About Lacrosse

Brief History • Men's Lacrosse • Women's Lacrosse
Youth, Clubs and Camps • Market Demographics • Intercrosse
Professional Lacrosse • Spectators • Sponsors

• 2003 US Lacrosse Participation Survey (PDF File)

Lacrosse, considered to be America's first sport, was born of the North American Indian, christened by the French, and adapted and raised by the Canadians. Modern lacrosse has been embraced by athletes and enthusiasts of the United States and the British Commonwealth for over a century.

The sport of lacrosse is a combination of basketball, soccer and hockey. Anyone can play lacrosse--the big or the small. The game requires and rewards coordination and agility, not brawn. Quickness and speed are two highly prized qualities in lacrosse. An exhilarating sport, lacrosse is fast-paced and full of action. Long sprints up and down the field with abrupt starts and stops, precision passes and dodges are routine in men's and women's lacrosse. Lacrosse is played with a stick, the crosse, which must be mastered by the player to throw, catch and scoop the ball.

Today's lacrosse enthusiasts play this primarily amateur sport for love rather than financial reward. Two professional leagues (National Lacrosse League, indoor; Major League Lacrosse, outdoor) dot the North American landscape. But long after the more high profile collegiate athletes have used their skills to enter the professional sports arena, the finest men and women lacrosse players are using their talents in the dynamic amateur competition known as 'club' lacrosse.

Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing team sports in the United States. Youth membership (ages 15 and under) in US Lacrosse has doubled since 1999 to over 60,000. The National Federation of State High School Associations reported that in 2001 better than 74,000 students played high lacrosse. With club teams, private schools, and states not yet having sanctioned lacrosse, high school-aged participation is actually much higher. Varsity collegiate participation has grown by one-third since 1995, and collegiate and post-collegiate club teams field thousands of players as well. More data appears below.

Once a minor pastime played in the shadows of baseball stadiums in the Northeast of the United States, lacrosse has become a national sport with more than 250,000 active players.

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BRIEF HISTORY
With a history that spans centuries, lacrosse is the oldest sport in North America. Rooted in Native American religion, lacrosse was often played to resolve conflicts, heal the sick, and develop strong, virile men. To Native Americans, lacrosse is still referred to as "The Creator's Game."

Ironically, lacrosse also served as a preparation for war. Legend tells of as many as 1,000 players per side, from the same or different tribes, who took turns engaging in a violent contest. Contestants played on a field from one to 15 miles in length, and games sometimes lasted for days. Some tribes used a single pole, tree or rock for a goal, while other tribes had two goalposts through which the ball had to pass. Balls were made out of wood, deerskin, baked clay or stone.

The evolution of the Native American game into modern lacrosse began in 1636 when Jean de Brebeuf, a Jesuit missionary, documented a Huron contest in what is now southeast Ontario, Canada. At that time, some type of lacrosse was played by at least 48 Native American tribes scattered throughout what is now southern Canada and all parts of the United States. French pioneers began playing the game avidly in the 1800s. Canadian dentist W. George Beers standardized the game in 1867 with the adoption of set field dimensions, limits to the number of players per team and other basic rules.

New York University fielded the nation's first college team in 1877, and Philips Academy, Andover (Massachusetts), Philips Exeter Academy (New Hampshire) and the Lawrenceville School (New Jersey) were the nation's first high school teams in 1882. There are 400 college and 1,200 high school men's lacrosse teams from coast to coast.

The first women's lacrosse game was played in 1890 at the St. Leonard's School in Scotland. Although an attempt was made to start women's lacrosse at Sweet Briar College in Virginia in 1914, it was not until 1926 that Miss Rosabelle Sinclair established the first women's lacrosse team in the United States at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Maryland.

Men's and women's lacrosse were played under virtually the same rules, with no protective equipment, until the mid-1930s. At that time, men's lacrosse began evolving dramatically, while women's lacrosse continued to remain true to the game's original rules. Men's and women's lacrosse remain derivations of the same game today, but are played under different rules. Women's rules limit stick contact, prohibit body contact and, therefore, require little protective equipment. Men's lacrosse rules allow some degree of stick and body contact, although violence is neither condoned nor allowed.

