History of lacrosse

to create its current form.

Native American game

:"Note: The traditional Native American version of lacrosse is also known as stickball."

Lacrosse was created by Native Americans. Its name was "dehuntshigwa'es" in Onondaga ("men hit a rounded object"), "da-nah-wah'uwsdi" in Eastern Cherokee ("little war"), "Tewaarathon" in Mohawk language ("little brother of war"), and "baaga`adowe" in Ojibwe ("bump hips"). [cite web|url=http://www.freelang.net/dictionary/ojibwe.html|title=Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary|accessdate=2007-03-30]

Lacrosse is the oldest team sport in North America and possibly the world. There is evidence that a version of lacrosse originated in Mesoamerica or Mexico as early as the 1100s. [Vennum, Thomas. American Indian Lacrosse: Little Brother of War. (Smithsonian Institution, 1994) SBN 978-1560983026.] [Liss, Howard. Lacrosse (Funk & Wagnalls, 1970) pg 13.] Native American lacrosse was played throughout modern Canada and America, but was most popular around the Great Lakes and Eastern seaboard.

Traditional lacrosse games were sometimes major events that could last several days. As many as 100 to 1,000 men from opposing villages or tribes would participate. The games were played in open plains located between the two villages, and the goals could range from convert|500|yd to several miles apart.cite web| url = http://www.stxlacrosse.com/theculture/history.cfm| title = Lacrosse History| accessdate = 2007-02-24| publisher = STX]

Rules for these games were decided on the day before. Generally there was no out-of-bounds, and the ball could not be touched with the hands. The goals would be selected as large rocks or trees; in later years wooden posts were used. Playing time was often from sun up to sun down.

The game began with the ball being tossed into the air and the two sides rushing to catch it. Because of the large number of players involved, these games generally tended to involve a huge mob of players swarming the ball and slowly moving across the field. Passing the ball was thought of as a trick, and it was seen as cowardly to dodge an opponent. [Liss, Howard. Lacrosse (Funk & Wagnalls, 1970) pg 10.]

The medicine men acted as coaches, and the women of the tribe were usually limited to serving refreshments to the players. [Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians (Dover Publications, 1907) SBN 978-0486231259. pg 580, 607.] (There was also a women's version of lacrosse called amtah, which used much shorter sticks with larger heads. [Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians (Dover Publications, 1907) SBN 978-0486231259. pg 596.] )

Lacrosse traditionally had many different purposes. Some games were played to settle inter-tribal disputes. This function was essential to keeping the Six Nations of the Iroquois together. Lacrosse was also played to toughen young warriors for combat, for recreation, as part of festivals, and for the bets involved. Finally, lacrosse was played for religious reasons: "for the pleasure of the Creator" and to collectively pray for something. [cite news | last = Rock| first = Tom| title = More Than a Game| work = Lacrosse Magazine| publisher = US Lacrosse| date = November/December 2002| url = http://www.redhawkslax.com/news.lacrossemag.html| accessdate = 2007-03-18 ]

Rituals

Pre-game rituals were very similar to rituals associated with war. Players would decorate their bodies with paint and charcoal. Players also decorated their sticks or stick racks with objects representing qualities desired in the game. Strict taboos were held on what players could eat before a game, and the medicine man performed rituals to prepare players and their sticks. The night before a game, players wore ceremonial costumes and held a special dance. Sacrifices were held, and sacred expressions were yelled to intimidate opponents. [Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians (Dover Publications, 1907) SBN 978-0486231259. pg 563-577.]

On the day of the game, teams walked to the field and were slowed by constant rituals. One ceremony was "going to water," in which players dunked their sticks in water and the shaman gave a spiritual and strategic pep talk. Sometimes players would receive ceremonial scratches on their arms or torso. [Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians (Dover Publications, 1907) SBN 978-0486231259. pg 580.]

Before the game, every player was required to place a wager. Items such as handkerchiefs, knives, trinkets, horses, and even wives and children would be at stake. The bets would be displayed on a rack near the spectators, and items would be awarded proportionally to the winner of each quarter. [Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians (Dover Publications, 1907) SBN 978-0486231259. pg 584.] [Conover, Adele. "Little Brother of War." Smithsonian Dec 1997: pg 32.]

When the game was over another ceremonial dance took place, along with a large feast for the hungry players.

Equipment

Some early lacrosse balls were made out of wood. Others were made of deerskin stuffed with hair. [ [http://www.museevirtuel.ca/Exhibitions/Traditions/English/lacrosse_03.html Living Traditions | Lacrosse ] ] They were typically three inches in diameter. [Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians (Dover Publications, 1907) SBN 978-0486231259. pg 563.]

