Lacrosse is a game of Native American origin; it is a team sport that was most primitively played by the tribal native America and Canada. The basic equipment used in lacrosse is a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball.

The stick varies in dimensions based on the player it is used by but the basic shape has a head that is strung with a lose basket like net to hold the ball. The aim of the game is to keep the ball in your own team’s possession and score a goal in the other team’s goal. There are three kinds of major games in Lacrosse, Men’s Field Lacrosse, Women’s Lacrosse and box Lacrosse.

There is a significant difference between men’s lacrosse and women’s lacrosse. First, the equipment and second the degree of physical contact allowed. The protective equipment worn by women players is comparatively very less than men and so is the degree of physical contact allowed between the players. Only a mouth guard, face guard and thin gloves are worn by women players. Only stick to stick contact in the correct body position is allowed in women’s lacrosse. The action of players hitting each other’s stick to obtain the ball is called checking.

The field line pattern also differs for women’s lacrosse, this facilitates different rule as to how many players can cross the restraining line for attacking or defending. For younger and junior levels there is a very limited if any checking permitted. Like in the USA there is no permitted checking below seventh grade and in seventh and eighth grade checking is permissible only if the stick is positioned below the shoulders. The first modern game of women’s lacrosse was held at St Leonard’s School in Scotland in the year 1890. The school’s headmistress Louisa Lumsden introduced it after she returned from a visit to Canada.

Then Baltimore, Maryland saw the first women’s lacrosse team of the United States in 1926 at the Bryn Mawr School. Until the mid thirties men’s and women’s lacrosse was played with virtually the same rules and without any protective equipment whatsoever. In 1982, the NCAA women’s lacrosse division 1 began to play.

Traditionally, the University of Maryland, College Park has dominated the women’s inter college lacrosse games. It has given many head coaches across the country and many national team players for the United States. From 1995 through 2001 seven consecutive national championships have been won by The Lady Terps. The Princeton University’s team has made it to the finals seven times since the year 1933. It has also won NCAA titles thrice in 1933, 2002, and 2003.

The Northwestern University has become a great force recently by winning the national championships every year from 2005 to 2009. British girl’s independent schools play it internationally and in Australia, it is played at a very high elite level. The Australian national squad won the 2005 Women’s Lacrosse World Cup. The last women’s World cup was played in 2009 hosted by Prague, Czech Republic.