As recently as 2011, the number of Israelis who knew about lacrosse in general and lacrosse's presence in Israel in particular could perhaps be counted on one hand. But eight years later, the country's women's team is making international headlines, not just with their victories, but also with their goodwill gesture of gifting their Kenyan opponents new lacrosse cleats.

In July, the Israeli women’s national team won a silver medal at the Women's European Lacrosse Championship that took place in Israel. The Israeli team is made up of six native-born Israeli women who play alongside American Jewish immigrants to Israel. “Seeing how far these players have gone in a sport that didn’t even exist in Israel just eight years ago is absolutely incredible,” David Lasday, chief operating officer of the Israel Lacrosse Association, told Al-Monitor. “I knew we’d be good, but I had no idea how good.” 

The team’s silver medal is the high point of a series of remarkable achievements for Israel’s lacrosse teams. The women’s team came in sixth in the world championship two years ago and fourth in the European championship four years ago. The men’s team came in seventh in the last two world championships in 2014 and 2018.

Lacrosse was first developed by the native peoples of North America about 400 years ago. Originally, it was an unusually violent game. In its current incarnation, lacrosse reached Canada in the 19th century and was even played in the first Olympic Games of the 20th century. Described as a cross between soccer, basketball and ice hockey, the game played between two teams of 10 is very physical and fast-paced. Like in soccer, players score by getting the ball into the opposing team’s goal, but in lacrosse, the ball is moved across the field using sticks with a netted “scoop” attached to the shaft. Each game lasts 80 minutes.