'America's First Sport' documentary visits MLL offices

By MLL Communications | 3/1/13 3:40 PM

Major League Lacrosse received an important visit this week. Dennis Deninger, Professor of Practice in the Department of Sport Management at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics at Syracuse University, visited our offices to interview Commissioner David Gross and a couple of local players as he puts the finishing touches on a documentary about our great sport.

“The documentary is called ‘America’s first sport’,” Deninger said. “It is going document the history and the current state of Lacrosse while projecting towards the future, exploring the process to make lacrosse an Olympic sport and how it’s broadening its fan base. This is a project done by the David Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics at Syracuse University. It is going to result in a one-hour documentary that will premiere on April 22.”

Deninger traveled the United States and Canada exploring the rich history of the sport and the future it holds.

“Just last week we were in the workshop of Alf Jacques who is the Onondaga stick maker and has been for generations,” he continued. “Sitting there and watching a man carve a lacrosse stick the way that people on this continent have done even before European settlers arrived, was remarkable. To see the impact it’s had on people’s lives, how it has spread, and how it has remained America’s only sport that has a spiritual origin because the indigenous people believe this was a game given to them by the Creator was truly an extraordinary experience. We went to Johns Hopkins University and U.S. Lacrosse, we visited the Federation of International Lacrosse in Toronto where [President] Stan Cockerton told us about the plans to make Lax an Olympic sport again. It’s been a great journey and certainly an educational one.”

After premiering at a symposium at Syracuse University later this spring, Deninger hopes to release it to a wider audience.

“We would love to have the documentary on the PBS station in Syracuse,” Deninger concluded. "It would also be great if it was shown Nationally, I come from a background of 25 years at ESPN and we would like to have this air on ESPNU if there were an opportunity to do so. We’ll work on getting it done first. A lot of care and effort went into doing this and we would certainly love for it to be seen by as many people as possible.”

Stay tuned to MajorLeagueLacrosse.com to find out where you can see this wonderful film after its premiere