While ice hockey is the national winter sport of Canada, lacrosse is the national summer sport

Sports such as basketball, football, cricket, rugby, baseball and hockey are known to the world. Since we mentioned hockey, ice hockey is an integral part of Canada. Played during colds, ice hockey is the winter national sport of the North American land, and the Hockey Canada league is one of the most famous ice hockey leagues in the world. However, Canada has another national sport about which, much may not be aware of. Honestly, this is the first time we have heard of the game. It is called lacrosse, and it is Canada’s summer national sport. Going by the several historic records we came across on the internet, lacrosse has been played in the country since the 17th century and by the 20th century, it turned into one of the most played sports in the country.

Around 1860s, a nobleman named Patriot William George Beers distributed leaflets with detailed rules printed on them about the sport. He also replaced the deerskin ball with a hard rubber ball and formed Dr Beers’ Montreal Lacrosse Club. Not to forget, Beers also established a Lacrosse National Association. Today, that association is called the Canadian Lacrosse Association and Beers is acknowledged as the father of modern lacrosse. Moving to the modern-day, lacrosse was made the national summer sport of the country after Canada’s Parliament passed the Canada National Sports Act in 1994. Before 1994, lacrosse was the only national sport of the country since 1859.

For those unversed with the game, lacrosse is like hockey or football, where parties are required to score goals against the opponent teams. The players carry a stick in their hands which comprise a net at the end known as a lacrosse stick. Players are only allowed to use the lacrosse stick’s net to carry, catch, shoot, and pass the ball. Touching the ball with bare hands or feet is disallowed. The players are required to wear protective equipment such as helmet, gloves, mouth guard and pads. In each team, there are five runners and one goalie. The games are played for a total duration of 60 minutes divided into four quarters.

So far, the North American country has achieved numerous accolades such astwo Olympic gold medals and the World Lacrosse Championship thrice. The most recent victory arrived in 2014 when Canada beat the United States of America with a score line of 8-5. Last but not least, some lacrosse legends from Canada are Édouard Charles Lalonde and Clifford Isaac Spring to mention a few.