Lacrosse: East Coast sport is gaining favor in Utah

Taylor played growing up near Boston. When she moved to Utah to attend BYU in the early 1990s, she was disappointed there wasn't really many options for her to continue playing lacrosse. So she did something about it. While there had been a BYU men's lacrosse club team for years, Taylor organized a women's club team in Provo. She's been championing the sport in Utah pretty much ever since and is now the executive director of the Utah Lacrosse Association. While she has a couple of other members on her staff, Taylor is the ULA's only full-time paid employee. The ULA is a regional chapter of US Lacrosse, Inc., the national governing body of the sport in the United States. The ULA's modest offices are located in an industrial park in Sandy just west of I-15.

"It's exciting to see the growth we've had here in Utah," said Taylor of her beloved sport.

Lacrosse, or at least a game with a similar format, dates back to American Indians from the 15th century and perhaps even earlier. American Indian mythology has it that animals played birds in the first-ever game. While deer, bears and wolves had impressive strength, the eagles, owls and bats were too much and won that initial game because they could fly, according to legend.

American Indians played lacrosse for recreation — and to settle tribal disputes. Fields are now standardized on flat patches of grass, but in the beginning, games could be played over many miles of rugged terrain. Games could last several days and were played by as many as 1,000 men. Balls were made out of wood, deerskin, baked clay or stone.

It was serious business and seen as a religious celebration. In some tribes, medicine men would bless their players' sticks and put a curse on their opponents. Natives called the game baggataway or teewaarathon.

The modern name, as you might expect from the sound of it, is French. Jesuit missionaries from France who observed natives playing thought the stick resembled a Catholic bishop's staff, a "crosier" — or "la crosse" in French.

The modern game traces its origins to eastern Canada about 1840 with the first lacrosse club established in Montreal in 1856. It was later introduced in England, Ireland, Scotland and the United States. Modern women's lacrosse began in 1890 in Scotland with the first recorded American women's team being formed in 1926 in Baltimore.

While it still remains primarily an East Coast game, lacrosse is making its way west. In fact, California is now second only to New York in men's college lacrosse teams. Denver University and the Air Force Academy in Colorado both now have NCAA Division I lacrosse teams, as well.

In Utah, BYU and the U. of U. have club teams ranked in the top 25 in the nation. Both also have women's club teams. Utah State and Weber State have both men's and women's club teams, and Utah Valley State has a men's club.

Gender differences

The increasing popularity of lacrosse at the high school level in Utah has been the most eye-popping. While it isn't a recognized sport sponsored by the Utah High School Activities Association, most schools from Ogden to Provo now have varsity boys teams — 34 in all. The majority of those schools, in fact, also have one or more JV teams. Each team is made up of about 20 players. More than 1,300 boys participated in the Utah High School Lacrosse League this spring.