Lacrosse brings the past to the present
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory Jack Green’s two sons were unable to play a game of lacrosse in 1989 because there wasn’t a team within the immediate area. This prompted him and his wife, Dorothy, Don and Debbie Smart and Debby Brant to begin the process of reviving this Iroquois sport on Mohawk turf. By 1990, through talking, fund-raising, meeting parents and not quitting they had 19 young men aged 13-14. They began with the basics. “We focused on speed, stick skills, and finesse, not dirty play.” “Our first tournament was in Milton, Ont. where some of the kids were playing their first game and they’d never seen a game! We had no idea how we’d do, we could have gotten smoked. The final score was for Markham 3-2.” According to Green, lots of people helped in many ways. Parents did fund-raising with raffles and dances, gave rides to the kids for practices and games, paid for motels and meals for any exhibition or tournament game they could enter, bought equipment and generally did what they could. It was very expensive, the team had nothing, and no money. By the second year they had two teams with players qualifying for the Bantam and Midget leagues. By then more people were involved. It continued to grow. “For a couple of years I coached two teams. A coach with the Ontario Lacrosse Association has to be certified at level 1 which took place in Toronto. We sent a number of people. We had a lot of good people doing it.” Right now the sport is dying off a bit, because of money, Green says. The closest senior league teams are in Peterborough and Ottawa or Cornwall which means a lot of driving and hotel costs. Different teams employ different tactics in developing their team style. Tyendinaga’s Wolf Pack, which Green coaches, plays teams who are chosen for their burly size, as well as those who are slim, fit runners. Size is sometimes used as an intimidation tactic, part of a team’s game strategy. Claude Giguere was one of the officials at a recent Tyendinaga game. A member of the Ontario Lacrosse Association and the Iroquois Lacrosse Association, he says if he sees a slim, fit team he knows his job as a referee means he will cover the whole box. Heavier, bigger players are slower and rougher, meaning more penalties.
Lacrosse is a vigorous, hard-hitting game of the Iroquois Peoples. Players require stamina, resilience, courage, and endurance. It is not a game for those who fear physical contact. Players dress in hockey-type gear and running shoes with shorts. The game tool is by regulation, a 42 inch long hexagonal-shaped stick, with a netted pocket. Play is airborne with the ball either being run or passed through the air from player to player toward the opposition’s goal. With marked agility, players scoop, snag, twirl, and carry a baseball-sized white rubber ball. Grunts from players who sprawl face down on the arena floor when their pumping legs interlock with another player’s mix with the slap of running feet and the crack of stick-on-stick. The crunch of shoulder pads struck by a stick can be heard as the players work a man-on-man technique to disrupt planned passes. The goalie’s shoulders, which literally fill the net, are part of the game. The better he fills the net, the fewer the goals. Referees dodge the ball during practice showing their respect for the excruciating pain of being hit by it. Green says some players can pass it at 100 m.p.h. Players are permitted to use their sticks to hit other players. They can hold their sticks near either end, raise them and repeatedly plummet their opponents, as long as the opposing team has the ball. It is fair to swing a stick down to dislodge the ball from an opponent’s stick. Padded gloves cannot absorb the impact, resulting in many hand fractures. Giguere says the use of vulgarity to criticize another player is not permitted. Penalties ensue from this or from physical plays such as wrapping a stick around someone, hitting below the waist, grabbing face masks, disputing an official’s call, or fighting. He is deliberately deaf to some criticisms by fans and players. Players run, dodge, retrace steps, and dart into place. With lightning-like over-the-head, sideways, and back-hand placement, the ball moves rapidly from end to end, twirled, vaulted, tucked seemingly into three pockets simultaneously. Interceptions or dislodging the ball from a pocket can change the direction of play at any time. If the ball goes out of play, an official simply takes one from his pocket; play resumes immediately. Being the game coach means making some tough decisions. “Safety of the team always comes first. If you feel strongly about something you have to stand up for it,” says Green, who wants the older players to be role models in a wonderful sport.
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