President Joe Biden was giving a speech to Native American groups in D.C. for the \u201cWhite House Tribal Nations Summit,\u201d and during the speech, Biden rambled about his youth sports experience, particularly lacrosse, and jokingly told the audience not to laugh in a somewhat awkward moment.<\/p>\n
That moment came when President Biden was speaking about preserving Native American cultural heritage, and gave the example of preserving lacrosse, which was originally a Native American sport but has survived to the modern day in a modified form.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the across and cultural heritage issue, President Biden said, \u201cFolks, at the same time, we\u2019re helping to preserve cultural heritage like Tribal languages and sports. Sports like lacrosse. Joining us today are members of the Six Nations Confederacy who \u2014 which in- \u2014 by the way, where are you guys? Stand up. Come on. Which invented lacrosse nearly a thousand years ago. The game brought Tribes together, a force for peace, friendship, and healing. The Six Nations players are still among the very best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then tried to make himself relatable by bringing up his connection to across and his daughter\u2019s success as a lacrosse player, saying, \u201cAnd as a point of personal privilege, I know about this because I went to Syracuse University, long the home of a powerhouse lacrosse program. And I might add, my daughter was a first-rate lacrosse player in high school, and my niece was an All-American lacrosse player at Harvard [in high school], so we have a little knowledge of lacrosse in our family.\u201d
\nBiden then commented on why he didn\u2019t end up playing lacrosse, saying, \u201cI wanted to play lacrosse, but you had to choose between lacrosse and football. You couldn\u2019t play both in the same season. And since I was a powerful six-foot, 158-pound \u2014 flanker back \u2014 I was the runner-up at state scoring championship. Don\u2019t laugh, man.\u201d The crowd laughed. Watch the moment here:<\/p>\n