Lacrosse is a contact team sport played between two teams using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick. The men's version is considered as a rough sport, with slashes and intense checks to the stick and body. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh designed to catch and hold the lacrosse ball. There are many different ways to put mesh on the head of the stick, also known as "stringing the stick".

Offensively, the objective of the game is to score by shooting the ball into an opponent's goal past the goalie, using the lacrosse stick to catch, cradle, and pass the ball to do so. Defensively, the objective is to keep the other team from scoring and to gain the ball through the use of stick checking and body contact or positioning. The sport has four major types: men's field lacrosse, women's lacrosse, box lacrosse and intercrosse. The sport consists of four positions: midfield, attack, defense and goalie. In field lacrosse, attackmen are solely offensive players (except on the "ride", when the opposition tries to bring the ball upfield and attackmen must stop them), defensemen or defenders are solely defensive players (except when bringing up the ball, which is called a "clear"), the goalie is the last line of defense, directly defending the goal, and midfielders or "middies" can go anywhere on the field and play offense and defense, although in higher levels of lacrosse there are specialized offensive and defensive middies. Long stick middies only play defense and come off of the field on offense. Main article: History of lacrosse Lacrosse has roots in the cultural tradition of the Native American Iroquois people, inhabiting what is now New York, Pennsylvania, and other parts of the Northeastern US and lower parts of Ontario and Quebec. As a result of its origins, it is traditionally a Northeastern US, or "east coast" sport, but in recent years has successfully grown into the South, Midwest, and western parts of America. Lacrosse may have been developed as early as 1100 AD among indigenous peoples on the North American continent.By the seventeenth century, it was well-established. It was documented by Jesuit missionary priests in the territory of present-day Canada. The game has undergone many modifications since that time. In the traditional aboriginal Canadian version, each team consisted of about 100 to 1,000 men on a field that stretched from about 500 m (1,600 ft) to 3 km (1.9 mi) long. These games lasted from sunup to sundown for two to three days straight. These games were played as part of ceremonial ritual, a kind of symbolic warfare, to give thanks to the Creator or Master. James Smith described in some detail a game being played in 1757 by his fellow tribe members "wherein now they used a wooden ball, about three inches diameter, and the instrument they moved it with was a strong staff about 5 ft (1.5 m) long, with a hoop net on the end of it, large enough to contain the ball." The Italian explorer Count Paolo Andreani documented his contacts with the Oneida people in the 1790s and his reports on the Oneida include an illustration which is thought to be the first recorded picture of a lacrosse stick. Ball-play of the Choctaw — ball up by George Catlin, circa 1846–1850 George Catlin's closer look at the Lacrosse players Lacrosse played a significant role in the community and religious life of tribes across the continent for many years. Early lacrosse was characterized by deep spiritual involvement, befitting the spirit of combat in which it was undertaken. Those who took part did so in the role of warriors, with the goal of bringing glory and honor to themselves and their tribes> The game was said to be played "for the Creator" or was referred to as "The Creator's Game." The French Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf saw Iroquois tribesmen play the game during 1637 in present-day New York. He was one of the first Europeans to write about the game. He called it la crosse ("the stick"). The name seems to be originated from the French term for field hockey, le jeu de la crosse. A "crosse" in French is any stick curved at its end (example: Crosse d'evêque - "Bishop's crozier") In 1855, William George Beers, a Canadian dentist, founded the Montreal Lacrosse Club. In 1867, Beers codified the game, shortening the length of each game and reducing the number of players to 12 per team. The first game played under Beers' rules was at Upper Canada College in 1867; they lost to the Toronto Cricket Club by a score of 3–1. By the 20th century, teams in high schools, colleges, and universities in Canada and the United States began playing the game. Lacrosse was contested for medals in the 1904 and 1908 Olympics with teams from Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. It was contested as a demonstration sport in the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. On each occasion, a playoff was held in the United States to determine what team would go to the Olympics; each time the playoffs were won by the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays of the university in Baltimore, Maryland. Richmond Hill "Young Canadians" lacrosse team, 1885. In the United States, lacrosse during the 1900s was primarily a regional sport centered around the east coast, including the states of Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. However, in the last half of the 20th century, the sport has continued growth west of this region, and since the beginning of the 21st century in South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, California, Indiana, and Minnesota. According to a report of a survey conducted by US Lacrosse in 2013, Field Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports and the fastest growing team sport in NFHS. At the highest amateur level, it is represented by the collegiate NCAA Division I in the United States.The first collegiate lacrosse program was established by New York University in 1877.