Lacrosse Is The Hardest Sport In America

Do you want to learn about one of the most amazing sports in the world? Lacrosse is considered to be the first sport in America. Evin Demirel an editor for The Daily Beast insists lacrosse was the first sport to be played because “it was first played by Native Americans around a millennium ago” (paragraph 10). Lacrosse was the most widespread sport in America because so many Native American villages played the sport together. Lacrosse got its name from the French. They named it Lacrosse which means the game of the stick. Lacrosse is the oldest and hardest sport still being played today.

Lacrosse is the oldest game in North America estimated between five hundred to one thousand years old. Many villages would play lacrosse together training for battle. Back then lacrosse balls were made mostly of clay. Sometimes they were made from wood and in rare

cases the other teams’ skulls. The lacrosse stick was made from wood and the mesh net was strung with deer skin. Players used charcoal as war paint for spiritual reasons and in an attempt to intimidate the other team. Lacrosse was a big deal for Native Americans. They thought it would prepare them for manhood by toughening them up. Betting, a huge part of lacrosse, encouraged violence because whomever killed a person would receive what the dead man wagered. Anthony Aveni an editor for history.org points out, “The Huron would keep raising the stakes until they stripped themselves naked and lost all their removables in their cabins” (paragraph 10). He also notes that, “Some would not hesitate to wager their wives, children and themselves into servitude” (paragraph 10). The French were the first non-native American people to pick up Lacrosse from the natives. They picked it up because they spent a ton of time trading with the Native Americans. Lacrosse gave them something to do if they were bored. They played a scaled down version with no wagers they only had 16 players on the field at one time the field was around 150 yards long. The French started boasting at the English about how well they could play Lacrosse. After a little bit the English started to pick it up trying to challenge the French, which led to championships and tournaments, which is how the sport we now know as lacrosse was born.
Lacrosse is one of the hardest games ever to be played.

The lacrosse players would go up to each other and smack at each other’s sticks trying to dislodge the ball. The French named the game lacrosse which means the game of the stick. Sometimes a player would hit an opposing team’s player, severely injuring the person or breaking bones. There is even one account of a player dying. Anthony Aveni an editor for History.org says, “It is quite common to see someone crippled for the rest of his life who would not have had this misfortune but for his own obstinacy” (paragraph 9). The Indians did not have a goal so they used landmarks such as rocks and trees for a goal. Jane Claydon, an editor for Federation of International Lacrosse claims, “Some estimates have mentioned between one hundred and one hundred thousand players…. On the field at one time” (paragraph 2). There are tons of players. The fields were very extreme ranging anywhere from nine hundred yards to nine miles in length. Players at one end could not see the ball at the other end. The game would last from sun up to sun down many

days.
Today lacrosse is played for fun, not for war. The lacrosse sticks are now made of aluminum which is much lighter and easier to move and throw the lacrosse ball. The new lacrosse balls’ centers are cement with rubber on the outside. It can still hurt a lot when you get hit with the ball, but now it hurts less. Now players wear helmets, gloves, chest pads, elbow pads and mouth guards for protection against other players’ sticks and the ball. On my high school team we have twelve players on the field at once and the field is only one hundred ten yards long and sixty yards wide compared to nine miles of years ago. We have a set of rules to protect the players, two of which are that you cannot hit a person below the knees and above the shoulders and you cannot raise your stick above your head to swing at another player. One of the many reasons Lacrosse is one of the hardest sports in America is that they can constantly sub people in and out all the time, you don’t have to wait for the ball to go out of bounds to sub out. We also have goals made of steel and are strung with nylon rope. The field is marked with lines such as a circle indicating the crease around the goal which only the goalie and defenders can occupy. The crease protects the goalie and adds fairness giving the goalie more of a chanced to get the ball. Referees call fouls if someone is not playing safe or following the rules.
Lacrosse has definitely changed since its beginning. Now it is geared for fun and much more safe as compared to the grueling game of the Native Americans preparing young men for war. Players still make physical contact, but less now that there are rules for the game. With the change in field size, it also requires less effort. Even though the field size is greatly reduced, players still run a lot which is the reason for lacrosse’s nickname of the fastest game on two feet. It is also the fastest growing game in the United States.