Dutch lacrosse player Jantien Van Der Kooij (right) fights for the ball with Katie Smith of the US Haudenosaunee

Native American women’s dream comes true in Prague

From AFP:

On the side of a football-turned-lacrosse pitch in Prague, the purple banner with white rectangles and a tree immediately catches the eye among the usual national flags.

A Native American woman in a purple sweatshirt watches the ongoing lacrosse battle intently, then turns and says casually: “It’s our game back home, you know?”

Charlene Thomas, general manager of the Native-American Haudenosaunee team, had taken her “girls” to Prague for the women’s lacrosse World Cup — the first such event for the team that will only celebrate its first birthday in August.

“We wanted to see our girls have their dream come true and this day, this year has done it for them,” said Thomas, a retiree who does her current job as a volunteer.