Lacrosse

Lacrosse

Men's lacrosse match between Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Highest governing body	Federation of International Lacrosse
First played	As early as the 12th century Codified in 1869
Characteristics
Contact	Full contact
Team members	10 per side (including goalkeeper)
Mixed gender	Yes, separate competitions
Type	Team sport, stick sport, ball sport
Equipment	Lacrosse stick, helmet, shoulder pads, elbow pads, athletic cup (recommended) gloves natural rubber ball.
Venue	Outdoor lacrosse field or indoor lacrosse court
Presence
Olympic	Part in the Summer Olympic programme in 1904 and 1908 Demonstrated in the 1928, 1932 and 1948 Summer Olympics

Lacrosse is a contact team sport played between two teams using a small rubber ball (62.8–64.77 mm (2.472–2.550 in), 140–147 g (4.9–5.2 oz)) and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick. The men's version is considered as a rough sport, with slashes and intense checks to the stick and body. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh designed to catch and hold the lacrosse ball. There are many different ways to put mesh on the head of the stick, also known as "stringing the stick."

Offensively, the objective of the game is to score by shooting the ball into an opponent's goal past the goalie, using the lacrosse stick to catch, cradle, and pass the ball to do so. Defensively, the objective is to keep the other team from scoring and to gain the ball through the use of stick checking and body contact or positioning. The sport has four major types: men's field lacrosse, women's lacrosse, box lacrosse and intercrosse. The sport consists of four positions: midfield, attack, defense and goalie. In field lacrosse, attackmen are solely offensive players (except on the "ride", when the opposition tries to bring the ball upfield and attackmen must stop them), defensemen or defenders are solely defensive players (except when bringing up the ball, which is called a "clear"), the goalie is the last line of defense, directly defending the goal, and midfielders or "middies" can go anywhere on the field and play offense and defense, although in higher levels of lacrosse there are specialized offensive and defensive middies. Long stick middies only play defense and come off of the field on offense.

Lacrosse has roots in the cultural tradition of the Native American Iroquois people, inhabiting what is now New York, Pennsylvania, and other parts of the Northeastern US and lower parts of Ontario and Quebec. As a result of its origins, it is traditionally a Northeastern US, or "east coast" sport, but in recent years has successfully grown into the South, Midwest, and western parts of America.

Lacrosse may have been developed as early as 1100 AD among indigenous peoples on the North American continent. By the seventeenth century, it was well-established. It was documented by Jesuit missionary priests in the territory of present-day Canada. The game has undergone many modifications since that time.