Sports In India

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a very famous team game sport which is played with a rubber ball to get through the net or goal. It is being played originally by the people of North America. It is known by various names like “little brother of war”or “Bagataway” in the language of Ojibwe and “tewaarathon” in the language of Mohawk. A lacrosse stick is used to play the game which is long stick and it has a net on the end. Players can use the stick while shooting, passing and running or catching the ball with the stick’s net. The game is won by the team which scores the highest goals or points at the end of the game.

Lacrosse provides a very good medium to exercise as it is a very active as well as an athletic game. The players are required to do a lot of running during the game maintaining the speed and dedication in the game. The nickname given to the game is that it is the fastest game being played on two feet, it has become very popular in colleges and schools as well as a professional game.

There are four types of Lacrosse being played which are box lacrosse, inter lacrosse, women’s lacrosse and men’s field lacrosse.

Origin and History of the Game

Lacrosse has its origin from North America. In 1100 AD, people developed this game and it became well established by the seventeenth century. It is one of the ancient and oldest sports being played in the team. The original game was played with 100 players in the field. The rules of the game also varied with the number of players in the field. Goals were kept very far at times.

The name of the game has been derives from the French missionary, Jean De Brebeuf of America. He introduced the game of how it is been played using a stick to the Native Americans. It soon became very popular in Europe and a Canadian, William George Beers later on opened a lacrosse club and listed rules which are still intact today.
After the early 1900’s, it became very popular in schools and colleges. Major League Lacrosse (MLL) in the year 2001 had the first season of the play. There are 10 teams at present in MLL. Box lacrosse is the indoor version of the game in Canada which had 6 players in each team and it is played in a small field for a short period of time.

Court Dimension and Net Height

The lacrosse field has a dimension of 110 yards in length and 60 yards in breadth. The height of the goal is 6 feet tall and 6 feet wide with 15 yards from the fields end.
The field has a defensive area for the goal and the attacking area for the opponent’s goal along with the wing area in the middle.

Equipments of Game

Players must wear a uniform to stay protected with the shorts. The uniform has a number which is either single or two digit starting from 1 to 99. The equipment required during the game are as follows-

• Lacrosse sticks which are different in sizes like for the attack men and midfielders, it should be between 40 to 72 inches and for the defensemen and goalies it should be up to 72 inch long.
• Rubber ball
• Helmet which should have a mouth guard and chin strap
• Shoulder protective pads
• Protective pads for arms
• Gloves to protect hands
• Chest protector for the goalies
• Special helmet for the goalies with throat guard covering neck
• A protective cup which is not required technically but should be used

Rules of the game

There is no number limit for the players except that only 10 players can be on the field at a time. The game has the following-

• One goalie to defend the goal of his team from the shots of the offense team using a stick.
• Three defensemen to protect the team from attack men.
• Three midfielders.
• Three attack men to goal.

Shot Clock

The time of 60 seconds is given to the team to goal where the shot must go either in net or makes contact or touches the goalie. When the time expires the possession is given to the opposing team.

Two Point Line

It is an arc of 16 yards radius and it extends from the center of the goal. A short that goes beyond the two point line, scores two points instead of one. While releasing the ball, the shooter must keep his feet beyond the line but any other part of the body if gets touched caused no penalty.

Famous Lacrosse players

• Jason Coffman
• Jim Thorpe
• John Grant Senior
• Paul Gait
• Dave Pietramala
• Mike Powell
• Oren Lyons
• Jim Brown
• Gary Gait
• Jimmy Lewis

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