This column appears in the September/October edition of US Lacrosse Magazine. Don’t get the mag? Join US Lacrosse today to start your subscription.

It must have been quite an adventure for lacrosse players representing the U.S. and Canada to travel to St. Louis to compete in the Olympics in August 1904. That event featured 94 events in 16 sports, and included 651 athletes — just six of whom were women — from 12 nations. By comparison, last year’s Games in Rio included 306 events in 28 sports, and included more than 11,000 athletes from 206 nations.

Lacrosse was a medal sport in the 1904 and 1908 (London) Olympic Games, which featured teams from Canada and Great Britain, but was relegated to demonstration status in the 1928, 1932 and 1948 Olympics before disappearing from the program.

Following this year’s FIL Women’s World Cup in England, lacrosse emerged again in an international multi-sport event as part of the 10th IWGA World Games in Wroclaw, Poland. That event featured more than 3,000 athletes from 102 nations competing in 219 events in 31 sports. 

I think the sense of adventure was quite the same for the 90 lacrosse players from Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, Poland and the United States who traveled to Poland to participate in the World Games this year as it was for the players who trekked to St. Louis in 1904 — despite the incredible changes in technology, transportation and culture that have occurred over the last 113 years.

Participation in the World Games was a transformative step for our sport, and the positive feedback received from the representatives of international sport present for the competition bodes well for the continued advancement of lacrosse on the world stage. The next goal is formal recognition of the Federation of International Lacrosse by the IOC, a process initiated a year ago when our sport’s international governing body submitted a 150-page application to the IOC. Inclusion in the Olympic program is an additional goal that can only be pursued if recognition is granted.

The athletes we send to world championships and multi-sport competitions like the World and Olympic Games represent not only their respective nations and sports, but also the ideals established by the founder of the IOC and father of the Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin, who saw international sports competition as a way to, “little by little, dissipate the ignorance in which people live with respect to others, an ignorance which breeds hate, compounds misunderstanding and hastens events down the barbarous path towards merciless conflict.”

There is no doubt that our 2017 U.S. women’s team personified Coubertin’s aspirations throughout their quest for FIL and IWGA gold. Our national teams represent the best of our sport, and it’s just as amazing to see them interact with the press, general public and aspiring young athletes as it is to see them perform on the field.

Sadly, the opportunity for most to catch a glimpse of our national team in action, let alone interact with them, is all too rare given the current schedule of international events and resources required to fuel more opportunities for domestic exhibitions throughout the country. But even if you don’t get the chance to see them, you can be certain that they are just as you imagine and hope they would be — humble, selfless, respectful, talented, thankful and proud to represent our sport and nation.

Steve Stenersen is the president and CEO of US Lacrosse. Follow him on Twitter @uslacrosseceo.