Pacific Northwest Native Lacrosse

Pacific Northwest Native Lacrosse More Native Youth Playing Lacrosse, The Creator's Game.

Last night I stopped carrying my traditional wood stick as a reminder of what this game means and started asking what it...
08/24/2026

Last night I stopped carrying my traditional wood stick as a reminder of what this game means and started asking what it would mean to actually be in relationship with it.

I’ve taught with this stick and carried it into a lot of spaces, but when it was time to play, I still reached for my modern stick because I knew it. Last night I played the whole game with my traditional wood stick, and I realized quickly that choosing it is only the beginning.

I have to learn it. Understand the pocket and release. Adjust it. Work it in. Throw with it, catch with it, miss with it and keep coming back to it. I have to learn what the stick is asking from me instead of expecting it to immediately do what I want.

That feels like relationship to me. You don’t build relationship by simply possessing something or knowing what it represents. You build it through time, attention and practice.

I keep coming back to this: I play to play.

Playing with wood made me slow down. I wasn’t as clean or comfortable, but there was something good about that. Something nourishing about being willing to learn again.

So I’m going to keep playing with my woodie. Keep adjusting it. Keep learning it. Keep building relationship with it.

I don’t want to just carry the reminder. I want to live in relationship with it.

Play to Play.

I give thanks to Creator for the privilege of stewarding PNW NATIVE LACROSSE. To be trusted with this work, and to watch...
08/21/2026

I give thanks to Creator for the privilege of stewarding PNW NATIVE LACROSSE.

To be trusted with this work, and to watch Creator’s Game reach hundreds of Native youth and families, has truly been one of the greatest joys of my life.

We’ve introduced kids to the game, created opportunities for Native youth to play and compete, and worked to remove barriers that too often keep our kids from having access in the first place.

But through all of that, the purpose has always stayed simple: our Native kids come first.

The tournaments, travel, partnerships, programs, uniforms and growth only matter if they create meaningful opportunities for our youth. Opportunities to play, to belong, to see themselves reflected in the game and, Creator willing, to grow in relationship with who they are as Native people.

I don’t take the responsibility of this work lightly. I’m grateful for every family who has trusted us with their kids, every person who has shared knowledge with us, every partner who has opened a door and every person who has helped us make the circle a little wider.

As long as I have the privilege of stewarding PNW NATIVE LACROSSE our kids will always be at the center of it.

There is something about Baaga’adowewin that brings out a different kind of joy in our communities.Every time we introdu...
08/20/2026

There is something about Baaga’adowewin that brings out a different kind of joy in our communities.

Every time we introduce our youth and families to Baaga’adowewin, you can see it almost immediately. The curiosity. The laughter. The sense of awe that comes with learning how to throw, making that first catch, or finally getting the ball up off the ground.

There is something familiar about it. The movements and concepts connect naturally to the modern game, but the stick, the style of play, and the experience are different enough that people slow down, become curious, and simply enjoy learning again.

Watching Baaga’adowewin continue to grow within Ojibwe communities has been especially powerful.

With our trip to Minnesota coming up, I keep thinking about a young Native player we met there who picked up a modern lacrosse stick and told me it was his first time ever using one. Then he told me he had already been playing Baaga’adowewin for years.

That moment has stayed with me.

Seeing a young person come to modern lacrosse through his own community’s traditional game felt like the story moving in the right direction.

Baaga’adowewin will always be one of the Indigenous stick and ball games we make space for at PNW NATIVE LACROSSE . We will teach about it, play it, honor the people and communities who carry it, and help our youth understand its relationship to the game we play today.

’adowewin

There’s a theme in these photos.An eagle feather worn onto the field. Tribal flags held proudly. Braids flowing out from...
08/19/2026

There’s a theme in these photos.

An eagle feather worn onto the field. Tribal flags held proudly. Braids flowing out from underneath helmets. A coach in his cedar hat. Our players smudging before taking the field. Our youth singing, drumming, dancing and sharing their gifts. Traditional sticks right alongside the modern game.

This is the difference between lacrosse and Native Lacrosse. Culture.

At PNW NATIVE LACROSSE , we say Culture through Creator’s Game because at the end of the day, our hope is bigger than teaching Native youth how to play lacrosse.

We want to create spaces where our youth and families can be proud of who they are, where they come from and the people and communities they represent.

We want to compete. We want our players to work hard, get better and win games. But the wins that matter most to us are moments like these.

When our culture is present. When our kids feel like they belong. When they know they can step onto a lacrosse field fully as themselves and carry who they are with them.

That will always mean more to us than the outcome of any game or tournament.

Because for us, the Creator’s Game isn’t just something we play.

It’s a place for our culture to live.

Culture through the Creator’s Game. 🥍

We’re kicking off our first CREATOR’S COMMUNITY GAME next week in Tacoma. 🥍This is lacrosse stripped back to what matter...
08/18/2026

We’re kicking off our first CREATOR’S COMMUNITY GAME next week in Tacoma. 🥍

This is lacrosse stripped back to what matters most: sticks, a ball, and community.

We’ll start the evening by teaching and refreshing the basics of the game, then bring everyone together to play.

For the Community Game, we’re trying something a little different: modern lacrosse sticks with traditional goal posts, creating a simple hybrid game that connects the way many of us play today with the deeper roots of Creator’s Game.

Come learn. Come play. Come be in community.

