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How Lacrosse Began
The origins and roots of Lacrosse Lacrosse is of the oldest sports in North America. The game's roots can be traced back to Native American religion, lacrosse was often played to resolve conflicts, heal sick people, and develop virile, strong men. To Native Americans, lacrosse is still referred to as "The Creator's Game."
Lacrosse was considered by many native tribes to be wonderful training for war -- the Cherokees even called it "the little brother of war." Teams would sometimes consist of many hundreds, or even thousands, of players. Goals were quite often miles apart. Games could last as long as 3 days. Most players were unable to get close to the ball, and so took to concentrating their efforts on using their stick as a weapon. According to many sources, the first Europeans to witness baggataway were French explorers who felt the stick resembled a bishop's crozier -- "la crosse, in French" -- so baggataway took on the new name. Other sources, perhaps more accurately, claim lacrosse is derived from the name of a field hockey game the French played -- "jeu de la crosse." |
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The 6 Tribes of the Iroquois, in the area which is now southern Ontario and western New York, called their version of lacrosse "baggataway" or "teewaraathon." This was much more organized than in most parts of the country, including the limitation of only twelve to fifteen players on each team and defined boundaries, including goals about one-hundred and twenty feet apart. In the early 1800s, Europeans in Canada started playing the game. Montreal's Olympic Club organized a team in 1844, specifically to play a match against a Native American team. Other games were played in 1848 and 1851. The 1st step lacrosse took towards becoming a legitimate, modern sport came when the Montreal Lacrosse Club (formed in 1856) developed the 1st written rules. |
George Beers of the MLC rewrote the rules in 1867, making official a limit of twelve players per side, and named those positions: goal, first defense, point, cover point, second defense, first attack, third defense, centre, third attack, second attack, out home, and in home.
Beers, known as "The father of Lacrosse," also replaced the hair-stuffed deerskin ball with a hard rubber ball and designed a stick better suited to catching and accurately passing the ball.
Canada's National Lacrosse Association, also established in 1867, quickly adopted Beers' rules. The same year, a team from the Caughnawaga tribe went to England and played a game for Queen Victoria. The sport quickly became popular in such locales as Bristol, London, Cheshire, Lancashire, Manchester, and Yorkshire. The English Lacrosse Union was organized in 1892.
Until 1971, when the National Collegiate Athletic Association started to conduct an annual tournament, a national collegiate champion was chosen by committee. A Division three championship began in 1980, and the Division two tournament is back after a hiatus from 1983 to 1992.
Although lacrosse is virtually unknown in some parts of the USA, it is quite popular in many other areas, including Long Island, Michigan, upstate New York, Indiana, Northern California, Oregon, Florida, Texas, and the Atlanta region.
At many schools, lacrosse is a club sport -- in other words, the students run the team, independently of the college's athletic department. At some schools, club teams even coexist with varsity teams. The USILA, using rules similar to that of the NCAA, conducts an annual tournament for college club teams, and the National Collegiate Lacrosse League, founded in 1991 and based on more liberal eligibility rules (such as allowing anyone connected with the college, even the profs, to compete), does the same.
College lacrosse camps teach a
variety of skills including:
Stick skills: Both right and left
hand.
Offensive skills: Shooting, dodging and moving with the ball.
Goalie skills: Positioning, communication, footwork and arc.
Defensive skills: Holds, footwork, body position and checks.
Games could last from dawn to dusk and stretched over the course of 2 or 3 days. Lacrosse games were originally used to toughen up the young fighting men for war. There were even times when games were played between 2 tribes to settle their arguments or disputes.
NCAA Lacrosse scholarship and recruiting information.
Junior College Lacrosse Scholarships.
Sports-related eye injuries affect more than 40,000 people in the USA each year and can lead to considerable loss of vision, says Shahzad Mian, M.D
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