USA Lacrosse recently completed the second of three evaluation/exhibition camp sessions for the new Sixes discipline in beautiful Saratoga Springs and Lake Placid, N.Y. Now is a great time to summarize where we are in the development of our Sixes process.
Upon learning of the decision by World Lacrosse (WL) to develop a version of our game that would have the best shot of consideration for inclusion in the Olympics, and with an eye specifically towards the 2028 games slated for Los Angeles, USA Lacrosse embarked upon a few short-sided trial events, beginning with an exhibition in Lake Placid in the summer of 2019 featuring a 7v7 version of the sport.
A couple of more exhibitions were staged, without any prior preparation, and essentially tacked on to existing training events for our men’s and women’s senior national teams’ training events — at the Fall Classic event in October 2019 and the IWLCA President’s Cup in November 2019.
Then the pandemic struck and along with all other national team activities, plans and opportunities were put on hold. However, we continued to map out a strategy for the Sixes discipline.
We reached out to dozens of coaches to assess both their interest and availability for the development and evolution of the discipline. The response was atypical relative to similar situations involving our traditional national teams. Responses ranged from whatever you need — which is the typical response — to what can you tell me about this, to no response at all.
We get it. The jury is out on this discipline and based upon the limited, yet very specific information that has been available both from World Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse explaining the reasoning and purpose behind the development of the Sixes discipline, some may be concerned about sticking their necks out. Others might just not have the interest in getting involved with a yet unproven discipline.
We felt that regardless of the universal acceptance of the discipline it was incumbent upon us to move forward. World Lacrosse is committed to the full-field traditional versions of our sport, but the Sixes discipline will also have a prominent place moving forward.
The players love it — all you need do is ask any of the nearly 70 men and women athletes that have participated in the first two evaluation sessions.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I would simply caution and urge anyone, before passing judgement, to pay attention to the comments and the experiences of the players and coaches that have participated in the early stages of this process.
The organization and execution of the first two events were not without challenges. With a women’s national team tryout and training session in June, a men’s U21 training session in June and 20 National Team Development Program (NTDP) tryout sessions from the end of May to mid-July, there weren’t many options to schedule evaluation camps. But with the U.S. teams competing in the first Sixes competition at The World Games (TWG) in 2022 in Birmingham, Ala., we needed to start the process.
Also challenging was the availability of the athletes. With two pro leagues (PLL and Athletes Unlimited) in session, we did our best to schedule our events to not conflict directly with the athletes’ commitments. Many athletes, given their lifelong dream of competing on a USA national team, made significant sacrifices to be available while others just couldn’t make it happen. And that’s fine! We are pioneering the discipline and this first phase, which concludes with TWG competition in July 2022, is only the beginning!
Through the first two events we’ve evaluated nearly 70 players, split evenly between the men and women. This was not only the first concerted effort to launch the process, but also marked the first time that we have ever co-trained the men and women at the same event. Since one of the core concepts of the Sixes discipline is the virtual identical nature of the rules, it made sense to us to collaborate on the strategies and tactics and have coaches that will ultimately coach the initial teams work together in formulating, sharing and learning as we go forward. It’s been resoundingly popular with the athletes and they share a great deal of credit for providing input as these first events have truly been reciprocal in their structure.
What’s next? We have an event scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 22-24 at USA Lacrosse at which we expect to play exhibitions with both Canada and the Iroquois Nationals men’s and women’s teams. We’ll use this opportunity to evaluate 18 men and 18 women from which we will ultimately name a roster for TWG event in 2022.
Based upon the interest and willingness of a set of coaches to immerse themselves into the development of this discipline, and it was referenced earlier that this was a challenge, we will designate two coaches to coach each of the teams in TWG. If World Lacrosse establishes regular Sixes world championships, in addition to the existing world championships, we will initiate both a coach and player selection process more in line with that for our traditional teams.
There’s a lot yet to be learned and developed. The train has left the station. Although there are lots of folks on the platform wondering where this train is headed, if they’re not in their seats now, they’ll be left behind waiting for the next train. We’ll all end up at the same destination at some point, and we’ll encounter obstacles along the way, but like pioneers in history, those that get there first will likely have first claims on the prime real estate.
Skip Lichtfuss is the director of national teams and high performance for USA Lacrosse.