📍 Jefferson Park | Tacoma, WA
📅 August 25 | 6–8 PM
🥍 FREE + ALL AGES + ALL ARE WELCOME
No experience required. Equipment provided if you need it.

Whether you’ve played for years or have never picked up a stick, there’s a place for you in the game.

Creator’s Game belongs in community. Sign up at the link in our bio!

The feeling you get when you realize next weekend you’ll be back in Minnesota with some of your favorite Natives and you...
08/18/2026

The feeling you get when you realize next weekend you’ll be back in Minnesota with some of your favorite Natives and your homies from PLL Assists. 🥍

We’re forever grateful for the family and community we’ve built through our Respect the Roots partnership with Premier Lacrosse League and PLL Assists.

We’re also grateful to the league for continuing to lead not only in recognizing and honoring the Native roots of this game, but in putting that recognition into action by helping remove barriers and create real opportunities for Native youth to play, belong and be represented in lacrosse.

This partnership has become about so much more than the game. It’s about relationships, community and carrying Creator’s Game forward in a good way.

See you soon, Minnesota! 🥍🪶

This weekend, we had the opportunity to partner with our friends at Tlingit & Haida to bring the Creator’s Game to Alask...
08/17/2026

This weekend, we had the opportunity to partner with our friends at Tlingit & Haida to bring the Creator’s Game to Alaska Native youth and families here in the Pacific Northwest. 🥍

Together, we learned the fundamentals of lacrosse, explored some of the traditional stick-and-ball games from across Turtle Island and the Creation stories connected to them, and most importantly, we played.

At the end of our time together, we smudged, gave thanks, and were honored to gift participants their first lacrosse sticks so their relationship with the game can continue long after the clinic.

There is something incredibly powerful about watching Native youth pick up a stick for the first time and seeing the curiosity, confidence, and joy that follows.

We are grateful to Tlingit & Haida for inviting us to create this space together and for another opportunity to connect Native youth, families, culture, and community through the Creator’s Game.

Lacrosse is Medicine.

Fort Michilimackinac.On June 2, 1763, Ojibwe and Sauk gathered outside these walls to play baaga’adowewin - lacrosse.The...
08/11/2026

Fort Michilimackinac.

On June 2, 1763, Ojibwe and Sauk gathered outside these walls to play baaga’adowewin - lacrosse.

The British came out to watch, leaving the gates open and their weapons behind.

As the game moved toward the fort, Native women waited near the gates wrapped in heavy blankets, concealing weapons beneath them.

Then the ball came down near the open gate.

The players rushed for it. The women opened their blankets and handed them the weapons.

Within minutes, the British garrison was overwhelmed and the Ojibwe took control of Michilimackinac.

That’s why I wanted to stand here.

There was something powerful about standing outside these same walls 263 years later with CREATOR’S GAME across my chest.

Long before modern lacrosse, the traditional stick and ball games were Ceremony. Medicine. Community. Joy. And in this case, Resistance.

This place and this story are an important, often forgotten piece of Native history and the history of this game. These stories of traditional games as resistance matter.

And if we are going to carry this game forward, we have a responsibility to remember the people, the places and the stories that carried it here.

Respect the roots, and let’s carry the game forward in a good way. 🥍

A few months ago, our vision became clearer.For years, our focus was “More Native Youth Playing Lacrosse.” We wanted to ...
08/06/2026

A few months ago, our vision became clearer.

For years, our focus was “More Native Youth Playing Lacrosse.” We wanted to see more Native kids on fields, more representation, and more belonging in the modern game.

That mission hasn’t changed, but our purpose has become even clearer.

Today, our focus is “Culture through Creator’s Game.”

We want to create opportunities for Native youth to deepen their connection to who they are through the game.

Seeing one of our campers at Creator’s Game Culture Camp standing in front of Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center holding both his drum and his lacrosse stick feels like a powerful expression of that vision.

In sports, it’s easy to become consumed by wins, rankings, scholarships, and what’s next.

We believe this game can offer something even greater.

In partnership with Creator, we hope to use lacrosse to help raise strong, proud, grounded Native people who know who they are, where they come from, and who carry that identity with them throughout their lives.

Because in the end, our greatest success won’t be measured by championships. It will be measured by the people our youth become.

Our future deserves nothing less.

Native High School Players, We Want You! Registration is now open for our next two PNW NATIVE LACROSSE All Native High S...
08/05/2026

Native High School Players, We Want You!

Registration is now open for our next two PNW NATIVE LACROSSE All Native High School Teams, and we’re looking for Native players to join us this fall and winter!

🥍 High School Girls
Sagebrush Winter Warm-Up
📍 Tri-Cities, WA
📅 October 24–25

🥍 High School Boys (Classes of 2029 & 2030)
Space Needle Shootout
📍 Tukwila, WA
📅 December 4–6

These tournaments are about more than competing. They’re an opportunity to represent your Tribe, your family, and your community through the Creator’s Game while building friendships with Native players from across the region.

✅ No team fees
✅ Uniforms provided (yours to keep)
✅ Tournament registration covered by PNW Native Lax
✅Families are only responsible for travel, lodging, and meals.

We’re also planning team camps before each tournament to help players build chemistry and spend time together before competition.

Registration closes September 1.

If you’re a Native high school player interested in joining us, sign up at the link in our bio.

Know someone who should be playing with us? Share this post and help us spread the word.

More Native Youth Playing Lacrosse. 🧡🥍

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1602 Martin Luther King Jr Way
Tacoma, WA
98405

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