Box lacrosse

Box lacrosse

A box lacrosse goaltender
Highest governing body	Federation of International Lacrosse
Nicknames	Lax, Boxla, Indoor
First played	1930s, Canada
Characteristics
Contact	Collision
Team members	6 at a time

Box lacrosse, also known as indoor lacrosse and sometimes shortened to boxla or simply box, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada, where it is the most popular version of the game played in contrast to the traditional field lacrosse game. It is played between two teams of five players and one goalie each, and is traditionally played on an ice hockey rink once the ice has been removed or covered. The playing area is called a box, in contrast to the open playing field of field lacrosse. The object of the game is to use a long handled racket, known as a lacrosse stick, to catch, carry, and pass the ball in an effort to score by ultimately hurling a solid rubber lacrosse ball into an opponent's goal.

At the highest level, box lacrosse is represented by the Senior A divisions of the Canadian Lacrosse Association (Western Lacrosse Association of the British Columbia Lacrosse Association and Major Series Lacrosse of the Ontario Lacrosse Association), and the National Lacrosse League (NLL).

While there are thirty-one total members of the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL), only fifteen have competed in international box lacrosse competition. Only Canada, Iroquois Nationals and the United States have finished in the top three places at the ILF World Indoor Lacrosse Championships.

Lacrosse is a traditional Indigenous people's game which was first encountered by Europeans when French Jesuit missionaries in the St. Lawrence Valley witnessed the game in the 1630s. Lacrosse for centuries was seen as a key element of cultural identity and spiritual healing to Native Americans. It originated as a field game and was adopted first by Canadian, American, and English athletes as a field game, eventually settling on a 10 v 10 format.