Lacrosse...North America's original and most popular sport  North American natives originally developed the game of LACROSSE as a war-training and spiritual exercise. Called baaga’adowe (sounds like “baggataway”), it was violent and had few fixed rules. Adopted and named lacrosse by French settlers, because of the stick's resemblance to a bishop's crosier, it became increasingly popular. In 1856, the Montreal Lacrosse Club was organized and in 1860, the rules of the game were standardized. Introduced in the United States in the 1870s it is now a popular college, school, and club game in the United States, with the U.S. dominating international play.
	History of Field Lacrosse With a history that spans centuries, lacrosse is the oldest continuously played sport in North America! The sport is rooted in Native American religion and was often played to resolve disputes, heal the sick and develop strong, virile men. Some Native Americans still referred to lacrosse as "The Creator’s Game." Ironically, lacrosse also served as a substitute for war. Stories tell of as many as 1,000 players per side, from the same or different tribes, taking turns engaging in a violent contest the Algonquians called baaga’adowe (BAAG means "hit", A means "by an instrument", ADOW means "ball" while the E is an abstract ending to the word). Early contestants played on a field as long as fifteen miles and games went from sunrise to sunset, sometimes lasting for days. Some tribes used a single pole, tree, or rock for a goal, while other tribes had two goalposts through which the ball had to pass. They made the balls out of wood, deerskin, baked clay, or stone.
Jesuits from France wrote home saying that the Huro game was played with a stick resembling the crosier ("la crosse") carried by Bishops The first mention of the Native American game evolving into modern lacrosse began in 1636 when Jean de Brebeuf, a Jesuit missionary, drew attention to a Huron contest in what is now Southeast Ontario, Canada. At that time, tribes scattered throughout what is now southern Canada and all parts of the United States played some type of lacrosse. French pioneers began playing the game avidly in the early 1800s. A Canadian dentist by the name of W. George Beers standardized the game in 1867 with the adoption of set field dimensions, limits to the number of players per team and other basic rules. The first school lacrosse teams in the U.S. New York University fielded the nation’s first collegiate lacrosse team in 1877, and Philips Andover Academy (MA), Philips Exeter Academy (NH) and the Lawrenceville School (NJ) were the nation’s first high school teams in 1882. There are currently over 700 college and 4,500 high school lacrosse teams from coast to coast. The first women’s lacrosse game was played in 1890 at the St. Leonard’s School in Scotland. Although Sweet Briar College (VA) made an attempt to start women’s lacrosse at in 1914, it was not until 1926 that Miss Rosabelle Sinclair established the first women’s lacrosse team in the United States at The Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Maryland.
Men's and women's lacrosse have evolved along different paths Men’s and women’s Lacrosse were played under virtually the same rules, with no protective equipment, until the mid-1930s. At that time, men’s Lacrosse began evolving dramatically, while women’s Lacrosse continued to remain true to the game’s original rules. Men and women’s Lacrosse remain derivations of the same game today, but are played under different rules. Women’s rules limit stick contact, prohibits body contact and, therefore, require little protective equipment. Men’s Lacrosse rules allow some degree of stick and a body contact, although violence is neither condoned nor permitted. The fastest growing team sport in the U.S. — Simply the best! Some perceive field lacrosse to be a violent and dangerous game, however, injury statistics prove otherwise. While serious injuries can and do occur in all sports, lacrosse, has evolved with an emphasis on safety and the rate and severity of injury is comparatively low. Played by “boys” and “girls” who range in age from toddlers to centurians, Lacrosse is THE fastest growing team sport in the United States today! In recent years, In addition to growth throughout the US, Lacrosse has experienced unprecedented growth throughout the world. A unique combination of speed, skill, agility, grace, endurance, finesse and historical significance, Lacrosse is the best of all possible field games as stated by Mr. James Naismith, inventor of the game of Basketball.