Haudenosaunee Nationals a step closer to being in the Olympics with inclusion of lacrosse

The inclusion of lacrosse in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles brings members of the Haudenosaunee Nationals lacrosse teams a step closer to being Olympic contenders.

The International Olympic Committee announced Monday that lacrosse and four other sports would be added to the 2028 Games.

The Haudenosaunee Nationals, made up of athletes from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy which includes the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk), Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora nations, are members of World Lacrosse, the international governing body of lacrosse, and compete at the global level.

In men's box lacrosse, they're ranked second in the world and in women's field lacrosse, they're ranked eighth.

Fawn Porter, who is Cayuga from Six Nations of the Grand River near Hamilton, Ont., plays for the Haudenosaunee Nationals women's team in both box and field lacrosse. She's been playing since she was "as tall as the goal posts" — around six or seven years old. 

Now 26, Porter said she's "stoked" about the announcement. 

"We actually have a chance to be Olympians now," she said, adding there's still a lot of work she and her teammates would need to do to compete at that level.

"We're going to be there on the forefront to help with the men, to provide that good medicine to the world and I really feel like we're going to remind everyone what it is to play a sport."

The last time lacrosse was played in the Olympics was in 1904 when Canada fielded two teams: the Shamrock Lacrosse team and one called the Mohawk Indians, made up of Kanien'kehá:ka players, who won the bronze medal.

Kevin Sandy, First Nations director of Lacrosse Canada said the sport's inclusion in the Olympics is the first step in getting the Haudenosaunee Nationals teams to the competition.

"There's still a lot of work to do that must take place by IOC and its membership and everyone else who will grant us the status to play and compete in the Olympics," he said.

According to the IOC's website, "there are no countries participating in the Olympic Games, but rather athletes from National Olympic Committees (NOCs)." 

Leo Nolan, executive director of the Haudenosaunee Nationals, said the Nationals' board of directors is working with World Lacrosse to determine what it takes to gain International Olympic Committee recognition.

"We're very grateful that the Creator's game has now been recognized as a Olympic sport and that our young men and women will have a chance to speak on the biggest sports stage in the world," Nolan said.

Nolan spoke of lacrosse's growing popularity and the Haudenosaunee's willingness to "share the game."

"Twenty years ago, there were maybe a dozen countries that played lacrosse and now there are 90," he said.

Nolan said the Nationals are considered leaders in the sport, often being invited to other countries to help start teams.

'What we grew up playing'

The game format at the 2028 Olympics will be "sixes," which is a hybrid of box and field lacrosse — faster-paced, with larger nets and a smaller five-man team.

"There's one faceoff at the beginning of each quarter and then as soon as the goal is scored, the goalie pulls [the ball] out, puts it back into play right away," Haudensoaunee Nationals general manager Darcy Powless said.

"It's technically a backyard game ... what we grew up playing." 

Powless said the support the Nationals receive around the world is a testament to their right to be at the Olympics.

Initially, the Haudenosaunee Nationals men's team was not invited to the 2022 World Games in Alabama because they could not compete as a sovereign nation. International support of the team prompted organizers to change their decision and include the Haudenosaunee Nationals in the World Games for the first time.

Ireland voluntarily stepped down to make room for the Haudenosaunee on the eight-team roster.

"That's why Ireland stepped out to allow us to compete, because they knew we were [ranked] number three [in the world]," he said.