The Evolution of Modern Day Lacrosse

Lethbridge 2017: Get Active Through Sport is a year-long celebration of Canada’s 150th Anniversary of Confederation. In 2017, we are encouraging people to try 52 sports in 52 weeks. Together with local sport organizations, we are offering sport sessions where registered participants can come try different sports. January will feature Hockey, Sledge Hockey, Lacrosse, and Boxing.

With roots in Native American history, Lacrosse was once referred to as the "Creator's Game". A traditional Canadian Aboriginal version of the game was played with up to 1000 players on a field that could be as long as 3 km long. Games would be played from sunrise to sunset for 2 or 3 days straight. At that time the intent of a game was to settle disputes, train warriors or serve as a symbolic ritual. During the 1600's the game began to evolve into the more modern game, and it was then that a French missionary wrote about the game, calling it 'la crosse', meaning "the stick". In 1855, Canadian William Beers founded the Montreal Lacrosse Club, shortening the length of the game and the field, and setting the teams at 12 players. This was the start of lacrosse as we know it today. In 1859 Lacrosse was declared the National Game of Canada, and more recently, the Canadian parliament passed the Canada's National Sport Act, declaring lacrosse as Canada's National Summer Sport, and Hockey as Canada's National Winter Sport.

Locally, the Lethbridge Lacrosse Association (LLA) is about 200 members strong and offers age categories for children born as recently as 2012, in their Mini Tyke division, right up to their competitive Junior division. Currently, all LLA programs are 'box lacrosse', which is a variation of the game played indoors in an arena or indoor sports field. In the future, LLA may add field lacrosse to their programming.

The LLA has begun accepting registrations for the 2017 season. If you are interested in learning more about the Lethbridge Lacrosse Association, you can visit their website lethbridgelacrosse.com, or search for them on Facebook. If you want to give lacrosse a try, along with other sports that may be new or familiar to you, consider signing up for 52 in 52, a fun opportunity for the sport enthusiast, or anyone who wants to try new things in 2017.

Lethbridge 2017: Get Active Through Sport is an initiate from the Lethbridge Sport Council, which offers something for everyone. Families, groups, teams and individuals can sign up for #YQLChallenge, which encourages participants to do 150 activities from a list that has been developed especially for Lethbridge! You can also find and attend sport events you’ve never seen before and CHEER ON by checking our sport event calendar, or be part of our Volunteer Hour Tracker to lend a hand to a sport event or organization! We invite you to register online - recruit friends, involve your family, teammates or co-workers - and engage on social media using #Lethbridge2017. Full details can be found at www.lethbridge2017.ca (sorry, website no longer available)

- Tanya Whipple

Originally published in the Lethbridge Herald on January 20th, 2017