Field lacrosse is sometimes perceived to be a violent and dangerous game, however, injury statistics prove otherwise. While serious injuries can and do occur in lacrosse, the game has evolved with an emphasis on safety, and the rate of injury is comparatively low.

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MEN'S LACROSSE

Men's Participation - Professional

1. Major League Lacrosse, an outdoor professional league, debuted in 2001 with six teams located along the East Coast. The same six franchises return for the 2002 season.
   
2. The National Lacrosse League dates back to the mid-1980s. Thirteen teams from the U.S. and Canada competed in the indoor league in 2001-02.
   

Men's Participation - College and University

1. Nearly 25,000 men play lacrosse at over 400 colleges and universities which currently have lacrosse programs that are sanctioned either by the athletic department or the club sports department.
   
2. 210 participating NCAA Division I, II and III universities and colleges compete for national championships.
   
3. 24 NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) teams compete for national championships.
   
4. Over 200 participating NCAA Division I and III universities and colleges are building towards varsity programs by offering structured intercollegiate "club" programs.
   
5. The average program has 45 to 50 players.
   
6. The NCAA-sponsored men's lacrosse championship tournaments have consistently been in the top five of national attendance for collegiate championships.

Men's Participation - High School

1. More than 72,000 men play lacrosse at 1,600 high schools which currently sponsor programs that are either sanctioned by the athletic department or recognized as school affiliated club teams.
   
2. Lacrosse programs began in eastern preparatory schools and have expanded to public and parochial schools nationwide. Since January 2000 alone, four states (California, Georgia, Illinois and Minnesota) have sanctioned lacrosse. The NFHS reported 74,225 male and female students played in 2001, a 20 percent increase from 2000 and better than a 100 percent increase since 1995.
   
3. More than 1,250 high schools sponsor varsity programs.
   
4. Over 350 high schools are building towards varsity program by offering structured interscholastic "club" programs.
   
5. More than 600 schools have junior varsity and freshman programs.
   
6. The average program consists of 35-40 players.

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WOMEN'S LACROSSE

Women's Participation - College and University

1. Over 5,500 women participate in lacrosse programs at 240 colleges and universities, sanctioned either by the athletic department or the club sports department.
   
2. 248 participating NCAA Division I, II and III universities and college teams compete for the national championships.
   
3. Over 50 participating NCAA Division I, II and III universities and colleges are building towards varsity programs offering structured intercollegiate "club" programs.
   
4. The average program has 20-25 players.

Women's Participation - High School

1. Over 15,000 women participate in lacrosse at 600 high schools which currently sponsor programs that are either sanctioned by the athletic department or are recognized as school affiliated club teams.
   
2. Lacrosse programs began in eastern preparatory schools and have expanded to public and parochial schools nationwide. Since January 2000 alone, four states (California, Georgia, Illinois and Minnesota) have sanctioned lacrosse. The NFHS reported 74,225 male and female students played in 2001, a 20 percent increase from 2000 and better than a 100 percent increase since 1995.
   
3. More than 450 high schools sponsor varsity programs.
   
4. Approximately 150 high schools are building towards varsity by offering structured interscholastic "club" programs.
   
5. More than 125 schools have junior varsity and freshman programs.
   
6. The average team consists of 20-25 players.

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YOUTH, CLUBS AND CAMPS

Club Participation - Men and Women

1. There are over 11,500 players (7,500 men and 4,000 women) nationally playing lacrosse on over 300 men's and women's post-collegiate club teams in virtually every state in the country.
   
2. Players at the club level are of the highest caliber.
   
3. Professional profiles include lawyers, doctors, business executives, and other high earning power vocations.
   
4. The average club organization has 35 to 40 players.
   
5. Participants range in age from 18 to 60.

Youth Participation - Boys and Girls

1. Youth and recreational programs playing both field and "soft" lacrosse are estimated at about 125,000 participants. US Lacrosse's 48 regional chapters indicated a total of 82,448 players participating in lacrosse at the youth level. Several areas of the country have youth programs but are not yet represented by a US Lacrosse chapter.
   
