[FANS CHEERING]

- The game lacrosse starts up with-- before lacrosse was even put here for the people, it started out with the animals.

ANNOUNCER: Running play in front and through the legs, Ty Thompson, with his first.

- Before life was formed down here on Earth, there was life up there that we believe up in the sky world. And there was this game lacrosse that was told to us that each individual animal brought different perspective and uniqueness to the game, such as the bear who is big and strong, can catch anything in the middle. If you look at a eagle, his eyesight overview of the field is something that beyond anyone any other animal can do.

So as you can see, it's fascinating to me to see the different uniqueness of players that bring a specialty team to this game that still lives on today because you have not one player that can do what the other player can do on the field. It's just the kind of feeling you get, and you just you wonder how that person does it. I think it's just that spirit of the game of lacrosse and those ancestors that have played the game before us.

And we play that game as a ritual, as a medicine, to heal ourselves or heal our people, our community, and nation. Lacrosse in our community, it's really an integration and intertwined with our culture and our way of life. When a male is born in our culture, it's said right in the speeches of when that kid gets his traditional given name. My traditional given name is [? Gaia ?] [? Por ?] [? Gaihai, ?] which means the sun is leaning, and that's the name we're given to when we're born into this life.

We're giving this name in our traditional Longhouse way of life. And it's said in a speech that when our chief gives us our name, it's said that maybe this male is going to become speaker, or maybe he'll become a dancer. In that message also, it's said that maybe he's going to become a lacrosse player. Right from when we're born, they say that we're given this chance, this opportunity, if we want it.

In that process that we're given a wooden, traditional lacrosse stick in our cradleboard, that traditional lacrosse stick is resemblance of that stick that kid's going to use throughout his lifetime and that he's going to continue to grow with and that maybe he'll have that chance of creating his own stick and continuing on that traditional wood stick that came from a life form, which is a tree. The essence of that whole thing is really giving our thanks and our appreciation for taking a life of that tree.

We're going to continue on this traditional lacrosse stick in a way and use it as a medicine to maybe heal someone, or go out there and have good intentions and to encourage them to prosper in that way, individually, and for the people around you.

ANNOUNCER: Miles Thompson, the catch and behind the back release.

- One of the things that I believe is that we're all spiritually, emotionally, physically connected to this life and the things around us. And I think sometimes we forget that, as human beings on this Earth, that we're a small segment in this life and that we had to continue to remind ourselves and be humble and be thankful for our everyday crossings, our learnings, and people that cross our path in our lifetime and to be appreciate and to be thankful for those things. I just feel lucky to be here, out there grinding, having fun, and just really being a fun spirit out there.