LaCrosse (长曲棍球, 라크로스, ラクロス)

Growing up, I never had a chance to play lacrosse, and I'm starting to realize that was a missed opportunity to do a sport that is pretty fun, like playing hockey but you don't have to skate, playing soccer but you don't have to dribble with your feet (I'm starting to realize feet were my problem with sports; I was pretty good with hand-eye and upper parts of the body, just the inability to jump high, run fast, or kick hard was a big problem). In suburban Illinois, it was a mix of tennis- (I recently realized pickleball has a Michael Jordan of the sport named Ben Johns? In tennis Alcaraz v. Sinner is the new Agassi v. Sampras, Nadal v. Federer, list all other comparisons, etc.) In the winter, it was swimming and driving us to a nearby bowling alley for...bowling. Oh and the indoor sport we did most similar to lacrosse was.....handball. I actually have some fond memories of handball and it's actually similar to lacrosse, just without sticks, and less facemasks. That's the one thing I don't appreciate about sports requiring helmets or other headgear: I wore glasses back then, would never have enjoyed putting glasses back on my nose and all the awkwardness. That's probably why I liked swimming back then: I was finally able o ditch my crutch and have equal opportunity in the pool. Lacrosse was just too hoighty-toighty, East coast for Chicago I guess. When MJ and I recently visited the National LaCrosse Hall of Fame, we learned that a.) Lacrosse is not an Olympic sport, but it was way back in the early 1900s, their international association is trying to lobby them back in, and I sympathize having been part of different campaigns to get dodgeball in as an Olympic sport, and b.) All of the national champions are schools in one part of the nation, mainly the Northeast, like Maryland Terrapins, Duke Blue Devils, Cornell Big Red, Virginia Cavaliers. Oh and it's coming back as an Olympic medal sport in 2028! Figures that the sport that started as an indigenous sport and since then became the national sport of Canada would be concentrated in the Northeast. Goes to show some games and sports are just cultural and limited to certain regions. Those of us who grew up in the Midwest missed out, I fear. We did also learn about Native American tribes that played the sport, including Iroquois nation of Onandanga, Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, and....Cayuga. That's some trivia right there. More trivia: The American painter who depicted many Native Americans was George Catlin, in the 1800s. That's the great thing about having a child (or children) if ambitious: it's like giving yourself a second chance at sports, to live vicariously through your children, and let them figure out what sports or activities they want to do, let them have a shot at being really good at something. Whether it's dodgeball, pickleball, lacrosse, swimming, whatever, a child gets to start from scratch and is like an open book: the pages haven't even been written yet. (That's from a Natasha Bedingfield song). I wish for any child of mine to be able to get that chance from a young age and get as dedicated as possible, and I imagine a child of mine will want to be competitive and chase their dreams. Here I am, 38 years old, and still chasing my dreams, wishing for that one chance to be something great.