Lacrosse - The Game

I had my first opportunity to see the game lacrosse being played.   You'd think living in the La Crosse area for so many years I would have had this experience many times.      RJ and I saw the teams playing in one of our favorite walking areas in Las Vegas.

Best of the West Lacrosse Spring Classic.      This tournament is held over 3 days on 11 fields and includes both men's and women's high school teams.     This park/sports area has 12 fields used primarily for soccer and is beautifully maintained.     There are also several tennis courts, playground areas and walking trails.  

I will try to explain what I found out about the game.     It is fast moving with very few stops for penalties or substitutions.     There are 4  12-minute quarters with basically no break at the end of each quarter.    

At the beginning of the game or after a score, the ref places the ball on the ground between two players.    Then it is kind of a free for all to get the ball to your team.      Hands cannot be used.     The refs always back up quickly, blow their whistle and the action resumes.

Lacrosse is  a contact team sport played between two teams using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick.    It has a mesh area at the end for scooping, carrying and throwing the ball.

It is often considered as a rough sport, although injuries are less frequent than in American football and other contact sports.

To score you must get the ball into that small guarded red net.    It's a fraction of the size of a soccer goal.      If you look carefully you can see the ball in the blue players mesh at the end of his lacrosse stick.

In this shot he has flung the ball hoping to score.

I'm not sure of the exact play here, but you can see the ball is a bit high and wide.

I moved over to another court to watch a different team play.    

You can follow the action here - lots of defensive action at the net.....

A strong effort by the goalie................

And they score!

Lacrosse was originally an old Indian game called baggataway.     The First Nations began playing the sport more than 500 years ago.     Today lacrosse not only remains an integral part of native culture, but is played by thousands of people acrosse Canada, and apparently in the Nevada/Utah/Arizone area.

If you ever get to La Crosse Wisconsin, there is a beautiful statue on Highway 35 just as you are entering the city from Onalaska.    It depicts several Native Americans playing this game.

I know, you never expected to have me blog about sports, but .................