Preparing to meet me on mars civilian leader on some sort of cheese just landed in naypyidaw the capital this follows his meeting with the countrys senior military general on monday who denies religious discrimination exists in myanmar those are the headlines coming up next on aljazeera is a stream. Facing the reality is a piece of machinery goes wrong its theyre trying to case through which we can bring a legal system to bear getting to the heart of the matter we need to avoid some of my previous years is that here the story on talk to how does iraq at this time. Im femi oke a and im really could be here in the stream today when hes playing a sport more than just a game boy look at the native american origins of lacrosse. Today is world Indigenous Peoples day so were looking at the contributions of indigenous communities and individuals in sports and specifically look cross simon y. A smith a former student gas on twitter says play lacrosse thank a native but this next tweet from native opinion says if people do know of lacrosse they dont know that its an indigenous traditional game or they assume it comes from brands so well do our best to get to the bottom of those assumptions and that is conversation and we want your help you can tweet it with hash tag stream the sport of the cross is a game that holds spiritual significance from both american indigenous after eats to the native american oil holding a shoni the cross is a means of honoring the creator twelfth century indigenous americans develop the game to sharpen their hunting skills and strengthen the mind and body today native athletes are among the sports top players but is enough credit given to the sports origins the documentary spirit game pride of a nation follows the twenty fifteen iroquois nationals across team and their fight to be recognized as a sovereign nation in competition. Riginal. We played it on this earth was covered with water as part of our. Character process is part of our charm. Having the opportunity to participate in a National Sort of initiation is really a. Week she ever existed just saw from people in this country most people dont understand that theres a six mile by six mile country in the middle of upstate new york the population arent bad yet we have quite a few world class lacrosse players. Stored thats taking their shirts contacts about the original people just like we were savages and heathens and pagans to them they use the term eternal us which means the way you know empty empty lands these lands were not. Shining our nationality. Is something you see that created. This thing thats going so much. As a nation you know this is celebrating just like. I one. Day were going to have songs weve lost many. Never been defeated. To tell us more about the relationship between across a native American Culture we have from six nations reserve in canada lau thompson he paid for the iroquois nationals and is a professional across player for National Cross leagues georgists wall and major league across the Chesapeake Bay hoax he was named twenty seventeenth the most valuable player for the n l l add and currently holds us collegiate in the cross records in career points at a system its in so a state just explaining who he is how would i know. Next am his brother Jeremy Thompson a professional across player for the cisco and rush he also play for the iroquois nationals during the twenty fifteen a wild and dollar cost championship. Its in syracuse new york bill obrien hes a professional across player with the new england blood wars and hes also the cofounder of thompson brothers across and in Niagara Falls new york and by hill don hauser she is captain of the how do you know show me a womens National Cross team that recently completed and brought in a womens across world cup if you are thought of lacrosse you are probably going nuts right now the cream of the crop on the strain well can guess really great to have it so this connection with a cross as for a child its so much deeper than any other sport ive ever come across there is an origin story that is so critical to the cross bill tell us that story number class its a game believed to be given down from the creator to the native american people. Many many years ago even before the earth was formed when lion talks about it and he talks about a game that happened between when the animals in the rounded animals so on the wind animals team you had the ego of the hawk the bat on the ground animals team you have the deer the wolf the air and they played in this epic lacrosse game at the end of the game the that scored the game winning goal but before the game. He didnt really have a team because hes a bat he is for but he has to feel as weighing so they werent sure where to put him the moral of the story is that everyone no matter what you look like no matter who you are your strengths your weaknesses and everyone brings Something Special to the game across and its truly its truly a gift and its to be played not only for entertainment for the creator but also as a form of medicine for the community and to help bring joy and peace that everyone i see not doing the so much more sort of cross than just exercising and great packs and muscles right well like bill is saying that its a gift and. Where i come from. Were still trying to grow the game near test torah and the surrounding communities with our women so when bill talks about it being a gift i think about that every day that i can play the game and my nine year old daughter plays the game and were always grateful that one of the this one of the big lessons that i tell her that every single time that she goes onto the floor whether shes playing box across or she goes on to the field when shes Playing Field across to just be thankful to the creator that you get to step on that floor get to step on that field. And so i hear what youre saying and i heard a bill said but tara here on twitter seems to think that the general public doesnt quite have that same recognition of what this game means tara says its become a sport largely associated with white elite east coast colleges it is the creators game though another person writes in this is a meal and she says