One of America’s oldest traditions is now becoming one of the fastest growing sports across the entire nation. The game’s fast-paced play, required athleticism, and excitement may be a big factor in this.

Lacrosse, which was started by Native Americans and ultimately called “The Medicine Game” were considered major events at this time. Now, the game has evolved to one of the biggest up-and-coming sports and traditions.

The game of lacrosse is not just a game to some Native Americans, it is a way of life. From the time they are born, Native Americans have a lacrosse stick in their hand. They believed that lacrosse was a gift from The Creator and was to be played for his enjoyment as well as a form of medicine that would heal the people. Lacrosse has been predominately played by Native Americans, but their love and passion for the game has been passed on too many other cultures and ethnicities.

In the past decade, the sport has exploded like no other. From the year 2000 to 2014, the participation rate for men’s lacrosse has skyrocketed 95%, with volleyball falling next in line at 54%. In regards to female lacrosse: 109%, with track and field falling next with 59%. The numbers don’t lie – athletes everywhere are falling in love with this sport.

“[I love] the fast paced playing and not really knowing what’s going to happen next,” said sophomore Will Lewis when asked what he loves about the sport. This here shows you just got exciting the game can actually be.

One thing that makes this sport so increasingly popular is that it favors to no particular gender. This sport is versatile for each gender, while some other sports are either men or female-orientated. The rules for men’s and women’s lacrosse are very both very similar. The only major difference is you cannot check in women’s lacrosse, and there are different stop and go rules.

When it comes to starting the game as a new player, there isn’t much to worry about. Since the sport is growing at such a tremendous rate, picking up a stick and competing will come in no time. Often times athletes from other sports have raw talent which gives them the ability to play lacrosse. With that being said, lacrosse is not the easiest sport to become good at.

Freshman Andrew Brown has only been playing for six years, and is playing at the Division II level with great athletes.

“I first started playing in seventh grade and instantly fell in love,” Brown said. When asked about how long it took to get the hang of it, he assured not very long. “After a couple of practices I got the stick work down, then it was just putting in the effort outside of practice.”

Some of the best lacrosse players in the world spent years of their lives on their own bettering themselves. Ever hear of the saying, “practice makes perfect?” Well that can be one of the biggest factors when trying to excel in lacrosse. Lacrosse is a very demanding sport when it comes to hand eye coordination, physical fitness, and what lacrosse players like to call IQ.

One of the biggest skills to have in lacrosse is hand-eye coordination. Hand-eye coordination is coordinated control of eye movement with hand movement. A lacrosse stick is about 6.5 inches wide at the top and about 3 inches wide proceeding to the bottom, and a lacrosse ball is about 2.5 inches wide. Lacrosse players must have tremendous hand-eye coordination when catching a ball, especially goalies who need to stop a 2.5-inch ball coming at about 90 mph.

Like every other sport, physical fitness plays a big part. A lacrosse field is slightly bigger than a football field but slightly smaller than a soccer field. At the college level and pro levels, the game is played at a tremendous pace. The point of the game is to have as few as breaks as possible. There is a constant change in possession of the ball. Constant changes in possession calls for a ton of running up and down the field, calling for each player to be in prime condition to endure the gruesome pace of the game.

But hand-eye coordination and physical fitness doesn’t mean anything if a player doesn’t have lacrosse IQ. Knowing where you should be on the field at certain times will not only help them but will help the team. Lacrosse is a game of unexpected scenarios. If a player doesn’t know what to do when these scenarios occur, it can possibly cause them to be out of place or disrupt the ability of other players to do their job.

The game of lacrosse is vastly growing because athletes from all over are becoming more talented. They are naturally having better hand eye coordination which helps because they don’t have to worry about the basics for too long. Athletes now are stronger and faster making the game more competitive. Lacrosse IQ is growing in athletes because of other sports such as, basketball, hockey, and soccer who have similar playing styles making it easy to transition to lacrosse.

Lacrosse is the fastest sport on two feet and is now the fastest growing sport in America. The nation would not be surprised if in the near future lacrosse is in the top 5 played sports in America.