The Greece Men's National Lacrosse Team practice at Anatolia College
Following an invitation from ACT, Anatolia College’s sports premises became the training ground, for four days, for the newly-founded Men's National Lacrosse Team of Greece in view of the most prominent international competition, the World Lacrosse Championship (Israel, July, 15- 21). This is the debut participation of the National Team, which consists of Greek-American athletes from the US and one from Thessaloniki, in an international competition.
Lacrosse is a team sport, relatively unknown to Greece, but highly popular around the world and especially in the State and Canada. It is a field sport where two teams, with nine players and a goalkeeper each, are trying to score using sticks with small nets attached to the top. With these sticks, the players are trying to through a small at the opposite team’s net.
Lacrosse originates from a similar game that the Native American played in order to solve their disputes. Today, lacrosse is one of the most popular and impressive sports, both for men and women. It is also a joyful and pleasant activity for people of any age.
The Greece National Lacrosse Team was founded in the USA from Apostolos Katsiaounis, a 20 year old Greek American college student and athlete. Katsiaounis started looking at the social media networks for players of Greek origin across the US, in order to form a Greek lacrosse team that would participate at the World Lacrosse Championship, and motivate the next generation of Greeks to start playing lacrosse. Among the 23 players of the team is Anthony Katagas, an Oscar awarded Greek American producer, who is the goalie of the team. Anthony Katagas is highly renowned in Hollywood for his participation, along with Brad Pitt, in the film production “12 Years a Slave” for which he received an Oscar award in 2014.
Among the athletes that constitute the National Team, is Ilias Zaharopoulos, an Anatolia College student.
ACT leads the efforts of introducing lacrosse to the student and sports community of Greece. It has organized games and free seminars for coaches, athletes, and friends of the sport, in collaboration with the Federation of International Lacrosse/ FIL. In May 2018, ACT organized the 1st Lacrosse School Cup with the participation of Anatolia College High School and public schools (2nd Lyceum of Polihni, 1st Lyceum of Pilea).
The schedule of the matches of the National Lacrosse Team can be found here:
http://worldlacrosse2018.com/schedule-app/
You can watch the matches of the National Team during the World Lacrosse Championship here:
Anthony Katagas: Oscar awarded producer for the movie “12 Years a Slave” and goalkeeper of the National Lacrosse Team.
The Greek National Lacrosse Team during the Opening Ceremony of the World Lacrosse Championship taking place in Israel. On the left: Apostolos Katsiaounis, the 20-year-old athlete that contributed to the creation of the National Team.
