Still, there are only a few thousand players in a couple of leagues throughout the country. The country's largest league, the Czech Lacrosse League, has around 2,000 members who play the country's version of the game. Similar to box lacrosse, Czech lacrosse does not allow play behind the goal. When you say you play lacrosse, no one knows what you play. Lack of knowledge is only one barrier preventing the sport from finding a home locally.
Equipment is also expensive and difficult to find.
Efforts are under way to attract Western companies to invest in the game. Hetzel describes the situation as a Catch-22, in which Western companies don't want to set up shop because there aren't enough players, but there are few players because the companies have not invested here. But that hasn't stopped Pesek from growing devoted to the game since he began playing years ago on camping trips. Lacrosse is catching on, slowly. Milan Topol, tel.