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This is a lacrosse stick.

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It's used to play lacrosse.

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This is also a lacrosse stick.

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This is an example of the kind used by native peoples in the Great Lakes area.

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They played the original game of lacrosse hundreds of years before the modern game was developed.

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But lacrosse wasn't limited to the Great Lakes.

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Versions of the game were played by indigenous people across many parts of North America.

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And it turns out lacrosse wasn't just a game.

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It could also be medicine, spirituality, or even a substitute for war.

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And thanks to a combination of oral tradition, physical artifacts, and written records,

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we can explore the deep history and significance of this sport.

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So let's dive into one of the oldest games in the Americas, a game that's still being

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played by native peoples today.

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What is lacrosse?

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Lacrosse is a western term for a game that has been played throughout what is now the

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United States.

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Lots of different tribes have their version of it.

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Sometimes you'll see different sticks.

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But basically it's got the same premise for everybody.

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So with Taylor and everybody, welcome to the Indian Community School, it's a beautiful

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and amazing place.

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So my name is Avery Anderson.

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My coach lacrosse here at Indian Community School, Mark Denning is my mentor.

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We started coaching, started doing clinics across the city to help revitalize traditional

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lacrosse in Milwaukee.

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The traditional native game of lacrosse has a history that goes back hundreds of years.

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Many native peoples across Eastern North America played some version of this game.

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The basic elements were a ball, an area of play, and a lacrosse stick.

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Unlike the modern game, the native game could vary in the number of players and the size

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of the playing field.

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Dozens or even hundreds of people might play in a game, and the area could be much larger

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than today's lacrosse fields.

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So in speaking to this kind of game, there's no boundaries.

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So wherever the ball goes, if it goes off into wherever it might be, or in the water,

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or behind something, that's your play.

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That's where it is.

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We didn't want to interfere with the spirit of what's happening in that game.

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That game has a life, just as we have a life and a purpose.

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Our games have a life and a purpose.

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How do we know about lacrosse's history?

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Some of our knowledge comes from the oral traditions and histories of native people.

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Many of these stories emphasize the game being a gift from the creator.

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Our stories are about entities that existed before humans existed, and they were playing

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it.

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We learned from them.

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This game was gifted by creation, and others took part in it, the ones above, the ones

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of this earth as we walk on it, and the ones below.

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They'd all take part in the game, and we were the inheritors of it.

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We also get some of this history from Europeans who saw the game.

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The Jesuit missionary Jean de Berbeuf mentioned lacrosse in the 1630s during his travels in

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the eastern Great Lakes area.

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If there is a poor, sick man, fevered of body and almost dying, some healer will order

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for him a game of lacrosse as a cooling remedy.

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Sometimes also, one of these healers will say that the whole country side is sick, and

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he prescribes a game of lacrosse to heal it.

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So was lacrosse a game or was it medicine?

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Well, it could be a lot of things, and native people today keep this tradition alive.

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So when we talk about traditional lacrosse, we play games not just for social purposes,

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but very much deeper than that.

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So we have medicine games that can be for healing, it can be for supporting people who

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are going through a hard time, and the community wants to kind of show up and surround those

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people with community, with love, with food, with gifts.

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And so maintaining the game of traditional lacrosse is a responsibility that we hold

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because it is cultural, it's traditional to us.

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Lacrosse could also be a means of settling disputes, and even a way to avoid war.

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I remember my uncles, and my uncle telling me about people could choose war to settle

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disputes, but there was a game that existed, and in playing that game that we could settle

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our disputes and find peace, and that was a game of lacrosse.

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So instead of going to war, right, true clans, families, nations could say, we're

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going to agree to a game, and the victor of that game is going to carry the day or the

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argument.

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What about the sticks used to play lacrosse?

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These varied based on the people and the area.

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The first drawing we have of a lacrosse stick is from 1790 by the Italian explorer Count

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Paolo Andriani.

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His drawing shows an Iroquois style stick.

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It has a bent staff and a large webbed net where the ball would be held, but in the

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Great Lakes area, the sticks were generally a different style.

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We got a close look at one of these at the Lacrosse County Historical Society.

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So this is a lacrosse stick.

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Will you walk me through the design of it?

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What is going on here?

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This stick is probably over a hundred years old when it was gifted to the Historical Society.

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Lacrosse sticks are made out of harder woods, a lot of times hickory will be used, and

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they will use steam.

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And what they do is that they have this basic, the shaft of it, but then you come up here

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and it's a lot narrower.

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And so then they use the steam to bend it into this circle, and then they'll use leather

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or sinew to tie it together.

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So then you just have a circle right here, and then just the more leather straps go into

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the middle to create a net.

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So this is where you would both catch the ball and then throw the ball as well.

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Hold on.

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Is the city of Lacrosse named after the game?

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Yes.

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The American explorer Zebulon Pike wrote about the area back in the early 1800s, September

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12th, past the Racine River, also a prairie called Lacrosse, from a game of ball played

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frequently on it by the Sioux Indians.

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But why was the game of Lacrosse called Lacrosse by Europeans?

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If we look at the first written records of the game, Europeans use the phrase je de

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cross, or je de la cross, and French je means game.

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And cross can mean a curve stick used to play a game.

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Even today, a hockey stick might be called a cross in French.

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So the French writers who saw the native game called it je de la cross.

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This was a term they already used for other ball and stick games.

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Eventually, this was shortened to just Lacrosse.

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But native peoples have long had their own names for this game.

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What is the traditional name for the game of Lacrosse?

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So with the Hochunk, what we call it is chabna, which is actually the stick that we're talking

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about.

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Sometimes you can also see it referred to as chabnaikisik, but for the most part it's

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just chabna.

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Other tribes will have other words that they use to call the game or the stick, but for

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us it's chabnaikis, the stick and it's the game.

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The modern game of Lacrosse was developed in the 1860s by a Canadian named George Beers.

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He based it on a version of the game that was played by the Mohawk.

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Unfortunately, the game's native origins didn't mean it was open to indigenous people.

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Native players were often banned from playing.

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This likely happened for a lot of reasons.

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Partly there was concern that native players were too good, and partly this was a way to

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erase indigenous culture.

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But in the last few decades, native people have worked hard to reclaim both the modern

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game and their traditional Lacrosse.

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Both of you all played Lacrosse yourselves.

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What has been the experience like playing versus teaching other folks how to play, especially

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with that cultural element?

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I love playing Lacrosse because like you said, it's that responsibility to maintain our culture,

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and then it feels good.

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I'm an athlete, so I love to move, I love to, you know, the healthy movement, get your

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blood pumping, a little healthy competition, but then when I come into a space where I

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get to teach it and offer that to a larger group, that's that responsibility.

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It's like being multiplied.

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We need to really give sport.

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It's right full due.

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It's not for everyone and every child, but for sure, at this school, there's a spot in

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Lacrosse for everyone.

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Why do you feel like Lacrosse is an important part of a digital culture?

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Because it's been used for several things.

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It's a part of our stories about our past and our spirits.

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It is just a way to relax and have fun.

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And it's even been resolving conflicts with other tribes, not just within our own villages.

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So it's been a very integral part of how our society worked and resolved things, but also

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how we just enjoyed life.

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The story of Lacrosse is part of the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of

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North America.

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It's preserved in their oral traditions and objects like Lacrosse sticks, and in the

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writings of people who witnessed the game hundreds of years ago.

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Sports and games of all types are super important to people everywhere.

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So what's the story behind your favorite game?