New sport or old tradition?

Lacrosse is a sport where you need to get a ball into a net. While it may sound like most other games, the net is much smaller, and it’s on the end of a short stick. Fifth-grader Nate Piccinich loves the challenge.

“I got into lacrosse because I went to my brother’s games, and it really inspired me,” Piccinich said.

Piccinich is a midfielder or “middle” for short. That player does most of the running and is allowed to cross the middle line to play both offense and defense. Midfielder is one of four positions. There is attack that can only stay on the other team’s side of the field. Defense must stay on their team’s side. Those players have a much longer lacrosse stick. Finally, the goalie can move anywhere, but when they are close to the net, other players can not interfere with them.

Both men and women have lacrosse teams. Men’s lacrosse is a full-contact sport. Player interaction is more restricted in women’s lacrosse.

“I would like to give credit to my brother because he helped me realize my goal of playing lacrosse,” Piccinich said.