Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively modified by European colonists, reducing the violence, to create its current collegiate and professional form.
Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in the 1930s in Canada, where it is more popular than field lacrosse. Lacrosse is Canada's official national summer sport. Box lacrosse is played between two teams of five players and one goalie each, and is traditionally played on an ice hockey rink once the ice has been removed or covered. The playing area is called a box, in contrast to the open playing field of field lacrosse. The object of the game is to use a lacrosse stick to catch, carry, and pass the ball in an effort to score by shooting a solid rubber lacrosse ball into the opponent's goal. The highest level of box lacrosse is the National Lacrosse League.
The World Lacrosse Box Championships (WLBC), formerly known as the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship (WILC), is an international box lacrosse tournament sponsored by World Lacrosse that is held every four years. Since the first tournament in 2003, Canada has won all five gold medals and is undefeated in all games. Canada hosted the first two tournaments in 2003 and 2007, the Czech Republic hosted in 2011, the Onondaga Nation, south of Syracuse, New York, hosted in 2015. The 2019 WILC was held in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.
The World Lacrosse Men's Championship, formerly World Lacrosse Championship, is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by World Lacrosse that occurs every four years.
The 2008 Men's U–19 World Lacrosse Championship (U–19) was held at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam, British Columbia from July 3 to July 12. The event was sponsored by the International Lacrosse Federation. This international field lacrosse tournament is held every four years, and teams are composed of players that are under the age of nineteen.
The Scotland national men's lacrosse team is governed by Lacrosse Scotland and is currently coached by Matt Bagley. Previous coaches include Graham Simpson, Lee Wilkinson, Phil Collier, Phil Moore, John Robinson, Keith Langdale, John Kenney, and Brian Silcott.
The Scotland national indoor lacrosse team represents Scotland at box lacrosse. It is governed by Lacrosse Scotland.
The 2010 World Lacrosse Championship was held between 15–24 July. This international men's field lacrosse tournament organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse took place in Manchester, United Kingdom. This was the third time that the tournament was played in Greater Manchester, after the 1978 and 1994 championships.
The 2014 World Lacrosse Championship was held July 10–19 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park outside Denver, Colorado. 38 nations played 142 games in this international men's lacrosse championship tournament organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse. Nine nations—Belgium, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Israel, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, and Uganda—all competed in the event for the first time.
The 2011 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship was the third World Indoor Lacrosse Championship, an international box lacrosse tournament organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse every four years. It took place between 21 and 28 May 2011 in Prague, Czech Republic at the 4,900 seat Eden Arena, an Olympic-sized rink. The Canadian team was the defending champion and for the third time defeated the Iroquois Nationals in the finals, 13–6. The United States defeated the host Czech Republic 16–7 in the bronze medal game.
The 2007 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship was the second World Indoor Lacrosse Championship, an international box lacrosse tournament organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse every four years. It took place between May 14 and 20 at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Canada was the defending champion and again beat the Iroquois Nationals in the final, this time 15–14 in overtime. Eight nations took part in this event, the six nations from the 2003 WILC and two newcomers - England and Ireland. There was an estimated 850,000 television viewers of the tournament in Canada and the games were streamed live in Europe.
The 2003 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship was the first World Indoor Lacrosse Championship, an international box lacrosse tournament organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse every four years. It took place from May 15 to 24 in Hamilton, Kitchener, Mississauga, and Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Canada won the gold medal with a 21–4 victory over the Iroquois Nationals. The United States defeated Scotland 15–9 in the bronze medal game. Two other nations participated, Australia and the Czech Republic.
The United States national indoor lacrosse team represents the U.S. in box lacrosse at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship. Team USA has won the bronze medal in all four WILC tournaments. The team is organized by US Lacrosse, the national governing body. US Indoor Lacrosse was named to form and manage the 2007 and 2011 Teams. The roster usually consists of professional players, some of which play in the National Lacrosse League or Major League Lacrosse.
Czech Republic national indoor lacrosse team is the national box lacrosse team of the Czech Republic which regularly participates in World Indoor Lacrosse Championship. Team consists of amateur players, who are members of Czech box lacrosse league NBLL. A few Canadian players from the National Lacrosse League with Czech ancestors are also members of this team. Box lacrosse is the most popular form of lacrosse in the Czech Republic, the team has had better results than in field lacrosse.
The 2015 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship (WILC) was the fourth international box lacrosse championship organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse every four years. The 2015 WILC was hosted by the Onondaga Nation in the United States, south of Syracuse, New York, and took place between September 18 and 27. Canada defeated the host Iroquois Nationals 12–8 in the gold medal game, the same finals match-up featured in the first three indoor championships. Since the WILC started in 2003, Team Canada is undefeated with an overall record of 23–0.
First Nations Lacrosse Association is the governing body of lacrosse for First Nations within Canada and Native American tribes within the United States.
The Haudenosaunee Nationals Indoor Lacrosse Team, known as the Haudenosaunee Nationals, represents the Iroquois Confederacy in international box lacrosse competitions. They are currently ranked second in the world by World Lacrosse and have won Silver medals in all five World Indoor Lacrosse Championships. The team is organized by the First Nations Lacrosse Association.
The Haudenosaunee Nationals Men’s Lacrosse Team, formerly known as the Iroquois Nationals, represents the Iroquois Confederacy in international field lacrosse competition. They are currently ranked third in the world by World Lacrosse after winning Bronze at the 2018 World Lacrosse Championship.
The IIJL World Junior Lacrosse Championship (WJLC) is an annual independent international box lacrosse championship for players aged 20 and under.
The lacrosse competition at the 2022 World Games took place in July 2022, in Birmingham in United States, at the University of Alabama Birmingham. Originally scheduled to take place in July 2021, the Games were rescheduled for July 2022 as a result of the 2020 Summer Olympics postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The women's tournament was played as an official event and the men's tournament as an invitational event. This was the first time that men's and women's field lacrosse were played in a six-a-side format in a multi-sport competition. This was also an absolute debut of a men's tournament in a World Games programme, as in 2017 women played the traditional lacrosse discipline for the first time in the history of the World Games. The games in 2022 were played in the sixes format, with teams of six players per side, reduced field size, and shorter games as compared to the parent field lacrosse format, which was conducive to daily tournament play. The game was played in eight-minute quarters and emphasized speed and efficiency.
