How And Where Did The Game Of Lacrosse Originate?
Lacrosse is a sport that involves two teams who use a long stick that has a handle known as lacrosse or crosse stick and a small rubber ball usually weighing about 0.31ounces. Lacrosse is both played by men and women's teams.
A loose mesh is fitted at the end of the lacrosse stick designed to catch and hold the ball in place. There are a number of different ways that the mesh is mounted on the stick which is known as stringing the stick.
How Lacrosse Is Played?
The main aim of the game is to shoot the ball into the opposing team's goal net past the goal keeper. The players use the lacrosse stick to catch, hold, and pass the ball with the objective of scoring. On defense, the opposing team tries to keep the other team from getting the ball past the goalie through the use of the lacrosse stick, positioning, and body contact. Lacrosse comprises of four types: women's lacrosse, men's field lacrosse, intercrosse, and box lacrosse.
Positioning Of Lacrosse
Lacrosse consists of four primary positions known as the defence, attack, midfield, and goalie. While on the field, the lacrosse attackmen are played entirely on the offence apart from when the opposing team tries to bring the ball upfield. The lacrosse defenders entirely play on the defence apart from when the ball us being brought up the field. The lacrosse goalie is the last person on the defence line directly defending the goal post and the opposing team from scoring. The midfielders have no particular position on the field as they can play both offence and defence anywhere on the field apart from the higher levels of lacrosse game where the midfielders are specialized in specific roles.
The History Of Lacrosse
The origins of lacrosse date back to the cultural traditions of the Iroquois people from Ontario, Quebec in Canada, Pennsylvania and New York. Due to its roots, lacrosse is a traditional sport to the people of the Northeastern regions of the United States commonly known as the east coast. However, in recent years lacrosse has grown into a popular sport in the Western, South and Midwest parts of the US.
Lacrosse is thought to have been established by 1100 AD among the native people who lived in the continent of North America. In the 17th century, lacrosse was well developed and documented in the present day of the Canadian territory by the Jesuit missionary priests. Since the game was developed, it has evolved and gone through different modifications. The origin of its name comes from Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary, who upon seeing the tribesmen of Iroquois play the game in 1637 in present day New York became the first European to write about the sport thus calling it "la crosse". The name 'la crosse' is considered to have originated from the French word meaning field hockey.
The Founding Of The Lacrosse Club
Following the continued successful growth of the sport, the Lacrosse Club was founded by William George Beers in 1855. Beers, who was a Canadian dentist, founded the Montreal Lacrosse Club and later codified the game in 1867 making the duration of each game shorter and reducing the number of players to 12 on each team. During the early 19th century lacrosse was among the sports in the 1904 and 1908 Olympics for medals by the United States, Canada, and Britain. By the 20th century lacrosse had already gained fame in high-schools, colleges, and universities around Canada and the US.
