11/24/2020 The Iroquois’ quest to compete in Olympic lacrosse: ‘It’s more than a game to us.’ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/11/iroquois-quest-to-compete-olympic-lacrosse-more-than-game-to-us.html © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved H I S T O R Y & C U L T U R E The Iroquois’ quest to compete in Olympic lacrosse: ‘It’s more than a game to us.’ The Iroquois are fighting to play lacrosse, a sport they invented, at the 2028 Olympics. It could be a significant step forward in their long struggle for recognition. B Y W A Y N E D R E H S P U B L I S H E D N O V E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 Lyle Thompson, the 28-year-old lacrosse star some consider one of the greatest to play the game, has a request. Look beyond his blistering goals, behind-the-head passes, NCAA records, and Nike sponsorship. Forget about his three lacrosse-loving brothers who, like him, all play professionally. Instead, dig a little deeper. Think about the meaning of the two-foot braid that drapes down his back, a show of pride in his heritage. Then, Thompson insists, you might begin to understand the origins of his blood-boiling frustration. “The story that’s always told is about winning,” Thompson says. “But I don’t want to be the most marketable player in lacrosse or in the Hall of Fame. I want to honor the game. I want people to understand there is value in the medicine game. This is our gift to the world. And a vehicle to help people understand who we are.” The “we” Thompson refers to is the Iroquois, also known as the Haudenosaunee, the six nations that cross the U.S.-Canadian border in the northeast corner of North America. It is here, as far back as 1,000 years ago, where many believe Native Americans first invented lacrosse. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of men gathered on boundary-less fields in pursuit of goals stretched miles apart. For the Iroquois, the game carries a cultural and spiritual importance unlike any other. They believe lacrosse, originally played between land and winged animals long before there was human life on Earth, was gifted to them from the Creator. Thompson, the son of an iron worker who played box (indoor) lacrosse and the youngest of four brothers, is a member of the Onondaga Nation, a 7,300-acre territory just south of Syracuse, New York. Like other Haudenosaunee nations, the Onondaga operate outside the jurisdiction of New York state as a sovereign, independent nation with its own laws, language, customs, and culture. Lacrosse is at the heart of that culture, a game the Iroquois play not only to entertain the Creator but to assert their sovereignty and independence to the world. “It’s more than a game to us,” says Rex Lyons, a former lacrosse player and the son of 90-year-old Onondaga faith keeper Oren Lyons. “It’s an identity.” Today, the relationship between the Iroquois and the sport that means so much to them is as complicated as ever. Lacrosse is still riding the wave of a massive popularity boom in the early 2000s, with more than 830,000 Americans now participating in the game, You have 3 free articles left this month. a 227-percent increase, according to the 2018 U.S. Lacrosse participation report. There are five professional leagues in the U.S., Subscribe now and get a free tote. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/11/iroquois-quest-to-compete-olympic-lacrosse-more-than-game-to-us/?fbclid=IwAR0BNL4B6fYZfZJ… 1/6 11/24/2020 The Iroquois’ quest to compete in Olympic lacrosse: ‘It’s more than a game to us.’ including Major League Lacrosse, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary. The game also continues to grow internationally, with more than 66 national teams recognized by World Lacrosse, the sport’s governing body. The sport’s leaders want to capitalize on its growth and return lacrosse to the Olympics when the Summer Games come to Los Angeles in 2028. But a troubling question looms for the game’s originators: Will Olympic sport status mean leaving the Iroquois behind? The medicine game Among the Iroquois, when a young child receives his given native name, the community’s chief, or faith keeper, holds the child to the sky and blesses the child with the hope they will grow up to be one of three things: a singer and dancer of the native songs, a speaker of the native language, or a lacrosse player. Elders place miniature wooden lacrosse sticks in newborns’ cribs. And when someone’s life comes to an end, sticks are placed in the coffin. The game anticipates life and awaits players in the spirit world. “That stick represents everything from the earth that grows,” Lyons said. “The netting is representative of the deer, the leader of animals from all five continents. The weave in the netting, the connecting of all those hoops, that’s the clans, the families all connected together. And the ball, of course, is the medicine.” The four Thompson brothers and their sister grew up in a modest home built by their father Jerome. For much of their childhood they had no electricity or running water. The four boys, Jerome Jr., Jeremy, Miles, and Lyle, all slept in the same bedroom, often with their sticks by their side. Upon returning home from school the first thing they would do is grab their sticks and head into the yard. They’d shoot into a small box their dad had built, with a hole just big enough to fit a lacrosse ball. “That stick was my best friend,” Lyle says. “It was my everything. I slept with it every single night.” While Jeremy played at Syracuse and Jerome attended Onondaga Community College, Lyle and Miles starred together at the University of Albany. In 2014 they not only became the first Native Americans to win the Mohawk-named Tewaaraton Award, lacrosse’s version of the Heisman, but were the first to tie for the honor. Lyle went on to win the award again in 2015 after Miles graduated, finishing his career with an NCAA record 400 points. But the Thompsons believe the game has a spiritual impact far greater than records or awards. The game contains medicine, the Iroquois say. Even today, medicine games are called whenever someone in the community is in need. Poles are jammed into the ground on opposite ends of a field and men and boys of all ages compete to score a predetermined number of goals. Afterwards, the deerskin ball is given to that individual in need. “It’s about the feeling and the importance of why we are there—to perform for the Creator or someone who needs it and is ill,” says Jeremy. In 1983, the Iroquois sought to share that energy and use the sport as a vehicle to continue their fight for sovereignty and independence from their Canadian and U.S. neighbors. They successfully petitioned what was then the Federation of International Lacrosse to recognize the Iroquois as a national lacrosse team. Today, Thompson and the Iroquois are rock stars in any tournament in which they compete, drawing fans from around the globe as the only Native American team that competes internationally as a sovereign people. The FIL, which has since become World Lacrosse, is the lone international sports federation recognizing a group of independent people as its own federation. You have 3 free articles left this month. Despite drawing from a population of just 125,000 people, the Iroquois are widely regarded among the most successful lacrosse Subscribe now and get a free tote. national teams in the world, along with the United States (population 328 million) and Canada (population 33 million). The Iroquois https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/11/iroquois-quest-to-compete-olympic-lacrosse-more-than-game-to-us/?fbclid=IwAR0BNL4B6fYZfZJ… 2/6 11/24/2020 The Iroquois’ quest to compete in Olympic lacrosse: ‘It’s more than a game to us.’ men finished third in the last two field lacrosse world championships and second in all five world box lacrosse championships. The Iroquois women’s team finished seventh in 2007. The Thompson Brothers have their own line of Nike apparel, including hoodies, caps, backpacks, and lacrosse cleats. And at the heart of the Onondaga social life is its 1,900-seat, 40,000-square foot state-of-the-art Onondaga Nation Arena, which doubles as an indoor facility for both hockey and lacrosse. In 2015, the arena helped host the 2015 World Indoor Lacrosse Championships. “There is no other sport like this in the world, with an origin story of a game shared with the world by an indigenous group, and that group not only still competes today but does so as one of the very best teams out there,” said Steve Stenersen, the CEO of USA Lacrosse and a Vice President for World Lacrosse. “What they have done is beyond remarkable.” The fight for inclusion This summer, fresh off a match with his professional club, the Chesapeake Bayhawks, Lyle Thompson learned on Twitter that the World Games, a quadrennial sports festival held as a showcase for non-Olympic sports, had announced the eight-team field for its inaugural men’s lacrosse championships in 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama. The list did not include the Iroquois Nationals.