The History of Lacrosse

Despite our modern French name for the team sport lacrosse, given by the first known European to document the game in 1636, a French Jesuit missionary, its derivation is purely Native American. It is believed that the game is celestial in origin and was given to the Natives by the Creator. Different versions of the game were played across North America before European contact. Many consider it to be the most popular team sport of the times.

The tribes of the southeast played a two-stick version wherein the 2 ½’ sticks, one in each hand, were used to grasp the soft ball made of hide. It is still practiced at fairs and pow-wows of the respective tribes.

The Great Lakes regional Natives played with one 3’ stick which had a cup, only slightly larger than the ball itself, carved into the catching end of the stick.

But the version that all current forms of lacrosse are based on is that of the tribes of New England and Canada, which now make up the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois are accredited as those who introduced the game to Europeans, explaining why their adaptation is the father of today’s games. Their sticks were over three feet long, ending in a hook, with netting covering up to 2/3 of the stick for handling the ball.

The field the game was played on varied, dependent upon the number of players and the aspects of local terrain. Generally, the playing area would be about 200 yards wide and between a ¼- and a ½-mile long. Some games, however, had hundreds of players with the play going on for days. The field, in such cases, could be multiple miles long.

Goal posts and scoring was different across the continent. A single post game, in which the post itself was a tree with the bark stripped off, required that the ball had to either hit the actual post or be carried or thrown past it in order to score. A double post game where two poles stood freely beside one another had players carrying the ball between the poles for scoring. Lastly, a double post with the two poles connected by a crossbar allowed players to carry or throw the ball between the posts.

Two variations of ball existed. One, simply made of wood, sometimes was perforated like a wiffle ball so that it would whistle when flying through the air. This was the wooden ball used in the Great Lakes area. The other, as mentioned in the two-stick game above, was constructed from animal hide and stuffed with hair, grass, etc. The ball nowadays is made of hard rubber.

By the late 1860’s, modern lacrosse had been born by the standardization of rules of Dr. William George Beers. Lacrosse would later be played at colleges, the Olympics, and currently at international championships. It is the official team sport of Maryland and Canada’s National Summer Sport.

Today we have 4 different versions of the game. Mini-lacrosse, also known as soft lacrosse, is taught to young children in order to teach them the basic skills. Box or indoor lacrosse is played inside with teams of 6 and has rules similar to those of hockey. Men’s and women’s field lacrosse are the versions most similar to the original Native games and are also the NCAA and high school sanctioned versions. The men’s version is played with teams of 10 and the women’s version has the most players with teams of 12. The women’s version also holds the most resemblance to the earlier types with consideration to boundaries and play style.