What Lacrosse is like in Finland
Photo by Alexa Hinjosa
Having grown up around the sport of lacrosse my entire life, the idea of lacrosse existing outside of North America seemed far-fetched. After finding out I would be taking my module to Finland, I wanted to see if lacrosse had started to grow there like it did in the United States. Through my research beforehand, I discovered that the first city we visited, Helsinki, had an active lacrosse club with opportunities for both men and women to play lacrosse. The Helsinki Lacrosse Club, as they are officially known, is an entirely player-run organization that doesn’t have a designated coach. This means that the players themselves organize all the practices, scrimmages, and games. The team plays games against themselves because they have a first and second team for the women, and they also play against their rivals from across the country in Turku. The Helsinki Lacrosse Club is the oldest and most successful club in the country, but the program offers itself as a springboard for players to make Finland's national team and compete in international lacrosse competitions.
Founded in 2002, Helsinki Lacrosse Club is the premier program in Finland for anyone looking to try out lacrosse. The club hosts one men's team called The Chiefs and two women's teams called the Chiefettes and the Huskies; all teams are open to anyone in Helsinki. While players will eventually have to pay club fees to continue playing, initially, joining the team is free for all, and the program will also loan you gear to help get you started. The club claims to be the best in the country, having won the most championships of any other lacrosse club in Finland, but there really isn’t a lot of other competition outside of Helsinki. Turku is one of the largest cities in Finland and is the only other major city I could find with another lacrosse club that competes with Helsinki’s lacrosse club. Unfortunately, lacrosse in Finland is fighting more of an uphill battle than it is in the states. The country has established its own international team, but its website is largely unfinished and doesn’t offer much information about where someone can play lacrosse outside of Helsinki and Turku.
Since I was only in Helsinki for a few days before we moved on to the next city, I really wanted to sit in on a game or practice for the Helsinki lacrosse club. I checked the English section of their website and saw they were practicing the day after we got there in the evening. After an afternoon spent with my module class exploring all Helsinki has to offer, I ventured out on my own to get a glimpse at what lacrosse is like in Europe. I traveled thirty minutes via a public bus to an outdoor athletic complex where I saw multiple different turf fields with local Fins playing soccer, cricket, and basketball, but no lacrosse in sight. I stumbled upon a field with American football lines and 2 lacrosse goals on either side—finally, a sign of life for the sport.
The goals were left facedown like they hadn’t been touched all day. I walked through the entire complex, carefully checking to make sure no one was playing lacrosse on another field, but, unfortunately, when I initially walked around, I couldn’t find anything. I disappointingly decided to turn around and venture back to our hostel, but as I was leaving, I saw two women with lacrosse sticks setting up one of the goals on the football field with a pile of balls about ten yards from the cage. I almost couldn’t contain my excitement as I approached them to see if they were willing to talk to me about lacrosse in Finland. Luckily Fins are taught English in school, and most of them are fluent, so there wasn’t a huge language barrier. Aino and Marlies, the Finnish women I found playing lacrosse, were actually the captains of the Huskies women's lacrosse club in Helsinki. I started to ask them a barrage of questions about the sport. They told me about their favorite women’s college teams, the University of North Carolina and Boston College, and how they were first introduced to lacrosse. I learned that there are practically no young lacrosse players in Helsinki. Most of the people who compete for the Helsinki lacrosse club are just finishing university or already have. This is probably because of Finland’s culture. In Finland, sports take a backseat to education, and by the time most students reach Lukio, their form of high school, they have given up sports. Aino and Marlies put things into perspective for me when they said their skill level in Finland could be compared to middle school or early high school players in the US. It completely baffled me that they had no coach, no guidance on how to learn the sport, and no one to explain the strategy and nuance of the game. Since they were captains, Aino and Marlies told me they had somewhat taken the roles of player-coaches, offering guidance to their teammates and much-needed leadership to a growing organization. Aino and Marlies told me about their aspirations to become members of Finland's national team that will be competing in international tournaments in the near future. I hope to see their names on the national team’s roster soon.
Lacrosse hasn’t only spread to Finland, but many different countries across the world also field their own national teams that compete internationally. World Lacrosse is the governing entity over international lacrosse that has members from all over the globe. They have teams in Europe, Asia, and even Africa. But this organization was only the first step in getting worldwide lacrosse recognition.
Lacrosse is finally being brought to the largest international stage. In 2028 lacrosse will be making its first Olympic appearance since 120 years ago in 1908. Olympic lacrosse will not be played the same way as lacrosse is typically played. To make the game even faster than it already is, the Olympic version of lacrosse is six-on-six rather than the traditional ten-on-ten. There is no stop in play after a goal is scored; teams simply start with the ball on their defensive side after being scored on. They call it Lacrosse Sixes. A few international games have already been played, and smaller tournaments are being played to help grow this variation of lacrosse. But, only time will tell if this new format will stick around.