The first lacrosse sticks were essentially giant wooden spoons with no netting. [Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians (Dover Publications, 1907) SBN 978-0486231259. pg 594.] A more advanced type had one end bent into a 4 to convert|5|in|mm|sing=on diameter circle, which was filled with netting. [Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians (Dover Publications, 1907) SBN 978-0486231259. pg 566.] This netting was made of wattup or deer sinew. [Liss, Howard. Lacrosse (Funk & Wagnalls, 1970) pg 9.] The most recent Native American sticks use a U-shape instead of a circle.

These sticks were bent into shape after being softened through steaming, and lengths typically ranged from 2 to convert|5|ft|m. [Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians (Dover Publications, 1907) SBN 978-0486231259. pg 566.] Lacrosse sticks often had elaborate carvings on them intended to help players in the game. [Conover, Adele. "Little Brother of War." Smithsonian Dec 1997: pg 32.] Lacrosse sticks were so treasured that many players requested to be buried with their stick beside them. [Conover, Adele. "Little Brother of War." Smithsonian Dec 1997: pg 32.]

Some versions of lacrosse used unusual stick designs. In the St. Lawrence Valley a version was played in which the head took up two thirds of the stick. In the Southeast a double-stick version was played with sticks about two and a half feet long. [Vennum, Thomas. American Indian Lacrosse: Little Brother of War. (Smithsonian Institution, 1994) SBN 978-1560983026.]

No protective equipment was worn in traditional lacrosse. [ [http://www.e-lacrosse.com/na.htm Lacrosse: E-Lacrosse Lacrosse Links and Lacrosse Sources ] ]

European involvement

The first westerners to encounter lacrosse were French Jesuit missionaries in the St. Lawrence Valley. During the 1630s, they witnessed the game and condemned it. They were opposed to lacrosse because it was violent, betting was involved, and it was part of the religion they sought to eradicate. [ [http://www.e-lacrosse.com/na.htm Lacrosse: E-Lacrosse Lacrosse Links and Lacrosse Sources ] ]

One missionary, Jean de Brébeuf, was the first to write about lacrosse and thus gave it its name. He described the Huron Indians playing in 1636. Some say the name originated from the French term for field hockey, "le jeu de la crosse". [ [http://www.e-lacrosse.com/laxhist4.htm Lacrosse: E-Lacrosse Lacrosse History, Links and Sources ] ] Others suggest that it was named after the "crosier", a staff carried by bishops. [ [http://www.stxlacrosse.com/theculture/history.cfm STX Lacrosse ] ]

Despite Jesuit opposition, many other European colonists were intrigued by lacrosse. Betting on games became common, and around 1740 many French colonists were taking up the game. However, they could not match the skill of the Native Americans. [ [http://www.e-lacrosse.com/laxhist4.htm Lacrosse: E-Lacrosse Lacrosse History, Links and Sources ] ]

In 1763 the Ottawas used a lacrosse game to gain entrance to Fort Michilimackinac (now Mackinac). Chief Pontiac invited the fort's British troops to watch a lacrosse game in celebration of the king's birthday. The players gradually worked their way close to the gates, and then rushed into the fort and carried out a general massacre. [HODGE, FREDERICK WEBB. "HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIANS NORTH OF MEXICO, IN TWO PARTS," PART 1; WASHINGTON, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1907. PAGE 127.]

In 1805 during an expedition up the Mississippi River, Continental Army officer Lt. Zebulon Pike observed a group of young Sioux men playing this game, or one resembling it, near the east bank of the river, in what is now west-central Wisconsin. He named the region "Prairie La Crosse", which in turn inspired the name of both the Wisconsin county and its principal city in that region. ["Writ in Remembrance: 100 Years of LaCrosse Area History": http://www.lacrossewa.us/history/hist-1.html] Today, two statues in the city of La Crosse (one downtown, the other along southbound US Highway 53 entering the city from the north) commemorate the game observed by Pike.

