Recreation in Eagle Valley...Vail Lacrosse
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From Across The Nation...Vail Lacrosse
Question: What sport involves two teams of people moving at high speed across a flat
surface, trying to score points by throwing an object into a netted place? Hockey?
Basketball? Let’s narrow it down. Each team member carries a stick. That eliminates
basketball. So hockey? No, because this sport is not played on ice and the object is a ball.
Stumped? The sport is lacrosse, and at least some of us remember
hearing about it in
American history classes. That was something Native Americans did in the old days to
have fun. Some of us might have seen lacrosse being played, and others have actually
played the sport. Well, in Vail, Colorado, lacrosse has become a major local sport,
attracting those who like to run a lot, collide with each other, and whip a small ball
around using the leverage of a long stick with a basket at one end.That little ball can
really travel fast! It’ll poke your eye out, so players wear helmets with eye cages, and the
body contact can break your teeth, so mouth guards are used.
Lacrosse is one of the roughest team sports you can play...
and also one of the most challenging. It is usually played with teams of ten, but variations include two or three people per team. Both men
and women play, and folks love it, at least those of us who know about it.
Check out the web site www.vaillacrosse for schedules of games and action photos of
the players. The competitions are called shootouts, and you can see the teams and scores
from previous years.
Lacrosse teams are rated elite, master and super master.
There are categories for high
school and chumash, one of those variations of lacrosse that uses fewer player. The Vail
lacrosse competitions get going in June and finish in July, so the players, coaches,
spectators and supporters get to enjoy the best summer weather in Vail. At 8,000 feet, the
air is crisp and clear, perfect for charging those pumping legs with oxygen as they chase
the little ball around and around.
Lacrosse also has a national web site where you can learn more
about the sport, find local chapters, check out the lacrosse museum, and see photos of
more players. Additionally, there’s information on this site about the US Lacrosse
Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes the sport for both men and women.
The Foundation encourages participation by people who might not play lacrosse, but
would like to help with fundraising events or business partnerships.
If you’ve never watched a lacrosse game, you’re in for a treat.
The action is fast and
constant, as in hockey, and the players put all their heart and soul into getting that little
ball where it needs to go. Playing lacrosse is a hoot too. There’s something about flinging
a ball with a stick, perhaps something that brings up ancient memories of mammoth
hunts, where spears were flung at big, wooly animals using sticks to increase leverage,
and thus the speed and impact power of the spear.
This must have been the reason
lacrosse was invented way back when. Maybe the other reason was to keep in shape to
run like the dickens when the big, wooly animals charged the hunters.
However we speculate on the origins of lacrosse, taking in the competitions during
the summer is one of the better ways to enjoy the Vail area in Colorado.
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