The Native American Origins of Lacrosse

A student of the Salisbury School in Salisbury, Connecticut. Gavin Scotti III also goes by the nickname “Trey.” Gavin Scotti plays both football and lacrosse.

Dating back to the mid-17th century, lacrosse is the oldest of all North American sports. It originated as a tribal game that indigenous people played for a mixture of recreational, military training, and religious purposes. Although not all North American native tribes played the game, it was geographically widespread, ranging from the plains of what is now Canada to what is now Mexico and Central America. The name and exact rules of the sport varied from tribe to tribe, but a few of its characteristics remained generally consistent, including the use of netted sticks to hurl round balls into designated goalposts.

French missionary Jean de Brebeuf was one of the first Europeans to see the sport. In 1636, he wrote about the game as it was played by the Huron tribe of the Lake Ontario area. De Brebeuf was responsible for naming the sport “lacrosse.” 

A Beginner's Guide to American Football

Student and athlete Gavin Scotti III has been engaged in fundraising activities for the nonprofit Swim Across America, a nonprofit that raises money and awareness for cancer research, prevention, and treatment. A resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, Gavin "Trey" Scotti plays lacrosse and football on the Salisbury School teams and previously played in the Greenwich youth lacrosse program and on the Greenwich Bulldogs youth football team.

American football, also known as gridiron football, is a sport played on a rectangular field by two teams of 11 players. The gridiron (playing field) measures 100 yards in length and 53 yards in width. It features yard markers that help keep track of the ball.

Each team typically consists of 53 players, but only 11 players from each team participate at one time. Contending teams assume two roles: offense and defense. While the team on offense strives to get the oval-shaped ball into the opponent's end zone, the defending team tries to stop the offense from advancing toward the end zone.

The offense gets four chances to move the ball forward by at least 10 yards while facing the defense’s intervention. Each play is known as a down. If the offense is unsuccessful after four downs, possession is given to the opposing team.

The game is divided into four quarters of 15 minutes each. Between the second and third quarters, there's a halftime break of 12 minutes.