Mark Roberson and Christopher Kupka face off during an OLC match. Kupka and Roberson play the position of attackmen.

*View/download a high res copy of this image.

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa (May 5, 2006) -- Lacrosse is a game originally used to prepare for war by American Indians and is widely considered by its fans to be America's first sport.

Enthusiasts from around the world embrace lacrosse and it is gaining a toehold among many athletes in Okinawa.

The Okinawa Lacrosse Club, Okinawa's only open lacrosse team, is entering its sixth season, and continuing to grow, according to Christopher Kupka, an OLC attackman.

"The team has grown dramatically," Kupka said. "We've gone from 10 players showing up to practice, to carrying more than 60 players on our roster."

"People want to join," said Jim Peterson, an OLC attackman. "We're going places."

Lacrosse is a two-team sport with 10 players on each squad and incorporates many different sports into one.

"Lacrosse is really a combination of sports," Kupka said. "It's played on a soccer field, defensive like basketball and its fast like hockey. Each team has one goalie, three defensemen, three attackmen and three midfielders."

The OLC is always searching for new members to expand the talent pool and maintain a full team roster in case of deployments or permanent change of station orders, said Kupka.

"The team is open to anyone," Peterson said. "We have Okinawans, American high school students and representatives from all branches of the military."

The OLC traveled to competitions extensively during the last season and hopes to do so again this year, according to Peterson.

"Last year we were in Hong Kong during New Year's and Tokyo in July," Peterson said. "We hope to travel as much this year."