The Culture of Lacrosse Is More Complex Than People Think

Back When I was a lacrosse-obsessed middle-schooler, I spent hours alone in Turtle Park—near my childhood home in American University Park—tossing a ball against a wall, trying to master the basics. Not long ago, I found myself back in that same spot, having dug out my lacrosse stick to see if my modest skills had endured. I hadn’t thought much about lacrosse since I quit halfway through high school, but I was surprised to discover I could still play somewhat, and the old thrill of this unusually graceful sport came rushing back. Lacrosse gets its hooks in you.

S.L. Price understands that feeling well. The prominent sportswriter has a new book about lacrosse, The American Game, and after I finished up in the park, I headed to nearby Wagshal’s deli to talk to him about it. (Price lives in the neighborhood.) When I told him I’d just been reliving my lacrosse days, he knew exactly what I had felt. “It’s addictive,” he said. “Even I, as a non-player, really understand why the sport gets under people’s skin. It’s a beautiful game. It’s got incredible depth. And the stickwork is magical.”

The American Game isn’t a conventional account of the story of lacrosse, but rather a cultural history of a sport that’s more complicated than casual observers might realize. Price wanted to get past public perceptions of the game as a bastion of prep-school entitlement—“a sport of upper-class Neanderthals,” as he describes the stereotype—and explore how lacrosse, invented by Native Americans around 1,000 years ago, has come to attract and embrace Indigenous, Black, working-class, and female players. “In the general public, lacrosse doesn’t have an extremely positive view,” he said. “I wanted to examine the cliché and figure out what’s true and not. And then I wanted to explore all the exceptions to it.”

Price grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, where he played catch with a lacrosse stick for fun but never joined a team. He got his start as a sportswriter at the University of North Carolina in the early ’80s. (He covered Michael Jordan’s sophomore year for the school paper.) Eventually, he ended up at Sports Illustrated, where he was a star feature writer for 26 years.

In 2006, SI sent Price back to North Carolina to cover the Duke lacrosse team, at the time embroiled in a high-profile scandal involving rape allegations (which later turned out to have been fabricated). Then, a few years later, he wrote a story about the Iroquois national lacrosse team, which offered a more nuanced picture of what the sport is about. Those experiences stuck with him, and years later, when Price was talking to his book editor about what to write next, he kept coming back to lacrosse. He then spent seven years reporting and writing what turned into The American Game. The Iroquois team (now known as the Haudenosaunee Nationals) became its narrative spine. “The sport wouldn’t leave me alone,” Price said. “I kept thinking about it and thinking about it and thinking about it, and I’m like, Why am I still thinking about this sport I don’t play? I had no choice in the matter. It kept me up at night.”

This article appears in the June 2025 issue of Washingtonian.

Rob Brunner

Politics and Culture Editor

Rob Brunner grew up in DC and moved back in 2017 to join Washingtonian. Previously, he was an editor and writer at Fast Company and other publications. He lives with his family in Chevy Chase DC.