the fact that its part of the Party Culture in college is a huge just respect to the origin the medicinal and ceremonial aspects are still very much alive in how to now shut in the shawnee communities germy can you explain what she means by it being medicinal how is it and why is it described as a med medicine game a game of medicine. I think the biggest thing when you know it and question pops up to know they came across and how its been a medicine for people is you know everything starts in our mind and you know when a creator had sent down the good word to always use a good mind and good frame of mind and that was of c. You know introduced an inner twang of the game across because one of the ways that the creator has. You know the way one of the ways he wanted his game to be played was with a good frame of mind to encourage the people around you and mom probably you know to have fun with them and thats one of the things that weve always been taught in our community is that has been passed down from generation to generation you know my fathers tommy and you know his fathers time and so rb spring myself im reminded of that because of the new its almost like the new plant life you know the leaves on the trees and the grow again and that and the same in a sense and then as across player the same idea im reminded of the new season coming up into you know have a good for my mind go out there give it your best and have a good season and along with that you know encourage the people along with you and more importantly to have fun with it well im just wondering what happened to the cross over history where it kind of left native American Indians in terms of ownership and then became a push and only getting how did that happen. I mean. The way i see it. Its never left us weve always played this game in. The last year is you know whether this game became you know what it is today in a college game a High School Game you know whether or not that all happens wed still be playing this game. And. I think. You know when you when you look at the history of the game where it comes from this is you know it started with us and us using the game won us medicine but you know other communities used this game is as a way to settle or disputes but. You know it became its become an its a growing game its become and were hoping it becomes a mainstream sport. Or locked in a girl. Like that comment on twitter that its. You know east coast white white or. I think. It was that way i want to point and i think its its now changing think a lot of people are getting into the game in the games going on not only in america but all around the world and so i overhear someone nonfatal who would agree with you while this is ts she says ive gotten to read for native players my whole life and i think as long as we continue to play lacrosse it will never be quote unquote whitewash and we arent going anywhere so since we made that clear we will start with that no ones going anywhere lets talk about the actual game we got this week from allen who says how does it feel being regarded as one of the best ever to play lacrosse possibly the best and do you agree with that claim lyle do you agree and jeremy do you have your own thoughts about that. I mean. Its hard to kind of compare your smell them to get that will happily agree s. S. But id bet money on the i do you really its great to see people say yes it is i have to defend them so i know how good he actually is. All right let me show you this is a from like a pro on twitter congrats allow the tops in a big named and l. L. And the pe and then here is here congrats to you i want to show you a little clip from spirit game pride of a nation it shows all of the thompson brothers playing together and also tells us a little bit of whats happening behind the scenes and connecting spirituality to the guy i look. You know me my brothers we are described as different animals to bring a part of you know that original story of the game between the animals the medicine original medicine game the first game that was ever played it was before humans were ever on earth and it was played by the winged animals against the land and each animal has an attribute that makes them look at the cross. There for my brother lyle has done for the eagle because he can see the four really well miles hes a bad hes big thats how fast he says daddy right away got a good hand bear steak in the sand and out of. My brother hind eyes considered a lot because he plays well with a pack with his brother. Jeremy hes a dear hes our leader and in our culture the deer is the leader of all the animals he takes charge of the team put the team in the same direction and let them power him you know the more you come together as a team the better you are going to play as a team and what you didnt is so important in the cross but theres no word of women in this tradition but u. P. I. Has a picture of you number twenty two playing. Take this tension i know this tension lets go that tell me about the tension between womens lacrosse a mens lacrosse. Well traditionally women are not supposed to play. I have heard of many reasons why. From. It makes the creator upset. All the way to it makes the women barren. I think that when you look at Traditional Medicine game the game that our women play is not the same game we dont. We dont burn tobacco before our games we dont play for medicine but we do hold the game and the sport of a cross very close to our heart and. I would say that we play with just as the same the same good mind and the same intentions that the men play with so yes there is tension what people say what i think about. What if they said to. Just that you know that women shouldnt play and that you know were making the creator upset and sad that women are playing but i think that its more than that because that being deaf as well i dont know any have had Death Threats were playing a sport lets go that was other guy so its important its important to talk about. You know i think its important to talk about but i think that looking at the Bigger Picture and that are sixteen women female hoda show me athletes that just were able to go to england on our passport is a much