Scottish Lacrosse Association (SLA)
Homepage: http://www.scottish-lacrosse.org.uk/
Rules and regulations: http://www.scottish-lacrosse.org.uk/sla-rules.htm

History:

The SLA administers coaching and umpiring services and provides a range of advisory services for all its members.

Background – St Trineans school team, Edinburgh

HISTORY

The game of Lacrosse was born of the North American Indian, christened by the French and adapted and raised by the Canadians. Rooted in Native American religion, lacrosse was often played to resolve conflicts, to heal the sick, develop strong, virile men and to give thanks to the Creator. Contestants played on a field from one to fifteen miles in length and games sometimes lasted for days.

The evolution of the Native American game into modern lacrosse began in 1636 when Jean de Brebeuf, a Jesuit missionary, documented a contest in what is now southeast Ontario, Canada. At that time, 48 Native American tribes throughout southern Canada and the United States played lacrosse. French pioneers began playing the game avidly in the 1800s. Canadian dentist, W. George Beers, standardized the game in 1867 with the adoption of set field dimensions, limits to the number of players per team and other basic rules.

The first women’s lacrosse game was played in 1890 at St. Leonards School in Scotland. Men and women’s lacrosse were played under virtually the same rules, with no protective equipment, until the mid-1930s. At that time, men’s lacrosse began evolving dramatically, while women’s lacrosse continued to remain true to the game’s original rules. Today, men’s and women’s lacrosse remain two distinct forms of the same game and are played under different rules. Current women’s rules limit stick and body contact, and therefore, require little protective equipment.

Women’s lacrosse rewards agility, quickness and speed, not brawn. Lacrosse is played with a stick, the CROSSE, which must be mastered by the players in order to CRADLE, catch, throw and scoop up ground balls. Since stick and body contact are limited, the game demands individual and team ingenuity to create and prevent scoring opportunities.

Scotland Mens Lacrosse Team – 2002 World Championship Squad

Scotland have announced their 23 man squad to compete in next summers World Championships in Perth, Australia. Heading up the coaching team will be Phil Collier, John Robinson and Phil Moore. Phil Collier has previously been Head Coach of the England team before taking over the reigns with Scotland in 1998. He is joined by John Robinson, the Head Coach at English Premiership team Waconians, finalists in last years Flags competition. Phil Moore will head up the physical preparation of the team and provide squad leadership in Australia.

The immediate goal for the team is an improvement on the 7th place achieved at the 1998 World Championships. Phil Collier believes this team is more than capable of achieving this goal “This team has a tremendous opportunity
to go further than we did in 1998. There is tremendous skill and fitness in all positions and I am looking forward to working with the players during the next six months”.

Scotland will face tough games against teams from the Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Sweden and Wales in their division and have set their sights on making the all important play-in game, possibly against the Auld Enemy England, the winner of which will progress to the semi-finals.

Notes: The Scotland team was reintroduced to Mens lacrosse in 1991 following the tragic events of the Lockerbie air crash. Many students from Syracuse University, a major lacrosse force in the US, were on PanAm flight 103. Syracuse University visited the area on a memorial visit and were surprised they could not play a game of lacrosse against the Scotland Mens team. This was resurrected through home scots and players born of Scottish parent(s). The grass roots development is also blossoming under the leadership of Steve Cummins and the first Anglo-Scots league was started in the Autumn of 2000 with teams competing from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Durham and Newcastle.