Today, he is the only U.S. citizen in the Czech Men's Lacrosse League, and has watched the sport capture the local imagination over the last decade. It's the first time a box tournament has had participation from four countries. The Ales Hrebesky Memorial Box Tournament, named in honor of a deceased Radotin player, marks the first time a Japanese team will play box lacrosse in the Czech Republic. During the three-day event, teams face off in a series of games, host clinics for local youths and mingle at parties. The tournament culminates Sunday, March 25, with playoffs and finals.
Box lacrosse resumes in the fall.
But Radotin has the home-field advantage, plus a string of championship titles to boost their confidence. They hold the Czech Field Lacrosse League title and are four-time winners of the Czech Box Lacrosse League title, beating the six other league teams. Though lacrosse was officially banned under communism because of the perception that it is a bourgeois game played largely at exclusive private colleges, young Czechs quietly played the game in the woods. Czech boy scouts first discovered the sport in the mid-1930s when they saw pictures of Indian lacrosse in their woodcraft manuals and National Geographic. Having seen only the pictures, they fashioned their own equipment and made up rules.