The History, Concept, and Health Benefits of Playing Men’s Lacrosse

By: Udhay Joshi

Posted for: October 28, 2013

Lacrosse is a very intensive sport that involves a great deal of physicality, mental awareness, and communication. As with all sports, lacrosse requires years of mastering techniques and physical training.

Lacrosse has a rich historical background supplemented by a relation to other sports, such as football, basketball, and ice hockey. This relationship makes it easy to grasp the basic rules and concepts of the game.

Lacrosse can be traced back over hundreds of years and is attributed with North American natives. According to SportsKnowHow.com, “As early as the 1400s, the Iroquois, Huron, Algonquin and other tribes were playing the game (Lacrosse).”

The estimated range of where lacrosse was actually played by the Native Americans spans from as far north as modern day Quebec, as far east as the Atlantic Coast, as far west as the Western Great Lakes, and as far south as Tennessee.

The excessive physical demands of early lacrosse was a good form of exercise and was violent enough to provide young tribal warriors with combat experience. The area of play for early lacrosse was daunting and served as a testament to the physicality of the sport.

According to filacrosse.com, “They (lacrosse matches) were played over huge open areas between villages and the goals, which might be trees or other natural features, were anything from 500 yards to several miles apart. Any number of players were involved. Some estimates have mentioned between 100 and 100,000 players participating in a game at any one time.”

"Indian Ball Game" by George Catlin

(courtsey of filacrosse.com) 

The massive scale of these epic matches were usually between two different tribes and the rules were simple. No player was allowed to touch the deerskin ball with his body and only the lacrosse stick was allowed to move the ball. There were no limitations to physical contact and there were no boundaries. None of the protective gear offered in modern lacrosse was used by the Native Americans.

Lacrosse was phased out of the Native American society when the French and English colonized North America. The settlers, who imposed their will on the Native Americans, felt that lacrosse was too violent and distracted the Native American people from attending church sermons.

Lacrosse never died out in Montreal, as the French pastors allowed for the proliferation of the sport as a recreational outlet. In the 1850s, lacrosse was reintroduced to Canada as a viable sport that was more passive from a physical standpoint and much less violent.

Although lacrosse became the sole national sport of Canada from the 1860s until the advent of Ice Hockey, the sport did not become popular in the United States until the 1950s. Even still, the sport of lacrosse is rapidly becoming an accepted sport in the United States.

For example, the Major League Lacrosse Association is highest tier of professional lacrosse that a person can be accepted into in the United States. This association has eight teams and is projected to have twenty teams by the year 2018.

Almost every high school and university in the United States has some form of organized lacrosse and the typical “tiered sports system”, when players advance through merit and skill from a high school level to a professional level, is prevalent in the sport.

When considering modern lacrosse, three major aspects should be discussed in order to properly describe how the sport is played. The basic aspects of lacrosse deal with the setup of the game, the equipment used, and the mechanics of each position.

Modern lacrosse is played on an open field or in an arena with dimensions of 110 yards long and 60 yards wide. The surface of a lacrosse field can be either grass or artificial turf.

Image of a Lacrosse field

(Courtsey of  SportsKnowHow.com)

On the playing field there should be designated areas for each team’s sideline, a mid-line, two triangular goal boxes, and designated penalty boxes.

The mid-line of a lacrosse field splits the field into offensive and defensive sides for each team. The offensive side is the half of the field that contains the opposing team’s goal and the defensive side is that half of the field that contains one’s own goal.

The way to win a match is to accumulate more points than the opposing team. The only way to earn points is to shoot the lacrosse ball from the net of a stick into the opponent’s goal, in which the scoring team is awarded one point.

Matches are played between two opposing teams and no more than ten players can be in play at a time. The matches are split into four quarters with a regulation time of 12 minutes per quarter. The teams of ten are composed of four positions: one goalie, three attackmen, three midfielders, and three defensemen.

Goalies tend to be the largest players on each team and must be resilient to pain, as they will be hit with a dense rubber ball at very high speeds. As per the size of a goalie, the main job of this position is to plug up the goal and prevent the opposing team from scoring. Technically, goalies, like all players, have free reign to move about the field as they wish, but it is only practical for these players to stay within a 5 foot circumference of their goal.

Attackmen are the main offensive tool of a team, and are comprised of the most accurate and nimble players on the team. The main job of this position is to maneuver around the opponent’s defense and shoot the lacrosse ball from the net of their stick into the opposing goal. Attackmen have the freedom to move about the entire field as they see fit; however, it is practical for them to stay on their offensive half of the field.

Midfielders are the support group of a team and are used to speedily transport the ball from the defensive half of the field to the offensive half of the field. Also, these players are usually the individuals who “faceoff” for the ball in the middle of the field if a goal has been made or if it is the beginning of a new quarter. These players tend to be the fastest on a team and must constantly roam the entire field.