2. Over 4,500 programs span the United States.
   
3. Programs range in size from 50 to 15,000 children.
   
4. Players range from 5 to 15 years of age.

Camps and Clinics - Boys and Girls

1. Participants are primarily high school and youth players.
   
2. These programs are staffed by current college and high school coaches.
   
3. There are more than 300 men's and women's camps nationally.
   
4. The majority of camps are held during the summer months.

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MARKET DEMOGRAPHICS

• 44 percent of all current players are under 14 years of age.
  
• 36 percent are of or between the ages of 14 and 17 years.

• 14 percent are of or between the ages of 18 and 22 years.
  
• 4 percent are of or between the ages of 23 and 30 years.
  
• 2 percent of all current players are over 30 years.

• Youth players comprise better than 67 percent of US Lacrosse membership. High school players represent 15 percent, followed by adult players (6 percent), coaches (6 percent), officials (2 percent), and cross participants and miscellaneous.
  
• Nearly 75 percent of all lacrosse fans/players have an annual household income of $50,000 or more.
  
• Nearly 50 percent of all lacrosse fans/players estimate the current market value of their house and land to be $200,000 or more.
  
• 19 percent of all lacrosse fans have investments of an approximate value of $300,000 or more.

INTERCROSSE
Developed more than a decade ago as an introductory, non-contact version of the sport, intercrosse is played in every state of the country and in approximately 39 other countries around the world by both men and women. The International InterCrosse Federation, based in Quebec, was formed in 1986 to promote intercrosse and coordinate regular international competition.

Over 500,000 individuals play intercrosse in the US Intercrosse is played in elementary, junior high school and high school physical education programs.

Intercrosse is also played as part of the physical education curriculum of recreational youth leagues and summer camps.

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PROFESSIONAL LACROSSE
In November of 1986, the National Lacrosse League was formed as a viable professional indoor lacrosse league. Indoor lacrosse, often referred to as "box" lacrosse, is played under a completely different set of rules than field lacrosse. Consequently, the game's rules allow a much higher degree of physical contact than field lacrosse. The league has recently expanded out west to Arizona, Colorado and California. In 2004 10 teams played in the NLL: Anaheim Storm, Arizona Sting, Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, San Jose Stealth, Toronto Rock, Vancouver Ravens. The indoor season runs from January to April, and games draw 5,000-18,000 spectators per game. Compensation for players averages between $5,000 and $10,000 per season. The 2004 All-Star Game held in Denver before 16,742 people. Denver set a record for five consecutive sell-outs in 2004 playing before 18,000 + per game.

In 1999, Major League Lacrosse announced plans to create a professional field lacrosse league in 2001. The MLL had a six-city summer all-star tour in 2000. Long Island won the inaugural MLL championship in 2001, defeating Baltimore in the championship game on Labor Day Weekend. Baltimore won the championship in 2002 before losing to Long Island in the 2003 title game. Franchises are located in: Baltimore, Boston, Long Island, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Rochester.

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SPECTATORS
The 2003 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse championship crowd of 37,944 at Baltimore's M&T; Bank Stadium set a crecord for the largest crowd to ever attend a NCAA outdoor championship. Only men's basketball has drawn more spectators for a NCAA championship contest.

The 2002 college season included a Johns Hopkins-Navy men's game that drew 15,271 fans to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. It was the third-largest regular season crowd in the history of men's college lacrosse.

Fan attendance has nearly tripled in the last 10 years, with over 100,000 lacrosse enthusiasts attending the Men's NCAA Division I, II and III Lacrosse Championship tournaments in 1999.

The 1996 Men's Division III championship attendance of 18,555 set an all-time record for any Division III Championship.

The 1999 Mass Bay Jamboree in Massachusetts attracted more than 9,000 fans and 1,400 youth players over two days.

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