In a world that idolizes football, baseball, basketball, and soccer, not that many people know much about lacrosse. Yet it’s the fastest-growing team sport in the United States! Read these facts, and you’ll know more than you did before!
• Why is this sport called lacrosse? It takes its name from the French word for “stick” – “la crosse.” The first French settlers in Canada observed the North American natives playing a game they called “baggataway” or “tewaraathon.” The game had been played for centuries by the Iroquois in upper New York and lower Ontario, which makes it the oldest sport in North America. There is written documentation that the Native tribes were playing their version of lacrosse in the 1500s, although it’s believed the game dates back to 1100 A.D. They used the game as a training method for combat, with teams numbering between 100 and 1,000 participants, with a game lasting several days. The Natives’ game was much more violent and there were frequent deaths.
• During the 1800s, the French settlers began changing the rules because the Natives’ lacrosse was too brutal. They worked with the tribes to establish a set of rules. The first official lacrosse organization, the Olympic Club, was established in Montreal in 1842. By the 1880s, it was a team sport at Princeton, Yale, and Harvard universities.
• Lacrosse came to the Olympic Games in 1904, with three teams participating – Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. It was an Olympic sport again in 1908, but was dropped afterward due to lack of international interest. Lacrosse is on track once again to become an Olympic sports at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
• A team is made up of ten players – three attackers, three midfielders, three defenders, and a goalkeeper.
• The stick used in the game, the “crosse,” used to carry, catch, and throw the ball, consists of a staff with a long narrow handle that has a sharp bend at the top to form a hook. A wide, deep pocket is fastened to the shaft, made up of tightly-woven cords. Not every pocket is the same – its depth and the tightness of the strings might differ, depending on a player’s preference and ability. Likewise, the length of the lacrosse stick depends on a player’s position and level. Attackers and midfielders use shorter sticks, while defenders and goalkeepers use longer sticks. Length is not allowed to exceed 6 feet (1.83 m).
• Lacrosse is a game requiring extreme endurance, with players in nearly constant motion, running, dodging, throwing, flipping the ball to a teammate, scooping it off the field while running at full speed. It’s the fastest game on two feet. In 2013, lacrosse player Mike Sawyer shot the ball at an extraordinary 114 mph (183 km/hr).
• The lacrosse field is 60 yards (55 m) wide and 110 yards (100 m) long. Goals are 80 yards (73 m) apart, with goal posts standing 6 feet (1.8 m) high, with a crossbar in between. The netting between the posts is fastened to the ground to prevent the ball from exiting after a goal is made. The solid rubber ball has a circumference of between 7.75 and 8 inches (19.7 and 20.3 cm) and weighs 5 to 5.25 ounces (142 – 149 grams). Prior to 1867, the official ball was made of deerskin stuffed with hair.
• Participation in lacrosse has increased by nearly 40% in the past two decades, making it the fastest-growing team sport in the U.S.