Defensemen are the main defensive tool of a team and tend to be the strongest and tallest players on a team. The main job of this position is to knock the ball loose from an opposing attacker’s grasp and return the ball to an offensive player. Defensemen have the liberty to roam the entire field if they wish, but it is practical to only stay within their defensive half of the field.

"How to Play Lacrosse : Lacrosse Positions"

(Courtesy of youtube.com)

The standard equipment used by all lacrosse players, beside the goalie, are athletic shorts, lacrosse cleats, a team jersey, a helmet with a mouth guard, shoulder pads, elbow pads, wrist (forearm) pads, a protective cup, and padded gloves.

The equipment used by goalies include all the standard equipment used by the other players with the addition of a solid chest protector, a throat guard covering the entire neck, and thick pants instead of athletic shorts.

Standard Equipment for Lacrosse
(Courtsey of twincitieslacrosse.com)

Lacrosse sticks vary in size and are dependent on a player’s position. A lacrosse stick is comprised of three main components: the shaft, the head, and the net.

The “standard” lacrosse stick is 42 inches long and is used by midfielders and attackmen. The stick of a defensemen is 72 inches long, mainly due to the mechanics required for their position.  Goalies have the option of varying their stick lengths between 42 and 72 inches; however, the heads of these sticks are twice as wide and have shallower nets than the other sticks in order to increase the surface area.

Diagram of Men's Lacrosse Stick
(Courtesy of pequannocklacrosse.org)

The basic mechanics of transporting a lacrosse ball is through an act called cradling. In this, one scoops the lacrosse ball with a lacrosse stick and rotates his top most wrist on the stick in a vertical back and forth motion. This motion generates centripetal force within the deep portion of the lacrosse net, usually the area where the ball rests, and keeps the ball in the net while one runs with the ball.

"Beginning lacrosse: how to cradle"

(Courtesy of youtube.com)

An attackman should be focused on the fluid transition of cradling while switching the lacrosse stick between each hand. Also, an attackman has to focus on nimble movements and very precise footwork in order to properly evade the opponent’s defense.

Goalies have very little mechanics to focus on because they are the only people on the field that are allowed to touch the ball with their hands, where as other people can only kick the ball with their feet or use their lacrosse stick.

The only major mechanics for goalies would be reaction time, which can be improved with practice. Also, goalies must develop the instinct to “brace for a hit”. Goalies are constantly hit with lacrosse balls at high speeds; therefore, to shake off the pain and focus on saving the ball, goalies have to brace themselves to lessen the blow of a strike.

Defensemen, arguably, have the most mechanics associated with their position. These players focus on breaking the cradle of offensive players and or delivering powerful body presses, both of which knock the ball free of the opponent’s grasp.

Breaking a cradle involves placing the net of the defensive stick underneath the butt of the offensive player’s stick and generating an upward force. This force ceases the centripetal force generated by the opponent and causes the ball to pop out of the net.

Body pressing is the simple act of putting both hands exactly next to each other on the defense stick and pushing outward with one’s entire body, much like a chest press when lifting weights, to knock the offensive player over and release the ball from their control. This can be compared to a check press in Ice Hockey or tackling in American Football.

Midfielders also have relatively basic mechanics. Control and speed are the two biggest assets for a midfielder, as they have to cradle a ball while sprinting at about 5 miles an hour.

The most intricate technique for midfielders is the “faceoff”. The point of a faceoff is for two midfielders to fight over a ball that is dropped between them, much like a jump ball in basketball. The way to win a faceoff is to react first and use fine muscle control to guide the ball into one’s own net while angling the head of their stick away from the opponent’s stick.

"Best Face Off Player in College Lacrosse UNC Face off video"

(Courtesy of youtube.com)

There are numerous benefits of playing lacrosse but there are three major physical benefits and two major mental benefits.

Due to the constant running and the motions used in the multiple techniques of play, the physical benefits of calorie burning, cardiovascular endurance, and muscle strengthening can be attributed to lacrosse.

These three health benefits constantly act as long person is playing. If a person plays the full match, which could last one to two hours, a great deal of exercise can be performed with all the health benefits lacrosse provides.

According to Tanya Brown of healthyliving.azcentral.com, “A lacrosse game typically lasts one to two hours, allowing players to burn hundreds of calories per game… Players build cardiovascular endurance during practice and games. Each time a player runs up and down the field, his heart and lungs get stronger and his stamina increases… Players gain muscle strength during practice and games because of the movements necessary to play effectively.”

The two major mental benefits that lacrosse provides are not specific to the sport. 

All types of physical activity can provide adequate amounts of stress and anxiety relief. Also, playing a team sport, such as lacrosse, increases social skills as both a leader and follower.

Personally, lacrosse provides a good outlet to the daily stresses of high school and pre-medical collegiate life. The constant physical demand of being a defenseman allowed for personal growth in musculature and resilience to physical pain, which can be translated to emotional and mental pain, as discovered during college. Also, the ability to relate to other people, in the form of teammates during high school, honed the ability to reach out to complete strangers when college began, which allowed friendships to be easily established.