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Welcome to Oysterriverlax.com.
Welcome to the Oyster River Lacrosse web site. This web site provides information, news and multi media content (pictures and video) about lacrosse in the Oyster River area (towns of Durham, Lee and Madbury, New Hampshire) - for Oyster River Youth Association Boys and Girls Lacrosse - as well as Oyster River High School Lacrosse.
Contact Information
To contact us please click on the email address provided below:
Oyster River Lacrosse Administrator; oryalax@msn.com
Directions to Oyster River Youth Association Lacrosse Fields - at the Fields at Flag Hill Winery
From Boston area: Take Interstate 95 north, exit onto Route 101 toward Exeter. Travel about six miles to the town of Epping, Exit onto Route 125 North, travel four miles to Route 155, take a right onto Route 155 and travel one-quarter mile and our facility is on the on the right.
From Portsmouth area: Take the Spaulding Turnpike north, exit onto Route 4 (exit 6W) toward Durham/Concord. Travel about ten miles to the intersection of Route 4 and Route 125 (Lee rotary), travel south on Route 125 for about four miles and take a sharp left onto route 155 and travel one quarter mile and our facility is on the right.
From Manchester area: Take Route 101 East to Epping. Exit in Epping onto Route 125, head north for about four miles to Route 155, take a right onto Route 155 and travel one-quarter mile and our facility is on the right.
Address: 297 North River Road, Lee, NH, 03824
About Lacrosse:
Lacrosse, considered to be America's first sport, was born of the North American Indian, christened by the French, and adapted and raised by the Canadians. Modern lacrosse has been embraced by athletes and enthusiasts of the United States and the British Commonwealth for over a century.
The sport of lacrosse is a combination of basketball, soccer and hockey. Anyone can play lacrosse--the big or the small. The game requires and rewards coordination and agility, not brawn. Quickness and speed are two highly prized qualities in lacrosse. An exhilarating sport, lacrosse is fast-paced and full of action. Long sprints up and down the field with abrupt starts and stops, precision passes and dodges are routine in men's and women's lacrosse. Lacrosse is played with a stick, the crosse, which must be mastered by the player to throw, catch and scoop the ball.
Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing team sports in the United States. Youth membership (ages 15 and under) in US Lacrosse has more than tripled since 1999 to nearly 100,000. No sport has grown faster at the high school level over the last 10 years and there are now more than 130,000 high school players. Lacrosse is also the fastest-growing sport over the last five years at the NCAA level and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are more than 500 college club programs, the majority of which compete under the umbrella of US Lacrosse and its "intercollegiate associates" level.
BRIEF HISTORY
With a history that spans centuries, lacrosse is the oldest sport in North America. Rooted in Native American religion, lacrosse was often played to resolve conflicts, heal the sick, and develop strong, virile men. To Native Americans, lacrosse is still referred to as "The Creator's Game."
Ironically, lacrosse also served as a preparation for war. Legend tells of as many as 1,000 players per side, from the same or different tribes, who took turns engaging in a violent contest. Contestants played on a field from one to 15 miles in length, and games sometimes lasted for days. Some tribes used a single pole, tree or rock for a goal, while other tribes had two goal posts through which the ball had to pass. Balls were made out of wood, deerskin, baked clay or stone.
The evolution of the Native American game into modern lacrosse began in 1636 when Jean de Brebeuf, a Jesuit missionary, documented a Huron contest in what is now southeast Ontario, Canada. At that time, some type of lacrosse was played by at least 48 Native American tribes scattered throughout what is now southern Canada and all parts of the United States. French pioneers began playing the game avidly in the 1800s. Canadian dentist W. George Beers standardized the game in 1867 with the adoption of set field dimensions, limits to the number of players per team and other basic rules.
New York University fielded the nation's first college team in 1877, and Philips Academy, Andover (Massachusetts), Philips Exeter Academy (New Hampshire) and the Lawrenceville School (New Jersey) were the nation's first high school teams in 1882. There are 400 college and 1,200 high school men's lacrosse teams from coast to coast.
The first women's lacrosse game was played in 1890 at the St. Leonard's School in Scotland. Although an attempt was made to start women's lacrosse at Sweet Briar College in Virginia in 1914, it was not until 1926 that Miss Rosabelle Sinclair established the first women's lacrosse team in the United States at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Maryland.
Men's and women's lacrosse were played under virtually the same rules, with no protective equipment, until the mid-1930s. At that time, men's lacrosse began evolving dramatically, while women's lacrosse continued to remain true to the game's original rules. Men's and women's lacrosse remain derivations of the same game today, but are played under different rules. Women's rules limit stick contact, prohibit body contact and, therefore, require little protective equipment. Men's lacrosse rules allow some degree of stick and body contact, although violence is neither condoned nor allowed.
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