Old sport gets new life in Michigan.(Lacrosse is a fast-growing sport.)

It's called America's oldest sport, but you might be thinking of it as America's newest sport. It's certainly one of America's fastest-growing sports. What is it? Lacrosse. To the Yak, this cool game seems like hockey mixed with the speed of soccer and the toughness of football.

If you're out and about in Michigan, you'll be seeing more kids practicing and playing on lacrosse teams. Boys and girls' rules differ, but the sport's growth is happening for both teams. Why is it growing so much? Says Steve Stenersen, executive director of U.S. Lacrosse, "Baseball ... it's a stand-around game.... Lacrosse has action, running up and down the field."

Not to worry, baseball fans. He's aware that that other game with a ball and a stick has its fans. But there's room for more than one sport. He played both, but Steve said he grew to like some of the variety of lacrosse. Here you have "a sport that includes a combination of attributes from other sports, fast-moving, running team, physical contact in the game bumping into each other." (Girls' lacrosse does not have the same physical contact.)

It also is a sport that has different positions where different talents count. Both big, tall players and smaller, faster players can find a way to contribute.

East Coast and mid-Atlantic kids have been playing lacrosse the longest. New York has the most high school teams, close to 400.

But the mid-Atlantic states have much of the tradition. In Baltimore, Maryland, there is a Lacrosse Hall of Fame. You can visit its Web site at www.lacrosse.org.

Summer is a great time to learn about this growing sport, a time you might want to make this old tradition your new game.