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For Native people, sports are an important part of traditional society. Athletic prowess, sportsmanship, competitiveness, and spirituality are intertwined with various sporting activities. “Ball” games were always extremely popular among Native Americans. Team sports such as Lacrosse, Shinny Ball, Double Ball, and Long Ball emphasize the importance of strength of both the body and mind and of leadership and responsibility to others.

       LACROSSE also referred to as "The Creator's Game"
Lacrosse is a game devised by Native Americans.  Which particular native nation actually invented the game is not known, but many in the northeast played it.  The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) call "Tewaarathon" or lacrosse their national game. For the Haudenosaunee, it was played to give thanks to the Creator.  In the past, a game would be played to provide additional power to the medicines being used to heal the sick. It could be played to settle disputes.  It was played to hone men’s stamina, hand-eye coordination, and teamwork.  Beginning in the 1700s, the game moved towards becoming a sport, popular not only among Iroquois, but also with European and French Canadians.  The game continues to be played by Haudenosaunee, but it has been transformed into a competitive sport.  Lacrosse today is played between Haudenosaunee communities as well as with non-native teams.

Field Lacrosse
Box Lacrosse
Lacrosse Player, 1996 alabaster by Fred Gonyea, Onondaga

Tonawanda Seneca Baseball Team		 BASEBALL

Baseball became another venue for enhancing and demonstrating skill and dexterity. Native people were introduced to the game of baseball in a variety of ways.  With the arrival of Europeans to North America came the introduction of formal education and Christianity to the Native Americans. An integral part of early attempts at non-Native education and religious conversion of Natives was the playing of sports such as baseball. Well known Apache warrior Geronimo played baseball while imprisoned at Fort Sill.

  
For many Native American children, exposure to baseball came with their relocation to off-reservation government boarding schools.  For non-Native administrators of boarding schools baseball demonstrated the success of their assimilationist techniques, but for Native children success in baseball became a source of community and personal pride and freedom from the boarding school regime. The first federal boarding school was opened in Carlisle, PA in 1879.  More than 100,000 Native children attended the 500 boarding schools that followed the opening of Carlisle.  By the 1930s many of the schools were closed, but a number were still maintained by missionaries and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 
Akwesasne "Red Tops" Women's Team

Louis Bruce, Sr., Mohawk

Community baseball was very popular in Native American communities. Most Iroquois communities fielded teams that would travel to other Iroquois communities in New York and Canada or play non-Native teams in surrounding towns. At times, non-Native players would join Native teams.  The level of play of these community teams would be on par with today’s semi-professional teams. At Six Nations Reserve in Ontario each of the Longhouses had a baseball diamond. Former Carlisle Boarding School student, Jake Jimeson, returned home to the Seneca Community in western New York to build baseball fields and organize his own team. Jake also helped train two of his sons, Earl & Elliott for professional baseball in the Eastern League in the 1920s. In Oneida, Wisconsin in the 1920s, tavern owner Mark Powless managed and was part owner of a baseball team that competed against semi-pro state teams. His team included a number of ex-big league players. William Metoxen, Oneida, relates a story from his childhood of visiting relatives in Kansas. They attended a picnic where they watched a baseball game between a traveling Negro team and the local ball team of Circleville, Kansas. At Onondaga the Lacrosse players would play for the baseball team when the Lacrosse season ended.  
                               SNOWSNAKE GAME

During the long snowy winter, one game that is played for amusement is snowsnake.  The snowsnake is thrown down a long, snow packed track. The player whose stick slides the furthest wins the throw. Bets can be placed on the contestants. Teams are composed of throwers and those who make and prepare the snowsnakes. Snowsnakes are made in a variety of ways to suit the conditions of the track. Snowsnakes are made from wood and have a lead tip for balance.
Jim Sky throwing a snowsnake.

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