bigger issue and we need to push past. What has been in the past to move forward and our talent pool is small but were growing back in two thousand and six i think only three or four of us that played on that you nineteen team or either were playing in college or had just finished college and now for the most part all of our girls are division one commit and or have played Division One Cross so i think when you go back and talk about the issue of women not being able to play lacrosse. We look we look past that because because we have to as women because we have faced so much adversity and our hearts and our passion are so much bigger than that that we just moved past it you know i think what i found striking about what you said embers that you said its not the same game but what people online are telling us is that you do face some of the same challenges them in the women and one of those is the one that you mentioned this is amy lynn tweeting and about the womens National Cross team going to the world cup and their struggle for passport recognition having authorities outside of the iroquois nation accepting them into those countries jamie lynn says that recognition was the greatest victory at the games we also got a video comment from someone who thought similarly thought that was a really big deal this is a video comment from terry have a listen to what she told us getting to see them break those cultural barriers is amazing and its made me realize just how important special cost can be and made me appreciate it even more watching them play in the womens world cup was an amazing moment and it felt so right that they were there because as the people who created the game will cross and go alongside others who have the opportunity to pick it up and enjoy it just alongside them so they then sighing and its made me really really love the games more something im very thankful for them so amber what do you make of that support. Im usually not an emotional person but. That means a lot thank you terry because. Our our women our executive board. We worked very hard and when the twenty fifteen team wasnt allowed to go to scotland and we had to tell our players. That we werent allowed in. With our passports i was extremely hard braking so once we were able to get on the plane to go to england that in and of itself was a victory and to have other people that. Recognise that struggle and that adversity and. And watch as played i mean that is. So inspiring to build this concept of having a possible as an iroquois nation this is so important its actually impacted well championships that the iroquois prize have said were not going to the championship unless you can get on the playing with our passport can you tell our general audience what this possible is why it means so much and. Were not playing internationally without asking africans our impossible. Definitely so i mean when it comes down to the home to show a passport its really a matter of sovereignty the issues that surround it is they go back as far as when the first settlers came here and remove native from their land and then native americans had to fight in order to get that land back or that sovereignty so having a passport holder shoni passport represents sovereignty now once. World class player like lyle or or jeremy go and get a u. S. Passport it takes away or it chips away at the sovereignty that they can have by being part of the iroquois nation where which is very important because youll see some places nations are losing sobber in timor and more and it doesnt seem like a real big issue but at the end of the day at one point there may not be sovereign native land anymore but in on a dog which is a very Traditional Community hopes to hold that intact and lyle and jeremy can talk to why they why they have cornish only passports and why the traditions are still more in the head to me yeah yeah i mean for us its. You know obviously. Its something weve been fighting since i guess two will eight years ago when the team the team went to was time to go to england and the passports were denied and its still its still something were were going to process with because. You know we had our passports did whatever whatever needed to be done to so that we can we can travel on our own press boats and we can be accepted as a nation. Weve come to done the work for the passports and. Thats what were looking to do with us and thats what we want we want to be able to to travel on our passports and and. You know were playing in world games against us canada england. Australia all these other countries and. You know for me i dont think youd be right if it were our own separate team but at the same time. Were classified as as you know maybe us citizens as canadian citizens. I think its more i think i think that thats the most i think is a really good important topic because its something that our people as there are americans as Indigenous People and all Indigenous People across the country across the world its been something that weve been fighting for right from the be in a time when you know colonialism these lands our lands all rear in north america and its you know our everythings been passed down you know historys been said there you know history has been you know told on our side and their side as well and and it just comes down to basically you know are sticking their ground and sticking their ground and believe in and having pride in what our our ancestors have stood up for and what theyre through through you know horrible times and good times as well and i think thats important for us to stick or ground to find you know you know for us to travel on our own past for being able to play the game of across that something that we grew up loving and its important for people culturally and as a sport one of the things ive noticed thinking about you as as a group and this play is its not enough to just play you also so wear that you know role models and you go out and help of the youngsters and invite them into the game and we show people this this is. Just on a Cross Thompson brothers the cross cap you mrs across the many of us to get out of the lacrosse caps why is it important why is this part