Blessing of the Field

When a new sport is brought to a college community there is inevitable excitement, which is not the exception with lacrosse at CMU. With CMU women’s lacrosse there is not only an excitement of a new sport, but also a continuation of an already important relationship with the local Saginaw Chippewa Indian tribe. The tribe has shown their support of the program with a ‘Blessing of the Field’ ceremony and presented the captains with two hand made lacrosse sticks. In turn CMU has adapted a special color scheme to honor the tribe using the colors of the medicine wheel integrated into the laces of their sticks.

Lacrosse started as a native sport played by many different tribes to prepare for battle. The historical game was played over many miles, while the modern sport has been modified to have boundaries and rules to protect player’s safety. Women’s lacrosse has stayed more true to the historic game than men’s lacrosse, which has taken on a more high contact nature.

*I received first place honors from the Michigan Press Association in the 2016 "Multimedia Reporting" category for this piece on Central Michigan University lacrosse.