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Lacrosse is a team contact sport played using a small rubber ball and a stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick. The sport dates back to 1100 AD. In the past, the Natives of America solved their minor conflicts between tribes through this game. The sport is popular in Canada and the United States, with small but dedicated lacrosse communities in the United Kingdom and Australia.

The tip of the lacrosse stick has a loose mesh designed to hold and catch a lacrosse ball. The aim of the sport is to score by shooting the ball into the opposing team's goal. The players use the lacrosse stick to carry, catch, and pass the ball to score a goal. From the defensive aspect, the aim is to prevent the opponent from scoring a goal and to gain the ball by the use of the lacrosse stick.

Depending on which version is being played, lacrosse is played by two teams with between 6 and 12 members in each team, including the goalkeeper. The sport can be played indoor in a lacrosse court, or outdoor on a lacrosse field. The players equip themselves with a lacrosse stick, and protective gear which may include a helmet, eye protection, shoulder pads, elbow pads, and athletic cup gloves.

There are several main types of lacrosse played:

• Field Lacrosse — a full-contact outdoor men's version of lacrosse
• Box Lacrosse (Indoor Lacrosse) — a version of lacrosse that is played in a smaller indoor arena (box), with six players in each team.
• Lacrosse Sixes — a new smaller team faster-paced lacrosse format making the sport more accessible.
• Women’s Lacrosse — a limited-contact version of lacrosse
• Intercrosse — a non-contact version of lacrosse.

Lacrosse at the World Games

Lacrosse made its debut into the World Games at the 2017 Wroclaw World Games with just one discipline - Field Lacrosse. Subsequent World Games in Birmingham and Chengdu also featured Lacrosse, but with just one discipline - Sixes Lacrosse.

Sixes Lacrosse at the World Games features six players per team on the pitch. It brings the excitement and speed in a smaller, faster, and more accessible format. "Sixes" games are played in four 8-minute quarters. 

This game incorporates a "shot clock" and once an offensive possession begins, the team must take a shot on goal within 30 seconds. The team that scores the most goals wins the match. However, if the both teams plays a draw after full-time, then there is sudden victory overtime, which lasts until a goal has been scored.

Here are the medalists who won gold in the Lacrosse event at the 2025 Chengdu World Games:

Similar Sports

• Polocrosse — an equestrian sport combining the sports of lacrosse and polo.
• Hurling — a Gaelic outdoor team sport where players use a wooden stick to hit a ball between the opposing team’s goalposts.

Related Pages

• Lacrosse at the Olympics — the plan for inclusion
• Sport in Canada — their national sport is lacrosse
• The Science of Lacrosse
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports — a list of every sport from around the world.

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