For Indigenous men playing in world championship this week, lacrosse isn't just a sport. It's medicine.

SAN DIEGO — Like many other boys from his tribal community, Jeremy Thompson from the Onondoga Nation was given two gifts at birth: The cradleboard his parents carried him in, and a lacrosse stick. When he dies, that stick will be buried alongside him. "From birth to death, it's with us," Thompson said. Since 2006, the 36-year-old has played for the Haudenosaunee (pronounced hoh-DEE-noh-SHoh-nee) Nationals, a professional men's lacrosse team that represents the Six Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy of Upstate New York and Southeastern Canada. This week, the Nationals are visiting San Diego to c...