history of canadian lacrosse

History of Canadian Lacrosse

• Lacrosse is a team sport in which players pass, catch, and carry a rubber ball, using sticks with a netted pouch at one end. The object of lacrosse is to accumulate points by shooting the ball into the opposing team's goal. It’s one of the oldest organized sports in North America. While at one point it was a field game or ritual played by first nations in Upper Canada, the sport has since branched into four distinct games: men's field lacrosse, women's field lacrosse, box lacrosse, and inter-crosse.

Man’s field Lacrosse

• Men's field lacrosse is played by two teams of 10 on an outdoor field. The most noticeable difference between field lacrosse and other forms is the use of much longer stick.

• The World Lacrosse Championships take place every four years. In 2006, Canada won its first championship in nearly three decades when it defeated the United States of America 15-10. Many players on Canada's national field lacrosse team play box lacrosse as well.

Women’s field lacrosse

• Women's field lacrosse is a non-contact sport played with 12 players per team. Ball movement and effective stick handling are key elements of the sport, and the shallowness of the stick's pocket makes catching and control of the ball more challenging. The first game of women's field lacrosse took place in Scotland in 1890.

Diagram/Famous Players

Box Lacrosse

• Box lacrosse was developed in the 1930s as a way to take advantage of hockey arenas left vacant during the summer months. It’s sometimes referred as the fastest sport on two feet. Rebounds and checks off the boards make the game exciting to watch, and a 30-second shot clock that requires a team to either score in half a minute or relinquish the ball to their opponent leads to a high-scoring game.

• Professional indoor lacrosse is similar to box lacrosse in many ways, including the number of players per side (6), its use of the 30-second clock and the existence of boards surrounding the playing surface. Professional indoor lacrosse is played on a turf carpet. Box lacrosse is usually played on a cement surface.

Equipment required

Inter-Crosse

• Inter-Crosse is the newest form of lacrosse, is a low-risk activity, designed for schools and recreation programs. The easy-to-play indoor game uses molded plastic sticks and a soft, lightweight ball, and teaches participants the fundamentals of lacrosse: scooping, carrying, passing, and catching the ball.

Examples of Inter-Crosse

History of Canadian Lacrosse

• Lacrosse was started by the Native American Indians and was originally known as stickball. The game was initially played in the St. Lawrence Valley area by the Algonquian tribe and followed by other tribes in the eastern half of North America. They were played over huge open areas between villages and the goals. Some estimates have mentioned between 100 and 100,000 players participating in a game at any one time.

Rules:

• The ball was not to be touched by a player’s hand and there were no boundaries. The ball was tossed into the air to indicate the start of the game and players raced to be the first to catch it.

• Obs: Original wooden balls were later replaced by deerskin balls filled with fur and the sticks developed over time to become more sophisticated. In preparation for a game players used paint and charcoal to decorate their faces and bodies.

“Indian Ball Game” by George Catlin

Games of lacrosse were played for a number of reasons. It was considered a sport that toughened up young warriors for war but it was also a game played for recreation and for religious reasons. It was not unusual for bets to be placed on the outcome of games.

Jean de Brébeuf

French Jesuit missionaries working in the St. Lawrence Valley in the 1630s were the first Europeans to see lacrosse being played by the Native American Indians. One of them, Jean de Brébeuf, wrote about the game being played by the Huron Indians in 1636 and it was he who the named the game “lacrosse”.

• A demonstration of lacrosse was given by the Caughnawaga Indians in Montreal in 1834. As a result, interest in the game of lacrosse began to develop in Canada. A Canadian dentist, Dr William George Beers, was responsible for founding the Montreal Lacrosse Club in 1856 and a decade later he drew up rules which included reducing the number of players, introducing a rubber ball and a redesigned stick.

• By 1860 lacrosse had become Canada’s national game and in 1867 exhibition games were played in England. In 1876 Queen Victoria watched a game being played and remarked that “The game is very pretty to watch.” Then in 1883 a touring team from Canada and and a team made up of Iroquois natives visited Scotland.

• During this tour promotional literature was distributed to the spectators pointing out the benefits of emigration to Canada. By the turn of the century lacrosse was becoming more popular in several countries and in 1904 and 1908 lacrosse was played in the Summer Olympics.

Gallery

• Baggataway (lacrosse) was played on fiesta days between families, villages or clans. Here, early lacrosse equipment (sticks and ball) are clearly visible (courtesy Lazare and Parker).

Winnipeg Shamrocks

• In 1904 the Winnipeg Shamrocks won the Olympic gold medal in one of only two times lacrosse was an Olympic event (1904 and 1908). Montreal Lacrosse Club, 1867.

Lacrosse Match

• Through the 1880s, lacrosse enjoyed sustained growth, and by 1900 it was likely Canada's favourite sport, though never, as is often said, the "national sport“.

Beers, William George

• Beers promoted lacrosse in Canada by claiming that it "knocks timidity and nervousness out of a young man, training him to temperance, confidence and pluck" (courtesy Canada's Sports Hall of Fame).

External links and sources:

• http://filacrosse.com/origin/• http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/art

icles/lacrosse• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soWzkYxD

8-w• Marina Leite, 9th Grade