[15] Nearly 100 years later, the 1971 tournament was the first Men's Lacrosse Championship sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In other countries, the sport is also played at a high level on the amateur level by the Australian Lacrosse League, the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association, and club lacrosse leagues internationally. In 1998, a number of national lacrosse organizations in the United States merged to create US Lacrosse, a unified national governing body for men's and women's lacrosse in the United States. Headquartered in Baltimore, US Lacrosse seeks to provide a leadership role in virtually every aspect of the game. In the summer of 2001, a men's professional field lacrosse league, known as Major League Lacrosse (MLL), was inaugurated in the United States. Initially starting with three teams, the MLL has grown to a current total of nine clubs located in major metropolitan areas in the United States. On July 4, 2008, Major League Lacrosse set the professional lacrosse attendance record: 20,116 fans attended a game at Invesco Field in Denver, Colorado. Types of players This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (January 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Field lacrosse Main article: Field lacrosse Diagram of a men's college lacrosse field There are ten players in each team: three attackmen, three midfielders, three defensemen, and one goalie. Attackmen typically spend the entire game at the opponents' end of the field. They cannot cross the midfield line during play unless they are replaced by a midfielder, so that there are always at least 3 players in the offensive end. Attackmen need to be extremely agile and excellent stick handlers. Good attackmen should be equally capable with either hand. The real test of a great attackmen is not just how adept they are at scoring goals, but how well do they pass (feed) the open man to set up the goal. Great attackmen usually also have large numbers of assists as well as goals. Midfielders (also commonly known as Middies) roam the entire field. They should typically be your best all around athletes and they need to be in very good condition because they cover an enormous area. Middies need to be good defenders, and they need to be able to be strong on the attack, but their real value is in their ability to transition the ball from the defensive to the offensive ends of the field. Middy's are the real work horses of the lacrosse team. Some coaches choose to have defensive and offensive midfielders. This meaning that midfielders specialize in one side of the field, defense or offense, and rarely play at both ends of the field during a shift. Defensemen (Long Poles) are the enforcers. They are the players who are capable of dictating to the opponents attack where they can go, and where they will be punished for going. They need to be very physical, but still extremely agile. They utilize much longer sticks up to nearly 60" long which allow them to disrupt the opponents attack. Great defensemen need to have exceptional feet. Position on the field is the key to being a great defender. Cutting off the opponents angles to the goal is critical. The longpole will generally abuse the enemy with a barrage of checks from the longer pole and work them selves between the attacker and the goal, all the while working to dislodge or intercept the ball. Longpoles like the attackmen must stay on the defensive half of the field unless replaced by a middy. The defenders job is often also to "Clear" the ball down the field after a turnover out of the defensive zone. Each player carries a lacrosse stick (or crosse). A "short crosse" (or "short stick") measures between 40 in (1.0 m) and 42 in (1.1 m) long (head and shaft together) and is typically used by attackers or midfielders. A maximum of four players on the field per team may carry a "long crosse" (sometimes called "long pole", "long stick" or "d-pole") which is 52 in (1.3 m) to 72 in (1.8 m) long; typically used by defenders or midfielders. The head of the crosse on both long and short crosses must be 6.5 in (17 cm) or larger at its widest point. The throat of the lacrosse head for college must be at least 3 inches wide. For high school play, there is no minimum width at its narrowest point; the only provision is that the ball must roll out unimpeded. The designated goalkeeper is allowed to have a stick from 40 in (1.0 m) to 72 in (1.8 m) long and the head of a goalkeeper's crosse may measure up to 12 in (30 cm) wide, significantly larger than field players' heads, to assist in blocking shots. A face-off The field of play is 110 yd (100 m) long and 60 yd (55 m) wide. The goals are 6 ft (1.8 m) by 6 ft (1.8 m). The goal sits inside a circular "crease", measuring 18 ft (5.5 m) in diameter. Each offensive and defensive area is surrounded by a "restraining box." Each quarter, and after each goal scored, play is restarted with a face-off. During a face-off, two players lay their stick horizontally next to the ball, head of the stick inches from the ball and the butt-end pointing down the midfield line. Face-off-men scrap for the ball, often by "clamping" it under their stick and flicking it out to their teammates. Attackers and defenders cannot cross their "restraining line" until one