Lacrosse By: Charlie Englehart

Table of Contents History of Lacrosse…………………………………….1 Fundamentals…………………………………………...2 Positions……………………………………………………. College and Professional Lacrosse…………….. 1

Introduction Imagine yourself on a field with nineteen other people. A ball is flying to you and your holding a stick with a type of basket on the end and you’re supposed to catch the ball and run. If you’re doing that, you are playing lacrosse. Lacrosse is a combination of soccer, basketball, and hockey put into one. Lacrosse was first started by Native Americans. Some people just lacrosse for fun, and others play to win! 2

1-History of Lacrosse Lacrosse has been around for decades. Lacrosse never really lifted off the ground until 20 years ago in North America. Now it’s the fastest growing sport in the continent. Lacrosse was made by the Native Americans in the 15 th century. They began a ball, scoops, and some sort of goal. Northern tribes of Michigan played with three foot long sticks and had a basket at the end. The Iroquois were the first to play with a net in the head (modern way). Back then lacrosse wasn’t just played to have fun, it could be used to end an argument for land by playing a game. From 100 to about 1000 lacrosse was played all the time by Native Americans from the moment the sun goes up, and when it goes down. That is now the sport we play today… Lacrosse. Around the time when Native Americans were fighting the French, the Natives had a successful attack on the them by playing lacrosse. the man acted like they were just passing the ball around and the French came to watch. While they were playing the women sneaked over to the fort to give the men weapons. Their signal to attack was to pick up the weapons when the ball rolled close enough. Finally someone threw the ball towards the fort and the men picked up the weapons and had open fire to the French audience. 3

2-Fundamentals To play lacrosse you need to know how to cradle, pick up a groundball, shoot, pass, catch, play offense, and play defense Passing, Shooting, and Catching To pass you simply have to turn your hips for your stick to go over your shoulder. Once you have that down, you crank your stick forward aiming at your target. Shooting is very similar but you have to use more torque with your body and take a bigger follow- through. To catch you have to be ready to do a couple of things; you have to show a target, and have soft hands when the ball comes to have a cushion. When the ball lands in your pocket, you have to do one quick cradle so the ball doesn’t fall. 4

Picking up a Groundball To pick up a groundball you have to get your butt end (bottom of the stick) low so the ball is easier to scoop. Once you have that down, the rest is a lot easier. Now you have to push the head of the stick under the ball and pull up. Now you have the ball. Simple Offense To play easy offense you’re going to have six players typically. One player will be at X, two players will be on the wings, and one on the crece. The last two go up top, one on the left, and one on the right. This is a To play this offense you do a draw-and-dump. This means once the defender comes to you, you pass. If a player has a lane to shoot or can move to one, should get a pass and shoot.

Simple Defense To play a simple defense you play man-to-man accept no one covers X and there are two people on the crece. If one person gets beat, someone on the crece slides to the person coming towards the net.

3-Positions In lacrosse there are four major positions; attack, midfield, defense, and goalie. To play these positions, the fundamentals from last chapter are helpful. Midfield Midfielders are able to go anywhere on the field. To be a midfielder you need to be fast, have good stamina, and you have to be able to play offense and defense. In a typical game, the midfielders go up and down the field through out the game. Midfielders have the responsibility to win the face offs and get the possession for their team to score.

Attack Attackmen play all offense. In a regular game the attackmen can’t cross the midfield line to play defense. There are only three attackmen on the field during a game. Usually attackmen score the majority of the goals for their team. The most important position for attackmen is X which is the area behind the net. The player at X is the quarterback of the offense and they deal out the sneaky passes. Defense Defensemen are very similar to the attackmen but they play all defense. In a regular game, the defenders have to stay on their defensive half. When you see a defender cross the midline with the ball, that means there’s a midfielder back so the team doesn’t get an off sides. High school, college, and professional defenders use a longer shaft on their stick so they can poke and check the attackers when they drive for the net.

Bibliogrophy Hayhurst, Chris. Lacrosse; Rules, Tips, Strategy, and Safety. New York City: Rosen Group, Print.