact between players. As a result of the lack of contact, only goggles and a mouthguard are required. The pockets of a woman's stick are shallower than those of the men, making the ball harder to catch and more difficult to shoot at high speed. Women play with three attackers (or "homes"), five midfielders, three defenders, and one goalie.

The University of Maryland, College Park has historically dominated the American collegiate women's game, producing innumerable head coaches across the country and many U.S. national team players. The Lady Terps NCAA championship dynasty especially dominated the college game from the late 1980s through 2001. The game is also commonly played in British girls' independent schools, and while only a minor sport in Australia, at the elite level it is played to a very high standard.

Women's intercollegiate lacrosse stars have included University of Maryland, College Park standouts Kelly Amonte-Hiller (coach of the 2005 national championship team from Northwestern University), and all-time scoring leader Jen Adams.

International Lacrosse

While modern lacrosse has been around for well over a century, until 20 years ago it had only been played for the most part in the United States and Canada, with small but dedicated lacrosse communities in Great Britain and Australia. Since then however, lacrosse has flourished at an international level with the sport establishing itself in many new and far-reaching countries, particularly in Europe and east Asia.

With lacrosse not having been an official Olympic sport since 1908, the pinnacle of international lacrosse competition consists of the four-yearly World Championships. Currently, there are world championships for lacrosse at senior men, senior women, under 19 men and under 19 women level. Until 1986, lacrosse world championships had only been contested by the United States, Canada, England and Australia, with Scotland and Wales also competing in the women's edition. The expansion of the game internationally though, has seen last year's Women's World Championships competed for by ten nations, and this year's Men's World Championships will be contested by no less than 23 countries.

Lacrosse world championships have been dominated by the United States, particularly in the men's game, where the only world championship game loss at either level was in the 1978 final to Canada. The USA has won 8 of the 9 senior men's and all five under 19 men's tournaments to date. In the women's game, Australia have provided stiffer competition, even holding a winning record against the USA of 7 wins to 6 at senior world championships, plus one draw. Despite this, the USA has won 5 of the 7 senior women's and 2 of the 3 under 19 women's tournaments to date, with the other world championships won by Australia, including last year's senior women's trophy.

The next senior Men's World Championships will be held in London, Ontario, Canada in the summer of 2006. In 2007, Trent University at Peterborough, Ontario will be hosting the Women's Under 19 World Championships. The next Men's Under 19 World Championships will be located in Cardiff, Wales in 2008. The venue for the next senior Women's World Championships has not been decided yet, but is due to be scheduled in 2009.

Indoor lacrosse also has a world championship, with the inaugural ILF-sanctioned event held in 2003, and won by Canada. The next world championship will be held in 2007 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.