player from the midfield takes possession of the ball or the ball crosses the restraining line. If a member of one team touches the ball and it travels outside of the playing area, play is restarted by awarding possession to the opposing team, unless the ball traveled outside of the playing area after a shot on goal was made then the player with the closest lacrosse head to the ball at the point when it exits the field of play gains possession of the ball. During play, teams may substitute players in and out freely. Sometimes this is referred to as "on the fly" substitution. Substitution must occur within the designated exchange area (often called "the box") in order to be legal. For most penalties, the offending player is sent to the penalty box, which is located between each team's bench. Play continues without the player for a designated amount of time based upon the foul, however, most penalties are "releasable," meaning that the penalty ends when a goal is scored by the non-offending team. Technical fouls (such as offsides and holding) result in either a turnover or a player's suspension of 30 seconds, while personal fouls are generally penalized one minute. (Some infractions, such as playing with a stick that does not meet the specifications of the designated level of play, may serve non-releasable penalties of up to three minutes). The team that has taken the penalty is said to be playing man down, while the other team is on the man up. Teams will use various lacrosse strategies to attack and defend while a player is being penalized. Offsides is penalized by a 30-second penalty. It occurs when there are more than 7 players on the defensive side of the field (three midfielders/three defensemen/one goalkeeper), or more than 6 players from one team on the offensive side of the field (three midfielders/three attack). The zones are separated by the midfield line. Equipment, Lacrosse sticks In order to play lacrosse a complete set of equipment is needed. Each set of lacrosse equipment should contain a pair of gloves, arm pads, shoulder pads, helmet and a stick at minimum. Pads differ in size and protection from player to player based on position, ability, comfort and preference. For example, many attack players wear larger and more protective pads in order to protect themselves from defensemen and checks thrown at them while defenders typically wear smaller and less protective pads due to their smaller possibility of being checked. Goalies also have the option to skip arm pads entirely, since they are in the goal throughout the duration of the game. Not using arm pads also maximizes flexibility due to no fabric or pad hindering them. A goalkeeper will also wear a very large and protective chest pad to cover their stomach and chest. They also wear a plastic neck guard that connects to the chin of their helmet, this protects them from shots hitting their neck and or windpipe. In addition, male goalkeepers are required to wear a protective cup. The lacrosse stick has two parts, the head of the stick and the shaft. There are many varieties and types of each. There are different heads for different positions and different playing style. An attack may desire a more narrow head to keep control of the ball more easily. A defenseman may want a flatter and wider head in order to scoop up ground balls more easily. There are various shafts that can be used based on position and preference. An attackman may prefer a lighter shaft in order to move quickly while cradling the ball and pass/shooter faster. A defenseman may want a stronger, heavier and more durable for the checks that they throw on attackmen. Stick heads There are typically three parts to every lacrosse head, the scoop, sidewall, and pocket. The scoop is the top of the stick that affects picking up groundball and passing/shooting. The scoop can be more of a flat shape so that it is easier to pick up ground balls as that part of the head has a larger volume of plastic on the ground or it can be more of a U shape where it is harder to pick groundballs up due to less plastic on the ground. They both have pro's and con's, where a flatter scoop allows an easier time picking up a groundball but less ball retention/accuracy whereas U shaped scoops are harder to use to pick up groundballs but have more ball retention and accuracy. The sidewall is the side of the head that affects the depth of the head and the stiffness. More stiff sidewalls and heads are better to use for defensemen in order to throw more viable checks. More flexible sidewalls are better use for groundballs, faceoffs and fast movements. Many players who take faceoffs prefer a very flexible sidewall in order to bend and cover the ball. The pocket is the mesh of the head and the width of the head at the base. A wider pocket allows an easier time catching balls, but will also cause less ball control. A narrower pocket makes catching harder, but allows more ball retention and accuracy. Shaft types Aluminum alloy: Strong, lightweight, and a good shaft for developing players Composite: Very strong, very light, solid grip, good for intermediate/elite players, comfortable on hands Titanium: Strong and light, good for both receiving and delivering checks Scandium: Highest strength-weight ratio out of all the sticks, very durable Wood: Quite strong and heavy, tough to bend, good for delivering hard checks Bamboo: Heavy and fairly easy to break, flexible, good for delivering painful checks. See also Book icon Book: Lacrosse Lacrosse in Canada Intercrosse, a version of lacrosse popular in school physical education classes, it is played with plastic sticks and hollow balls.