Travis Cuvelier has played lacrosse for most of his life.

As an athlete and sports fanatic, Travis loves challenging himself and competing as well as having fun with his friends and teammates. While he has played many sports over the course of his lifetime, Travis Cuvelier has found lacrosse to be his favorite. Lacrosse is a unique sport that is beginning to rise in popularity in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Over the past few years, Travis Cuvelier has started to follow Major League Lacrosse as a way to improve his game and learn from the pros.

MAJOR LEAGUE LACROSSE:

Major League Lacrosse, or MLL for short, is a field sport that consists of nine teams and is played in the United States of America. Whilst it is still a young game compared to the other major leagues in the country, it is one that is busy growing at a steady pace. In 2016 it was reported that over 4,000 spectators enjoyed the Major League Lacrosse games during the active seasons, and many more spectators are expected to attend the future seasons. Travis Cuvelier has still not been to a game, but is interested in attending in the upcoming season. 

Major League Lacrosse was introduced in 1999 and was officially inaugurated into the world of sport in 2001. The league was put together by Jake Steinfield, creator of fitness programmes, Dave Morrow, a professional lacrosse player and the president of Warrior Sports and fellow sports enthusiast, Tim Robertson. The first season commenced in June in 2001 with only 6 teams in the north-eastern U.S. These 6 teams were split into 2 divisions namely the American Division which included Boston, Bridgeport, and Long Island, and the National Division which included Baltimore, New Jersey and Rochester. In its first year it played a regular 14 games in the season, but in 2003 these games were cut to 12. The playoff format was devised so that the top teams would go on to advance in the MLL Championship weekend. When he first started watching the MLL, Travis Cuvelier enjoyed watching the New Jersey and Boston teams the most. 

In 2006 the MLL added two extra teams to the roster which brought the number of teams up to 10. It expanded to Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, and Chicago. However at the end of the 2008 season four teams folded due to financial problems. Several of these teams had suffered due to poor attendance and the remaining 6 teams had to contract together in order to form one big conference.

It was only in 2011 that the MLL expanded towards the South and included space for the teams from Charlotte and Columbus. These teams were approved in January of 2011. The director of MLL at that stage said that their short term goal was to have two more expansion teams by 2013 and suggested a long term goal of 16 teams in total by 2020. In 2014 and 2015 two more expansion teams were added onto schedule as Florida joined the league as well as Atlanta.

2014 promised a big breakthrough for the MLL as they started partnering up with Adrenaline and the LMX Pro Tour. This tour is the perfect opportunity for lacrosse players to showcase their talents and for teams to showcase their excellent players. This also led to players being led off to play for neighboring teams. It also provided a lot of exposure to the world of lacrosse in general.

Today lacrosse is played during the months of May to August and the league consists out of 9 regular teams. Several Canadian teams have also joined the seasons which shows that lacrosse truly reaches across the borders.

Travis Cuvelier is excited to see the sport continue to grow and rise in popularity around the world. For more pictures, videos, news, and updates about lacrosse, follow Travis Cuvelier on Tumblr.