Lacrosse is an American Indian game.

History of occurrence

Lacrosse literally translates from the French «la crosse» as «club». And the game itself was invented by the American Indians, who used it as a training for warriors, as well as for the peaceful resolution of tribal conflicts.

Native Americans call this sport nothing more than «brother of a small war» — this game provided such excellent military training. Archaeological evidence suggests that the forerunner of lacrosse was popular as early as the early 15th century in what is now Canada. The teams in those days often included hundreds of people, and the length of the field used for the game extended for hundreds of meters, or even several kilometers.

Settlers from the Old World first learned about this game in the 17th century, and already with the onset of the 19th century, lacrosse began to spread widely among the inhabitants of the French colony of Canada. The first official lacrosse game took place there in 1867.

At the Olympic Games, medals in this sport were played only twice — in 1904 and 1908. After that, they lacrosse was canceled and included in the program of three Olympics only as a demonstration performance. Both times when this game was considered an Olympic discipline, the gold of the Olympics went to the Canadian team. For the first time, 36 athletes from 2 countries participated in lacrosse competitions, divided among themselves into three teams, two of which were Canadian, and one team represented the United States. The Mohawk Indians played in one of the Canadian national teams.

At the next competitions, two teams were already represented, one each from Canada and Great Britain. Only one match was played, in which Canadians won gold medals for the second and last time in lacrosse history.

To date, lacrosse is not included in the list of sports recognized by the IOC. But since 1974, world championships in this sport have been regularly held, in which, in addition to the usual teams of various countries, the Indian Iroquois tribe participates.

What is lacrosse?

The modern basic rules of the game of lacrosse involve the participation of 2 teams, each of which consists of 10 or 6 people. The main goal of the game, as mentioned above, is to get the ball into the opponent’s goal, using a special projectile that vaguely resembles something between a racket and a club. The game is usually judged by 3 judges at once. Some rules vary by type of lacrosse.

Types of games and their features

Today, there are several variants of lacrosse, which are distinguished from each other by the size of the field, the number of players and, in fact, the rules. There are 2 main classifications of the game of lacrosse. Depending on the venue of the game, lacrosse is divided into:

Lacrosse on the field

The classic version of the game, which is played on a large field on the street. Teams usually have 10 people.

«Lacrosse in a box» (mini lacrosse)

Unlike playing on the field, mini lacrosse is an indoor game. The number of participants in each team also corresponds to the word «mini» — 6 people each.

Teams are divided into:

Men’s lacrosse

During the game, the rules allow up to 9 substitutions. A game of men’s lacrosse consists of 4 15-minute periods. The dimensions of the field for this game are 100 meters by 55 meters, and the width of the gate is 1.8 meters. The distance between the gates is 72 meters.

Women’s lacrosse

In women’s lacrosse, the game lasts 2 periods of 25 minutes. The size of the field and the width of the goal may not differ from those presented in the men’s version of the game. But the distance between the gates is already a little more, or rather — 92 meters.

Modern lacrosse

There are more than thirty national lacrosse associations and unions in the world, most of which are located on the European continent. They were created not so long ago at all — only in the nineties of the last century. Perhaps that is why the leaders in this area are Canada and the United States, in the east of which lacrosse is very popular.

In Canada, the game is endowed with the status of a summer sport number 1. The local association in this discipline is considered the oldest in the world, since it was founded in 1867. Each year, the country hosts youth and adult indoor lacrosse championships in the first two divisions, and a third division lacrosse championship in the field.

In the United States, in addition to the national lacrosse association, there is the Iroquois Nationals, which is the representative of Indian tribes in international competitions.

Small lacrosse associations have long been active in Australia and England. With the onset of the nineties, other lacrosse associations began to emerge. Now they are in twenty European countries, as well as in South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and other countries. All are members of an international organization, except for the remaining independent associations in China and India.

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