One Pitt-Bradford student is reviving a (nearly) lost indigenous art
Tyrone Bowen-Collateta, captain of the Pitt-Bradford men’s lacrosse team, is on the attack. He accepts a pass from his teammate and rolls to his right, deftly spinning his lacrosse stick in his hands to protect the ball from a defender who is trying to knock it loose. In an instant, the ball is gone again, sailing across the field toward another teammate.
The entire exchange occurs in seconds, but Bowen-Collateta doesn’t appear rushed, handling his featherweight lacrosse stick with an ease and virtuosity that can evade even the most practiced athletes.
Bowen-Collateta got an unusually early introduction to the game. In the days after he was born, his mother, like so many Seneca mothers before her, placed him on a traditional cradleboard and tucked a tiny wooden lacrosse stick in beside him.
In the Haudenosaunee culture to which the Seneca belong, lacrosse is a sacred game handed down to them from the Creator, and sticks are treasured items gifted at birth and buried alongside their owners in death.
For centuries, those sticks were handmade, carved by family members or close friends especially for the infants upon whom they were bestowed. But that art has mostly been lost to time.
Bowen-Collateta and his stepfather, Dave Isaac, a former professional lacrosse player, have vowed to revive it.
“It’s an important aspect of my culture, and I want to make sure that aspect doesn’t die,” Bowen-Collateta says.
Together, the pair have begun navigating the ancient and time-consuming process of carving a traditional lacrosse stick — a process that can take months.
It begins with a piece of solid hickory cut the preferred length — a typical stick is 3.5 feet — and soaked or steamed so it’s pliable enough to bend without cracking. Once the top is bent into a shape akin to a shepherd’s hook, the stick is affixed with a strap to hold its form and stored for an extended length of time, anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Then the carving begins. It’s a delicate process measured in millimeters and perfected by touch. Sticks used for sport are typically sanded smooth, but others feature ornate or personalized designs.
The final task of stringing the head is perhaps the most important. Its construction — length of the channel, depth of the pocket, number of shooting strings — affect the speed and trajectory of the ball. Traditional sticks are strung with leather and hide. Newer models use nylon.
The end product is a piece of usable art that weighs about four times that of a modern aluminum or composite stick. The weight, and the risk of injury that comes with wielding a heavier stick, means most players forgo them in favor of something lighter. But the heft is also a reminder of Haudenosaunee culture and the indigenous ancestors who birthed the game nearly 1,000 years ago.
So, when Bowen-Collateta plays box lacrosse, an indoor version of the sport popular among Seneca players, he always chooses a wooden stick. It offers him both a link to his past and an advantage over his non-indigenous teammates and competitors.
“If you can take a slash or a check from someone who has a very heavy traditional stick and then go to playing with an aluminum or composite shaft … I don't really even feel it anymore. It’s like an annoying mosquito. It bothers me, but it’s not going to stop me.”
Despite the scarcity of wooden sticks in modern competition, their history still inspires a kind of awe in the lacrosse community. Bowen-Collateta once loaned his to head coach Scotty Gwyn, who was hosting an event to introduce the game to area children, and the coach’s astonished reaction demonstrated the power of the gesture.
“It was just an honor that he trusted me enough to use it,” Gwyn says.
If Bowen-Collateta and Isaac have their way, the awe will remain, but the scarcity will cease. Isaac even made lacrosse part of his campaign promise when he ran for Allegany Chief Marshall last fall — a race he won. Upon declaring his candidacy, he vowed to teach those fighting addiction to craft lacrosse sticks from hickory, giving them meaningful work and, perhaps, a way to harness the healing power of the “medicine game.”
Read more: Home field has a deeper meaning for Bowen-Collateta and the UPB men's lacrosse program.