Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:03:28 EDT
From: B Prentice
Subject: Re: Lacrosse
I got a chuckle out of the reference to lacrosse as being an sport that is “exclusive” and for “white, upper class boys.” Obviously from someone without a clue about the sport.
I grew up in Syracuse, NY, a city bordered by the Onondaga Indian reservation. Lacrosse is actually the “french-ification” of a stickball game called dehuntshigwa’es in Onondaga. More can be learned at Wikipedia, if you are interested in learning the history of lacrosse.
As a teen in the 60’s, my high school was lucky enough to count some Onondaga Indian kids as students, and we fielded a very strong lacrosse team for both boys and girls. This was early on in the adoption of lacrosse as a high school sport, and because of our student diversity, we were a powerhouse. But these skills quickly transferred (via an excellent coaching staff) to other “non-Indian” students, and I see that the school now holds 15 State Championships for the boys, and 5 for the girls in this sport. This is not at the expense of other sports – that particular school also fields a competitive football team, girls and boys basketball teams, and a marching band that has won 30 NY State championships.
The point of this is that school sports and extracurricular activities are about INCLUSION, not EXCLUSION. It’s about giving kids an opportunity to find something at which they can excel, and the more options they have to choose from, the better. It’s about teaching kids how to get along with each other (even if their backgrounds are different) and to focus on a common goal (literally and figuratively). And how to be giving, and disciplined, and supportive.
So, in my opinion, to blatantly marginalize any school sport only exposes our own prejudices and misconceptions. Hopefully, lacrosse in Chatham County will become another venue for students to learn the skills they need to become functional, productive adults.
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