Professional lacrosse is attracting fans at an unprecedented rate compared to the other major league games in the United States because it is a unique sport that echoes some of the features of the most popular team sports. The reason for its growing popularity as a major sport is that it a good fit as a spectator sport because it is a fast-paced game in a world that appears to be moving at an ever more rapid clip every year. Like football, lacrosse players wear helmets; like ice hockey, lacrosse players have masters the nuances of a long stick to score points into a goal; and, like soccer, lacrosse has similar aesthetics over a long field.
In addition, professional lacrosse leagues have evocative team names like those used in football, basketball, and baseball. In lacrosse, fans cheer for the Rochester Rattlers, the Denver Outlaws, the Ohio Machine, the New York Lizards, the Boston Cannons, the Chesapeake Bayhawks, the Charlotte Hounds, or the Florida Launch.
The First Team Sport In North America.
Ironically, Lacrosse is not a new game in the United States. It was actually the first team sport in North America, created by the North American Indians, championed by French settlers, and widely adopted by Canadians.
Curiously, lacrosse was invented by Native Americans as a religious ritual designed to resolve animosity, heal illness, and develop strong warriors. In fact, it was referred to as “The Creator’s Game.”
It worked so well in making men fit that that it became a training regimen for warriors preparing for a major battle. An early version of boot camp. Similar to a medieval battle, thousands of men ran around wildly on an open field. Players were either members of the same tribes splitting into two teams or two different tribes playing against each other. The fields themselves were huge, sometimes as long as fifteen miles; and time was not a constraint either, with the game lasting for days. Players scored by directing a wood, baked clay, deerskin, or stone ball to a goal post that could be either a pole , a rock, a tree, or two stakes in the ground.
The game was first recorded by Jesuit missionary Jean de Brebeuf in 1636 when he witnessed a Huron contest in southeast Ontario, Canada. At that time in history about 48 Native American tribes played the game. In Canada, it was played in the south, while it was played all over the United States.
Consensus Rules
French pioneers adopted the game and began to play it avidly in the 19th century, but was not until the later part of the 1800s, in 1867, that W George Beers, a Canadian dentist, codified the sport into a structured game. He limited the number of players and the size of the field, and he clearly defined the rules of engagement.
Sports Science and Safety Committee have made strong recommendations on the safety standards necessary for the game to avoid serious injuries. Although lacrosse did not condone or allow violence, the rules allowed stick and body contact that could result in body injury.
It was not until the 1930’s that the idea of protection was actually considered. Today, a player must go to a store for lacrosse gear to get protective equipment.
The Rediscovery of Lacrosse
Although the game has been played for over a century in the British Commonwealth and the United States, it is now regarded as a new cultural phenomena in professional sport. Combining the thrill of basketball, soccer, and hockey, lacrosse is a game that tests coordination and rewards speed and agility over brawn. It’s an action-packed game, where there is never a dull moment. Using a stick, called the crosse, players scoop, throw, and catch a ball as they sprint up and down the field, start and stop abruptly, make precision passes, and execute slick dodges. It’s everything that sport’s lovers want to see in a professional team game.