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History of WLF (Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation)





History of Verona Lacrosse Club (VLC)





The Origin of Lacrosse

If you were asked what the oldest sport in America was, a common, but incorrect, answer is baseball.  After all, it became popular in the mid-1800s, and is often called America’s “national pastime.”  The correct answer is the sport of lacrosse with origins dating back the 17th century or earlier.

Initially called stickball, the game had been played in various forms for hundreds of years by at least 48 Native-American tribes throughout southern Canada and the United States.  The Native American games were played in huge open areas between villages with no out-of-bounds.  Often a tree or large rock was considered the goal, and a score was made by hitting it.  Goals were typically 500 yards to one-half mile apart, but on occasion, goals were several miles apart.  The number of participants at one time could range from 100 to 1,000 men on fields, and games could often last several days, ending at sunset and resuming the next day at sunrise.

Given the paucity of early data, it is impossible to fully reconstruct the history of the sport, but the rules were very simple.  There were no boundaries except that the wooden ball, or in some instances a rock, was not to be touched by a player’s hand.  The ball or rock was tossed into the air to indicate the start of the game and players raced to be the first to catch it with their stick, which resembled a large spoon.

Games of stickball were played for a variety of reasons, including recreation and to settle disputes.  However, for some tribes, lacrosse was viewed as more of a spiritual and healing sport, while others viewed games as excellent training for combat and endurance for young warriors.

The first account of lacrosse came from a French Jesuit missionary, Jean de Brébeuf, who wrote about the game being played by the Huron Indians in 1636.  It was he who actually named the game “lacrosse.”

By the 1800s, interest in the game of lacrosse has dramatically expanded, and by 1856 new rules were drawn up, including the introduction of a rubber ball, redesigned stick and a reduced number of players. 

The first-ever recorded women’s lacrosse game was played in Scotland in 1890, and by the turn of the century, lacrosse became an accepted sport for the 1904 and 1908 Summer Olympic Games.