History of Lacrosse

History of Lacrosse

By Zach

Native Americans were the ones who made lacrosse. Native Americans called lacrosse stickball.The game was usually played in the St. Lawrence Valley area by the Algonqian tribe. They were followed by other tribes in the eastern half of North America and around the western Great Lakes. Lacrosse is French for Crosse. Crosse means game with a bat or stick

Traditionally playing lacrosse had many different purposes before Europeans came to North America. Native Americans used lacrosse to solve any problems with any local tribes. It was also method to train young warriors for combat and a big part in their religious life. They played lacrosse to please the gods and to honor themselves. It was referred as the Creator’s game.

When tribes played lacrosse there were 100 to 1000 people on one field at a time. The field was 500 yards long to miles long. It was often played with boundaries, with the goal of shooting the ball at a land mark like a tree or a rock in order to score. Games often lasted for days from sun to moon. It was very violent. The players would try to kill their enemies or injure them in order to get a clear shoot. The game also got a nickname “the little brother of war” because how violent it was.

The sticks were very deadly because they were made from solid wood. Solid is bad because if you slash someone with a stick it would not bend so it could break your bones easily. The only way it would not hurt as much was if the stick broke. The netting was very heavy. It was made out of something called cat cut. Cat cut is leather strung in a way that made it cut your skin. Sometimes they tied rocks to the cat cut so when they slashed their opponents the rocks would hit them and cause greater injury. Players barely had any protection so if they got hit hard they could get badly injured or even killed. The ball was made of either wood, clay, heads of their enemy, or deer skin and stone.