SAY GOODBYE TO THE WOODEN

LACROSSE STICK

by SCOTT HOUGHTON

BREAKING NEWS

A report from BBC News this past weekend has conveyed the sad news that Hattersleys in the U.K.

will be closing shop, ending 102 of creating some of the world’s finest wooden lacrosse sticks.

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Hattersleys makes sticks for several sports and has been making cricket bats for over 130 years.

Tom Becket

Master stick-maker Tom Becket will be leaving his post after about fifty years of crafting sticks from

American hickory wood. He says his last stick might be the world’s last as well.

But why?

Hattersleys director Matthew Rigby cites the lower production cost and lightness of plastic stick as the overwhelming reasons for doing away with

the wooden sticks.

Because…

It is extremely wearing on a lacrosse player to carry, cradle, and block with a wooden stick—metal alloy and plastic sticks are much lighter with the same if not much greater structural integrity. In addition, Becket says most of their sticks are shipped to the United States anyway, adding to production costs and giving a sizable advantage to American stick

makers.

History of Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a ballgame that comes from the indigenous cultures of North America. Traditionally, it was played as a ritualized game that was believed

to be connected to supernatural powers or spirits. For either curative purposes or to settle tribal disputes. As

many early European settlers such as missionaries found it to be a violent and unseemly game, there are

not many primary sources that talk about the strategy or technique.

Lacrosse in America

The earliest accounts date to the early 17th Century from French missionaries living amongst the Huron

tribes of the Great Lakes area. However, lacrosse was widely played among the Eastern Native

Americans, with evidence appearing in the Great Lakes, Southeast and St. Lawrence valley.

Brian Larney, history.og

Lacrosse Migrate

It is interesting to measure the diffusion of lacrosse westward across the Mississippi River to

areas like Oklahoma that occurs concurrently with the forceful removal

of Native Americans from the Southeast.

Future of Lacrosse

Lacrosse is now the fastest growing sport in the United States, with some 500,000

athletes participating each year.

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To learn more about Scott Houghton, please visit his website at http://scotthoughton.net/