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Lacrosse, Lacrosse

Games could be played on a pitch over a mile wide and sometimes lasted for days. Early lacrosse balls were made out of deerskin, clay, stone, and sometimes wood. Lacrosse has played a significant role in the community and religious life of tribes across the continent for many years. Early lacrosse was characterized by deep spiritual involvement, befitting the spirit of combat in which it was undertaken. Those who took part did so in the role of warriors, with the goal of bringing glory and honor to themselves and their tribes.

By the 1900s, high schools, colleges, and universities began playing the game. Lacrosse was contested as a demonstration sport in the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. On both occasions, rather than holding tryouts and sending an All-star amalgamation, the U.S. chose to be represented by the Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays.

This innovation reduced the weight and cost of the lacrosse stick, and allowed for faster passes and game play than traditional wooden sticks.

Around this time the owners of Canadian hockey arenas invented a reduced version of the game, called box lacrosse, as a means to make more profit from their arena investments. Through this commercialization, in a relatively short period of time, box lacrosse became the dominant form of the sport in Canada. More recently field lacrosse has witnessed a revival in Canada as the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) began operating a collegiate men's league in 1985 that now includes 12 varsity teams.

Eventually this league would change its name to the National Lacrosse League and grow to encompass lacrosse clubs in twelve cities scattered throughout the United States and Canada. In the summer of 2001 a professional field lacrosse league known as Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was inaugurated. Initially starting with six teams the MLL has grown to a total of ten clubs located in major metropolitan areas throughout the United States. On July 4th 2008 Major League Lacrosse set the professional lacrosse attendance record when 20,116 fans attended a game at Invesco Field in Denver, Colorado.

In the National Lacrosse League and Major Series Lacrosse the dimensions are slightly larger at wide by tall.

Although women's lacrosse does not allow much physical contact, it does allow stick to stick contact when in the right body position. Player's are able to hit the opponent's stick to try and obtain possession of the ball. This is commonly known as checking.

Mens and womens lacrosse were played under virtually the same rules, with no protective equipment, until the mid-1930s.

Until 1986, lacrosse world championships had only been contested by the United States, Canada, Six Nations, England and Australia, with Scotland and Wales also competing in the women's edition. The expansion of the game internationally saw the 2005 Women's World Cup competed for by ten nations, and the 2006 Men's World Championship was contested by 21 countries.

Held for both men and women, the European Lacrosse Federation (ELF) has been running the European Championships since 1995. Before 2001 the Championships were an annual event, but in 2001 the ELF changed the format to every four years between the World Championship. Before 2004, only 7 nations had ever participated, but in 2004 there was a record number of participating countries, with 12 men's and 6 women's, which made it the largest international lacrosse event of 2004. The last European Lacrosse Championships were held in Lahti, Finland in 2008, with 18 competing countries. England placed first with the Netherlands and Germany placing second and third, respectively.

The USA has won 8 of the 10 senior men's and all six under 19 men's tournaments to date. The next Men's World Lacrosse Championships will be held in Manchester, England, in 2010.In the women's game, Australia have provided stiffer competition, even holding a winning record against the USA of 6 wins to 5 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 the 2005 senior women's trophy.

The team was admitted to the International Lacrosse Federation (ILF) in 1990. It is the only Native American team sanctioned to compete in any sport internationally.

Source: Wikipedia > Lacrosse