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.
Alexander "Ross" Powless was a Mohawk lacrosse player from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation near Brantford, Ontario. Broadly, Ross was positioned as an ambassador for lacrosse and for native people. Powless is also considered one of the best lacrosse athletes in Canadian history and the father of modern lacrosse. His exceptional play has been credited with reviving interest in box lacrosse in the 1950s. He was the father of lacrosse player Gaylord Powless. He was awarded the Order of Sport, marking his induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, in 2020/21 as a builder for lacrosse.
Gaylord Powless (1946–2001) was a Haudenosaunee lacrosse player from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation Indian reserve near Brantford, Ontario. His father Ross was also a highly regarded player. In 2017, Powless was awarded the Order of Sport, marking induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
Delby Powless, is a Mohawk lacrosse player from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation near Brantford, Ontario. He was born in Six Nations, Ontario, and is the grandnephew of Ross Powless and cousin of Gaylord Powless, both of whom are in the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He has played for the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League and the Hamilton Nationals of Major League Lacrosse. In 2003, Powless received the Tom Longboat Award as the top male Aboriginal athlete.
The Dutch Lacrosse Association is the official governing body of lacrosse in the Netherlands. The Nederland Lacrosse Bond sponsors both a men's and women's national team. The national team programs are supported by a burgeoning domestic club league. The NLB is a full member of both the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) and the European Lacrosse Federation (ELF).
The Six Nations Rebels are a Canadian Junior "B" box lacrosse team from Hagersville, Ontario on the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve. The Rebels play in the OLA Junior B Lacrosse League. The Rebels hold the record for most Junior B national championships in Founders Cup history with seven.
Jeff Shattler is an Iroquois professional box lacrosse player who currently plays with the Saskatchewan Rush of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). He has Ojibwe and Inuit roots and has competed internationally with the Iroquois Nationals, including with the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship silver medal winning teams in 2011 and 2015. He was the 2011 NLL Most Valuable Player, 2011 NLL Transition Player of the Year, and the 2018 NLL Cup Most Valuable Player.
The Canada national indoor lacrosse team represents Canada in international tournaments of indoor lacrosse. It is the best national box lacrosse team in the world, having won all five World Indoor Lacrosse Championships, starting with the 2003 ILF World Indoor Lacrosse Championship held in Canada. Team Canada has never lost a game in the tournament. Their biggest rivals are the Iroquois Nationals, who have finished in second place in all four tournaments.
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.
The First Nations Junior B Lacrosse League is a box lacrosse league sanctioned by the First Nations Lacrosse Association. The league was formed in 2014 with the restructuring of the Canadian Lacrosse Association. Four teams competed in the inaugural season.
The Onondaga Redhawks are an American and Iroquois Senior "B" box lacrosse team from Nedrow, New York at Onondaga Nation. The team play their home games at Onondaga Nation Arena, aka Tsha'Hon'nonyen'dakhwa'.
Rich Kilgour is a retired professional lacrosse player and current coach for the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League. He joined the Bandits in 1992 as a training camp invitee, and spent the next 18 years as a defensive specialist with the Bandits, 12 of those as team captain. His teams made the playoffs 13 times, played in eight championship games, and won four.
Lyle Thompson is a Haudenosaunee professional lacrosse player from the Hawk Clan of the Onondaga Nation. His native name is Deyhahsanoondey, which translates into He's Flying Over Us. He plays both indoor and outdoor professional lacrosse. In professional outdoor lacrosse, he plays at the attack position for the Cannons Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League. In professional indoor lacrosse, he plays at the forward position for the Georgia Swarm of the National Lacrosse League. He also competes internationally in both indoor lacrosse for Haudenosaunee men's national indoor lacrosse team, and outdoor lacrosse for the Haudenosaunee men's national outdoor lacrosse team.
First Nations Lacrosse Association is the governing body of lacrosse for First Nations within Canada and Native American tribes within the United States.
The Seneca WarChiefs are a Junior "B" box lacrosse team from Irving, New York. The WarChiefs play in the First Nations Junior B Lacrosse League (FNJBLL), sanctioned by the First Nations Lacrosse Association (FNLA).
Miles Thompson is a Haudenosaunee professional lacrosse player from the Hawk Clan of the Onondaga Nation. He played for the University at Albany in NCAA Division I college lacrosse and plays for the Georgia Swarm in the National Lacrosse League and Chaos Lacrosse Club in the Premier Lacrosse League. He shared the 2014 Tewaaraton Trophy with his brother Lyle.
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 IIJL World Junior Lacrosse Championship (WJLC) is an annual independent international box lacrosse championship for players aged 20 and under.
