A lacrosse stick or crosse is used to play the sport of lacrosse. Players use the lacrosse stick to handle the ball and to strike or "check" opposing players' sticks, causing them to drop the ball. The head of a lacrosse stick is roughly triangular in shape and is strung with loose netting that allows the ball to be caught, carried (known as "cradling"), passed, or shot.

Modern day lacrosse descends from and resembles games played by various Native American communities. Many of those games closely resemble what is now known as stickball.

Many early stickball sticks were essentially giant wooden spoons with no netting. More advanced sticks featured one end being bent into a 4 to 5-inch diameter circle. This circle would have netting made of wattup, and later on deer sinew. The tension in the netting of the stick allowed for players to strike the ball as someone would do in tennis. These sticks were typically 1 to 10 feet long and were bent into shape after being softened with water. This variation was played by many Great Lakes tribes.

The modern one-stick version of lacrosse is most closely modeled after the Iroquois. The sticks used by the Iroquois featured a U-shaped head rather than a circular one closely resembled the wooden sticks used today.

Lacrosse sticks were often very treasured by their users. Players received a stick when they were born and were buried with their stick when they died. The practice still exists today to some degree, but Native Americans are not to be presented with or buried with a plastic modern lacrosse stick.

Many stickball players decorated their sticks with the hair of animals like horses or raccoons, hoping to match that animal's speed and agility.

During grand matches or special events some players would decorate their sticks with feathers or dye their sticks different colors as a form of customization.

Some sticks would have elaborate carvings on them for spiritual reasons.