Focus on Sports
Lacross
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Lacrosse is a spring and summer team sport of Native American origin
played with netted sticks (called crosses). The world's first
official game was played at patrician Upper Canada
College in 1867. Upper Canada College lost to the Toronto Cricket Club by a
score of 3-1. Lacrosse is the official national summer sport of Canada.
The game is popular in Canada (chiefly in British Columbia and
southern Ontario) and in New England and other
areas in the eastern United States. It has
begun to spread to the west coast where older college programs have encouraged
lacrosse teams at the high school and middle school level. The colleges, high schools and "pee wee"
leagues in the United States support many teams. Johns Hopkins,
Princeton, Syracuse and Virginia have
dominated in the Division I collegiate ranks, while the American teams have won
recent World
Championships for both men and women. The Iroquois nation also enters a
team in the World Championships. The field game is also played in New
Zealand, Australia, Japan, England and Scotland.
Canada differs from other lacrosse-playing countries in preferring the box
lacrosse variant of the game. A recent variant of box lacrosse, indoor lacrosse, is
played more widely; its first world
championship was held in 2003.
|
|
The rules of women's lacrosse differ
significantly from men's lacrosse and is specifically designed to have much less
physical contact between players. The men's game has a contact level similar to
ice
hockey and the players wear similar protective gear:body padding, gloves,
and helmet. The women's game requires very little protective gear.
In 1994 lacrosse became the official national summer sport of Canada.
However, very few people in Canada actually play or follow the sport, certainly
far fewer than follow or play hockey, football, baseball, basketball,
soccer, tennis, golf and other sports.
It is chiefly a regional summer sport played only in two widely separated
regions of the country, and not the most popular summer sport even in those
regions. Designating lacrosse as an official sport is more of a nod to history
than a reflection of the present-day situation.
The Field Game
Diagram of a men's lacrosse field.
Outdoor men's lacrosse involves two teams of 10 players each competing by
projecting a small solid rubber ball into the opposing
team's goal. The field of play is approximately 110 yards (100 m) long and 60
yards (54 m) wide. The goals are 6 feet (1.8 m) by 6 feet and contain a mesh
netting similar to an ice hockey goal.
Players line up based on 3 offensive players called "attackmen", 3
"midfielders" or "middies", 3 "defensemen", and 1 goaltender, or "goalie." Each
player carries a stick (the French settlers on seeing the
Native Americans using the stick called it la crossier (crozier) hence the
name "Lacrosse"). Attackmen and midfielders carry a stick measuring between 40
inches and 42 inches, while defensemen and midfielders, under certain conditions
carry a stick up to 72 inches (1.8 m) long. The sticks have a metal shaft and a
plastic head with either a string and leather or mesh basket called the
"pocket". Goalie sticks vary in length but are typically between 50 and 60
inches long, and significantly wider than field players' sticks.
Players scoop the ball off the ground and throw the ball in the air to other
players. Players are allowed to run carrying the ball with their stick. Unlike
women's lacrosse, players may kick the ball, as well as cover it with their
sticks. Play is typically quite fast, and resembles a combination of soccer, basketball
and ice
hockey. Players are permitted to hit one another with their bodies and
sticks, although some rules govern the manner in which this may be done. For NCAA play, games consist
of 4 fifteen minute periods, while at the youth and high school levels games are
typically shorter. The scores of games usually consist of a total of twenty or
so goals being scored.
Box and Indoor Lacrosse
Canadians most commonly play box lacrosse, an
indoor version of the game played by teams of six on ice hockey rinks from which
the ice has been removed; the enclosed playing area is called the box, in
contrast to the open playing field of the traditional game. This version of the
game was introduced in the 1930s to promote business for hockey arenas, and
within a few years had almost entirely supplanted field lacrosse in Canada.
In box lacrosse the goal is smaller (4' X 4') than in outdoor lacrosse (and
the goaltender usually bigger). The attacking team must take a shot on goal
within 30 seconds of gaining possession of the ball, and play is rougher than in
the field game (see below).
A national senior men's lacrosse championship (the Mann Cup) has been awarded in
Canada since 1901. It
has been played under box lacrosse rules since 1935. A junior men's championship
(the Minto
Cup) has been awarded since 1937 (the Minto Cup was also awarded to a senior
men's champion from 1901 to 1934). Since 1908 all national senior and junior
men's champions have come from either Ontario or British Columbia. The
Canadian
Lacrosse Association also holds tournaments to determine national junior and
senior women's box lacrosse champions and junior and senior men's and women's
field lacrosse champions.
Indoor lacrosse
is a version of box lacrosse played professionally during the winter not only in
regions where summer lacrosse is popular but also in regions where lacrosse is
rarely played in summer. It was inrended to be less violent than box lacrosse,
although subsequent changes in box lacrosse rules have reduced some of its
violent play. Some differences remain, though. In indoor lacrosse players may
use only sticks with hollow metal shafts (box lacrosse permits solid wooden
sticks) and may not crosscheck (crosschecking – hitting another player with the
stick with one's hands apart on the shaft – is legal, within limits, in box
lacrosse). These differences encourage a running rather than a passing game. The
inaugural World
Indoor Lacrosse Championships, won by Canada, were held in 2003.
See also
References
- Scott, Bob (1978). Lacrosse:Technique and Tradition. Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN
080182060X
|
