It is halfway between hockey and American football one could say and it is mostly practiced in the US and Canada where the tribes lived (and live).
It was a game invented by Native Americans who considered it a great way to train strong and courageous warriors so at the beginning was also considered a military training. In the chronicles written by the first Europeans who colonized America I have read that in the past several hundred people, sometimes even thousands, participated in this game. The field could vary from a hundred meters to several kilometers, and the competition could last several days. The objective of each player is to hit a small rubber ball with a mallet and score by throwing it into the opponent's goal. Currently, there are more than thirty national lacrosse associations in the world - in Europe, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea - but the leading countries are still the United States and Canada where it originated.
I have heard it is becoming quite popular in Russia as well.
Lacrosse is indeed attracting more and more supporters every year.
I have spoken to a friend who used to be a coach in 2002-2009 and he told me that, in those years, in Texas, lacrosse was on the rise. After school he had stopped playing it, and it wasn't until seven years later that he decided to start playing his favorite sport again and got back into it, starting to coach a team in Houston with quite a good success.
But what are the rules?
Lacrosse is played by two teams of 10 players (men’s team) or 12 players (women’s team) each.
The objective of the game is to score goals by throwing a small rubber ball into the opponent's net using a special racket with a basket-shaped pocket at the end. Players can pass the ball to each other via by throwing it or passing it, moving quickly across the field and using strategies to overcome the opposing defense.
Lacrosse is a sport that requires high agility and physical endurance. Players must be able to run quickly, change direction quickly and have great hand-eye coordination to handle the ball and use the racket accurately. Furthermore, physical contact is an integral part of the game, especially in the men's version, where players use pushes and contact against opponents to try to gain possession of the ball.
Lacrosse is a sport that combines athletic skill, strategy, and a rich cultural history. Originally from Amerindian tribes, has evolved over the centuries to become an international sport thanks to one passionate community which helps it continue to gain popularity around the world. In recent decades, national and international championships have emerged that attract talented athletes from different parts of the world, offering opportunities for play and cultural exchange.
Times have changed too and new sports are added to each Olympics in rotation, some of which are also confirmed for the next edition, while others are remembered as meteors of a single edition; let's think for example of karate, included for the Tokyo 2020 Games and then immediately excluded.
Those sports who had better luck were for instance climbing and surfing.
The Los Angeles 2028 Organizing Committee has proposed the addition of flag football, cricket, squash and also lacrosse indeed but a final decision still needs to be finalized.
I have attended quite a few games of lacrosse and I’m not passionate about it but I do think that all sports deserve to be appreciated and practiced, especially if their roots are connected to native traditions.
