THE NEW SPORT ‘’LACROSSE’’

By Carolina Rojas Terranova (Social Communication)

Nowadays in our families, kids of different ages only want to play familiar sports like soccer, basketball or skating. Children’s behaviour is based on the action of their parents, who normally teach them these sports. This is usually because they don’t know other sports, so many children don’t have the opportunity to try new sports such as lacrosse, rugby or ultimate.

Lacrosse has its roots in the cultural traditions of the Native American Iroquis people, who inhabited what is now New York, Pennyslvania, and other parts of the North-Eastern US. The game is played between two teams and each player uses a long-handled stick to carry the ball (called cradling), as well as pass and catch it in order to score by shooting the ball into the opponent’s goal.

New sports should have more opportunity than classic ones. But normally people think it is better to play soccer, basketball or skating because Colombian culture shows that these are traditional in our society. Children who try new sports have more opportunities to succeed or stand out. As the number of people who play it is less, it is easier to be noticed and, for example, be selected to travel to different countries to play. In the case of lacrosse, the Colombian national team has participated in three world cups: Colorado 2014, Scotland 2015 and London 2017. Another benefit is that children can explore a new culture, for example when the Colombian national team went to those events.

Therefore, it is now easier to play a new sport because you don't need any additional special skills to start playing; you only need the same abilities that you have already learnt from more traditional sports. For example, in basketball you learnt the defender position and the correct movement of the feet, and in soccer you learnt how to run longer distances and shoot at the other team’s goal.

To sum up, there are numerous advantages to practicing Lacrosse. The main idea of this sport is to meet different people and cultures and start a new adventure by learning new rules and starting to use new sports equipment, like a stick, gloves and a mouth guard. Besides, it gives people opportunities, and lets them learn different plays and try out new skills, like making a fast spread, doing a good cradle, and learn a new pick up. Everyone should give it a try!