Two young athletes presented their favorite sport at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s 2024 Family Reunion Festival — a sport with deep roots among Indigenous people.
LeClaire family descendants Josephine and Jacqueline Gimigliano gave a lacrosse/stickball demonstration at the Cultural Heritage Center on June 25.
They have both been playing the sport for several years, starting when they were just kindergarten students. Lacrosse is very popular on the East Coast, where the sisters live, but has not received the same attention in other parts of the country.
“A lot of people in our area play lacrosse; it’s pretty common. It’s a very popular sport,” said Josie.
According to U.S. Lacrosse, the sport is growing in popularity. Participation has grown by 47 percent among boys and 43 percent among girls.
Both sisters were at a previous Family Reunion Festival when they noticed among the many CPN activities available, there was probably room for a sport, one with deep roots among the Indigenous. Stickball, the forerunner for lacrosse, originated among eastern Woodlands tribes and quickly spread west in popularity, even among some Plains tribes.
“We were doing all the activities and really trying to fully immerse ourselves in our heritage, our history. We realized ‘Oh, we don’t have any lacrosse.’ We’ve grown up (playing lacrosse) and we thought it was a creative idea to just bring it back to the land where it’s a Native American sport,” said Jackie.
They were proud to share their love for the sport with their fellow CPN.
“I don’t think it’s a popular sport on the reservation as it should be and it’s so popular in Washington, D.C., and nobody really knows about the background and where it came from. Everybody just plays it,” Jackie said. “So, I said, ‘You know what? I actually have a personal connection to where it came from.’ I think it’s very important, to tie it together.”
Preparations
They began their preparation for Festival about a year ago, exchanging emails with CHC Director Blake Norton. The CHC was able to provide nets. Then Jackie and Josie began gathering lacrosse gear to bring to Oklahoma.
“It’s not hard to find people that have all the equipment,” Jackie said.
The sisters reached out to their lacrosse community, many of whom donated or loaned gear.
“I thought it’d be fun to take donations from local stores in our area. And then also collecting money,” Josie said.
They both encourage others with similar skills, either athletic or otherwise, to consider sharing them at Festival.
“Yes, 100 percent. We had a really fun time. And it was also fun to educate people who had no idea (about the sport’s origins),” Jackie said.
Some scholars believe the sport may have been used to settle disputes, to prepare warriors for combat, for recreation, or to please Creator.
“I think it’s just so important to make that connection between modern-day sport and the original one,” Josie said. “People don’t know or weren’t aware of how important it was to the Native American culture, how it was created and how it has changed and evolved into the sport that it is today.”
Making connections
In only the two short years that they have attended Festival, the sisters have found a way to take an idea and turn it into reality, something they believe will help the event continue to grow and reach even more Tribal members.
“This is only our second year, but we really enjoyed last year. And then we’re going to go back next year again,” Jackie said.
“The community, the people were so welcoming,” Josie said. When they first raised the idea, “nobody said, ‘Oh, this is only your second year.’” The sisters only received encouragement, they said.
Jackie and Josie also enjoy the many activities Festival offers to CPN citizens, helping connect Tribal members to their culture and history.
“The arts and crafts are really interesting to watch,” Jackie said. “We were walking through the Heritage Center and it’s really interesting how you can find a plot of land that belonged to your family. We actually found the one that was from our family, and we drove out to it.”
They both plan to continue their participation in the future.
“I would just be really interested to see where the lacrosse activities go. I think we can get a lot more people interested in joining. And then we’ll have enough people to be able to do some like competitions maybe, and maybe even a small game of lacrosse,” Jackie said.
For the younger Potawatomi who’d like to get similarly involved in Festival, they have advice.
“It’s worth a shot. If you put the work in and really are dedicated to getting it done, it’s going to happen,” Jackie said.
“Just totally go for it,” Josie added.
They appreciated the time they spent connecting with other Tribal members as well.
“When we were at the Festival, we met this little boy. His name was Jordan. He had his traditional stickball, and he was teaching us the traditional form. And he was teaching us (stickball) while we were teaching lacrosse. And that was a really cool connection between the past of the sport and where it has grown to be. And we’re able to teach each other, which was really, really fun,” Jackie said.