History of Lacrosse

2. History of Lacrosse • Lacrosse is the oldest team sport in North America, having been played by the Native American tribes long before any European had set foot on the continent. • When the first people of America started playing Lacrosse, it served many purposes. Lacrosse was played to 1) amuse the creator, 2) to train young men for war, and 3) to settle disputes between tribes. • It was a savage game that resembled war which evolved to the recreational sport played in America and other countries today. • A literary quote describes the development of Lacrosse: “Lacrosse is a game born of the North American Indians, christened by the French, adopted and raised by the Canadians, and later dominated by the Americans.”

3. History of Lacrosse: American Indians • In the earliest times of American Indian lacrosse, the game had few rules, if any. Lacrosse games would last for days, stopping at sunset and continuing the next day at sunrise. The fields had no boundaries, and goals were usually between 500 yards to a half-mile apart, though sometimes they were several miles apart. The goals were usually marked by a single tree or a large rock, and points were scored by hitting it with the ball. There were no limitations on the number of players on a team, and often there would be as many as one thousand players in a lacrosse game at the same time. • Because there were no rules and players did not wear any protective equipment or even shoes, injuries to players were severe and occurred often. As one French explorer described the game, "Almost everything short of murder is allowable."  • The game was especially violent when used as an alternative to war to settle intertribal disputes. One example was a game between the Creek and Choctaw tribes in 1790. This game, which was to determine which tribe had the rights to a beaver pond, broke out into a violent battle after the Creeks were declared the winners of the game. Because of the massive attack and the savage play, lacrosse truly was the little brother of war.

4. History of Lacrosse • The game has always required tremendous athletic skill. Teams had as many as 1,000 players vying to move a small, hair-stuffed deerskin ball past their opponent’s goal. Players used three- to four-foot long sticks with small nets on the end to throw, catch and carry the ball. With all of those sticks and only one ball, a lot of extra-curricular activity occurred.

5. History of Lacrosse • French missionaries are responsible for giving the sport its name. Missionaries thought the stick used by Canadian Indian tribes looked like the crosier, or le crosse, carried by bishops.

6. History of Lacrosse • More than 100 years after the game was first played by whites, a non-Native American Lacrosse team was formally organized. Dr. William George Beers, a Montreal dentist, who is described as the father of modern Lacrosse, created the Montreal Lacrosse Club in 1856. • In 1867, Dr. Beers finalized his uniform code of rules for modern Lacrosse when he created the Canadian National Lacrosse Association (CNLA). The development of Dr. Beers’ rules was the first step in the modernization of the game, including replacing a hair-stuffed deerskin ball with a hard rubber ball. • Lacrosse first appeared in the Olympics in the year 1904.

7. History of Lacrosse • International Lacrosse Federation (ILF)

8. Players • 10 players are on the field at any time • 3 Defensemen • 3 Mid-Fielders • 3 Attackmen • 1 Goal Keeper

9. Players Continued… • ATTACKMAN: The attackman's responsibility is to score goals. He generally restricts his play to the offensive end. • MIDFIELDER: The midfielder's responsibility is to cover the entire field playing both offense and defense. • DEFENSEMAN: The defenseman's responsibility is to defend the goal. He generally restricts his play to the defensive end of the field. • GOALIE: The goalie's responsibility is to protect the goal and stop the opposing team from scoring.

10. **Attack and Defensive Areas for a team moving to the right. Areas are reversed for a team moving to the left.

11. Rules • Each team must keep at least four players, including the goalie, in its defensive half of the field and three in its offensive half. Three players (midfielders) may roam the entire field. • The game shall be 60 minutes, divided into four periods of 15 minutes each. • Teams change sides between periods. Each team is permitted two time-outs each half. The team winning the coin toss chooses the end of the field it wants to defend first. • Lacrosse begins with a face-off. The ball is placed between the sticks of two squatting players at the center of the field.

12. Rules Continued… • Players may run with the ball in the stick, pass and catch the ball. Only the goalkeeper may touch the ball with his hands. • The ball is kept in play by being carried, thrown or batted with the crosse, or rolled or kicked in any direction, subject to the restrictions. • If the ball or a player in possession of the ball goes out of bounds, the other team is awarded possession of the ball. • An attacking player cannot enter the crease around the goal, but may reach in with his stick to scoop a loose ball.

13. Player Fouls • HOLDING • INTERFERENCE • OFF SIDES • PUSHING • SCREENING • STALLING • WARDING OFF

14. Equipment • All players shall wear protective gloves, shoes, and jerseys. • All players except the designated goalkeeper shall wear shoulder pads and arm pads. • The goalkeeper shall wear protective goalkeeper equipment.

15. Player Penalties • SLASHING • TRIPPING • CROSS CHECKING • UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT • UNNECESSARY ROUGHNESS • ILLEGAL CROSSE • ILLEGAL BODY CHECKING

16. Scoring • Each goal is worth one point. • The team that scores the most points, by the end of game, wins.