Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4

    Lesson Two: The History of Lacrosse

Teacher Information:

The Iroquois call lacrosse "Tewaarathon," or "the little brother of war." Preparations for the game were much the same as those undertaken by warriors as they prepared to go to war. Warfare was one of the most important ways in which young men were readied for their roles in the community. It was believed that playing lacrosse could instill these same valuable lessons.
For many Native communities, the game was a gift from the creator. It was to be played in order to "bestow honour and respect to these members [of the community] living on Mother Earth." The players were taught that playing the game was a gift, which contained the lessons of courage, strength, honour, respect, generosity, and fair play. Moreover, the example that they provided to other players and those watching served as lessons as to proper conduct within, and between, these communities.
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/
Traditions/English/lacrosse.html

It is generally agreed that the contemporary game began to evolve after 1834 when the Caughnawaga staged a Lacrosse demonstration in Montreal. By 1867, Dr. William George Beers standardized the first set of rules for a Lacrosse club in that city. It began to gain the attention of people throughout the United States as well as Europe. During the 1880s the National Lacrosse League of Canada forbid Indians to engage in championship play. Now, over 100 years later, the Iroquois Confederacy (the Haudenosaunee) as well as other Native communities have created the their own team, competing in championship games worldwide. Since 1994, lacrosse is recognized under Canada's National Sport Act as Canada's National Summer Sport (hockey being Canada's National Winter Sport).

Prior to the 19th century, the field used in the game of lacrosse was far from the standardized version that we see today. The size and shape depended on the number of players involved and availability of suitable terrain. For most of the games, a field that measured some 183 meters (200 yards) across and between 402 meters (one quarter of a mile) and 805 meters (half a mile) long was sufficient. Yet it was not unknown for a playing field to be up to several kilometers long. These games often involved many hundreds of participants who would play for days at a time. The goals for these games were miles apart.
Goals were generally of three types. There was a single post that the ball had to either hit directly, carried or thrown past to score. This was often a tall, straight tree stripped of bark. There was the double post goal through which the ball had to be carried in order to score as well as an enclosed goal that consisted of two upright poles with a crossbar attached near the top (or a single arching pole). Points were scored by either carrying or throwing the ball between the goalposts.
Order was kept by respected elders, chiefs, or medicine men who started play, watched for fouls and activity that might become too violent, and kept score. Score was often kept by inserting a stick into the ground for each goal.
Historically, the balls came in two different varieties. One type was that made of wood and often burnt so that the charred portion could be scraped away to make a more suitable surface. Sometimes, the ball was perforated so that it would whistle as it flew through the air. Others were made of some type of hide such as buckskin and stuffed with hair, grass, sand or a similar substance. The contemporary lacrosse ball is made of hard rubber and is about twenty centimeters in diameter (seven to eight inches), and weighing about 141.7 grams (five ounces).
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/
Traditions/English/lacrosse_03.html

There are three basic forms of sticks that can be distinguished in Native American Lacrosse. Native communities in the South-eastern United States (Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole for example) still play a game in which the players use two sticks. The stick is usually around sixty centimeters (two feet) long and one is held in each hand. The player "cups" a small ball made of Deerskin between them. Those around the Great Lakes such as the Ojibwa, Winnebago, Menominee (among others) play the game with one stick that measures roughly ninety centimeters (three feet) long. The pocket of this stick measures seven to ten centimeters (three to four inches) in diameter and traditionally a wooden ball, sometimes burnt and charred, is used.

In the Northeast, the Iroquois and others have used a stick that has become the model for contemporary equipment. Longer than ninety centimeters (three feet), it resembles the letter J, its shaft ending in a crook with webbing that extend down the length of the stick. These sticks were the prototype for those sticks used in contemporary play.

http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/
Traditions/English/lacrosse_04.html

Lacrosse is one of the highlighted sporting events at the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG).

You will need Lacrosse equipment in order to deliver this lesson.

Contact your local museum to find out whether or not they have a traditional lacrosse gear in their Aboriginal collection that they would be willing to bring to the school for students to examine.

Main Lesson:

It is important that you share the above information with the students. It is recommended that you print the information and read it together as a class either silently or out loud. 

Review the rules of contemporary lacrosse and ask students to identify similarities and differences between the traditional and contemporary games.

Often traditional games of lacrosse were played to beating of a drum.  This would be a unique aspect to incorporate into physical education classroom as it would help to simulate the environment with a Aboriginal cultural aspect.

Play a lacrosse game or tournament with your students.