In 1834 a team of Caughnawaga Indians demonstrated lacrosse in Montreal. Although response to the demonstrations was not overwhelming, interest in lacrosse steadily grew in Canada. [ [http://www.uslacrosse.org/museum/history.phtml History of Native American Lacrosse ] ]

In 1856, Dr. William George Beers, a Canadian dentist, founded Montreal Lacrosse Club. He codified the game in 1867 to shorten the length of each game, reduce the number of players, use a redesigned stick, and use a rubber ball. The first game played under Beers' rules was at Upper Canada College in 1867, with Upper Canada College losing to the Toronto Cricket Club by a score of 3–1. During the 1860s lacrosse became Canada's national game. The first overseas exhibition games were played in 1867. In 1876, Queen Victoria witnessed an exhibition game and was impressed, saying "The game is very pretty to watch." Her endorsement was enough for many English girls' schools to adopt the sport in the 1890s. [ [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-79111255.html Sportsactive: Your sport Lacrosse; Think it sounds a bit soft? Think again. Jonathan Thompson explains the kit, the body armour and the bloody Native American history of lacrosse.(Sport) - The Independent Sunday (London, England) - HighBeam Research ] ]

As lacrosse grew, opposition to its violent aspects was a major obstacle. The game was banned in some areas when, in 1900, Choctaw Indians attached lead weights to their sticks to use them as skull-crackers. [ [http://www.uslacrosse.org/museum/history.phtml History of Native American Lacrosse ] ]

By the 1900s, many high schools, colleges and universities had adopted lacrosse as a league sport. Lacrosse became an Olympic sport for the 1904 and 1908 Summer Olympics, but was then dropped as an official sport. After 1908 lacrosse was a sport in the World Games. In the 1930s, an indoor version of the game, box lacrosse, was introduced in Canada. It quickly became the dominant form of the sport in that country.

Timeline

1636 - Jesuit Missionary Jean de Brebeuf is the first to document the game of lacrosse.

1794 - A match between the Seneca and Mohawks results in the creating of basic rules.

1834 - Caughnawaga Indians demonstrate the sport in Montreal. The game is reported by the newspaper and, for the first time, white men are interested in the sport.

1867 - Dr. William George Beers, the father of modern lacrosse, finalizes the first set of playing rules for the Montreal Club.

1876 - Queen Victoria watched and "endorses" a lacrosse game in Windsor, England. New York University is the first college in the United States to establish a lacrosse team.

1881 - The first intercollegiate tournament is held at Westchester Polo Grounds in New York.

1890 - The first women's lacrosse game is played at St Leonards School in St. Andrew's, Scotland.

1904 - Lacrosse is first played as an exhibition sport in the Olympics in St. Louis. The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse League is formed. Laurie D. Cox, William C. Schmeisser and Charles Lattig form a committee to develop a uniform code of operation for college lacrosse, and divide the colleges into north and south divisions.

1926 - Rosabelle Sinclair reestablishes women's lacrosse in the United States when she starts a team at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore.

1931 - The United States Women's Lacrosse Association (USWLA) is formed as the rule-making body for women's lacrosse.

1933 - The USWLA holds its first national tournament in Greenwich, Conn.

1937 - Robert Pool introduces the first double-walled wooden stick, an early prototype for today's plastic sticks.

1947 - The men's field game positions change from goalkeeper, point, cover point, first defense, second defense, center, second attack, first attack and in home to goal keeper, attack, midfield and defense.

1959 - The Lacrosse Foundation is incorporated as the sport's national development center and archive.

1967 - Coach Willis Bilderback of Navy wins his eighth consecutive intercollegiate title.

1971 - Men's College lacrosse allies with the NCAA. The International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Association (IFWLA) is founded.

1978 - The first issue of Lacrosse Magazine is published by The Lacrosse Foundation.

1982 - The first NCAA women's championship is played at Trenton State University between the University of Massachusetts and Trenton State University.

1985 - The Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Foundation becomes the first of many regional chapters of The Lacrosse Foundation. The Japan Lacrosse Association is formed. The Major Indoor Lacrosse League revives professional box lacrosse in Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia and Washington.

1990 - Coach Roy Simmons, Jr. of Syracuse University is the first coach to win four NCAA titles.

1997 - The University of Maryland wins it's fifth NCAA women's championship. US Lacrosse is founded and incorporated as the national governing body of men's and women's lacrosse. On March 14, the new Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame are rededicated, completing the expansion of the US Lacrosse headquarters.

2001 - The IFWLA World Cup is played in High Wycombe, England where the U.S. defeated Australia for the cup.

2002 - The International Lacrosse Federation World Championship are played in Perth, Australia where the U.S. defeated Canada for the championship.

2003 - The ILF and IFWLA U-19 World Championships are held in Towson, Maryland (U.S.) where the U.S. teams won both titles.

2005 - The IFWLA World Cup is played in Annapolis, Maryland (U.S.) and won by Australia who defeated the U.S. 14-7 in the gold medal game.

ources

* [http://www.lacrossellama.com/history.html Lacrosse History]
* [http://www.internet-esq.com/lax/history.htm History of Lacrosse]

References