New Lacrosse Discipline Launched
World Lacrosse unveils a new 6 v 6 discipline aimed at continuing to grow the sport while offering another option for players around the world. Formally known as World Lacrosse Sixes, the new discipline will be referred to colloquially as Sixes. Besides the name, the international federation on May 18 also introduced brand identity and the first phase of technical resources for Sixes.
“This is the beginning of an exciting, new era for World Lacrosse and lacrosse players around the globe,” said World Lacrosse President Sue Redfern. “As the newest offering from our international federation, World Lacrosse Sixes is an ideal complement to our existing field and box disciplines. Sixes blends many of the most popular aspects of the field and box games, and introduces new elements that appeal to the next generation of sport participants and fans.”
World Lacrosse Sixes will be the discipline featured at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama.
World Lacrosse says Sixes has been developed to support and accelerate the continued growth of lacrosse worldwide. The international federation also made clear that the newest lacrosse discipline is not designed or intended to compete with, or replace, either the field or box disciplines of the game.
The traditional 10-a-side field lacrosse is played almost exclusively outdoors on a full-size football or soccer field while the six-a-side box discipline is almost always played indoors, often on ice hockey rinks with the ice removed or on indoor soccer fields.
Sixes is played on a field that is 70 meters by 36 meters, about two-thirds the size of a traditional one.
The development of Sixes began in 2018 as part of the strategic plan approved by the World Lacrosse General Assembly. There were five objectives that the new discipline needed to achieve:
• Support and encourage the continued growth of lacrosse worldwide
• Provide greater access to lacrosse by eliminating barriers to entry (eg: cost, team size, field size)
• Appeal to the next generation of sport participants and fans with a discipline that features tempo, speed, scoring and less specialization
• Over time, create greater competitive balance internationally by bringing more nations within reach of the podium at major international events
• And, fit within the 21st Century Olympic framework, where the International Olympic Committee and Host Cities are working to reduce the cost and complexity of staging the Olympic Games
“Throughout the development of this new discipline, the voice and perspective of athletes has helped shape every major decision that was made,” said World Lacrosse Chief Executive Officer Jim Scherr.
Extraordinary World Championships coming up for Fistball
The International Fistball Association (IFA) has announced that there are 800 days to the 2023 edition of Men’s Fistball World Championships, and at the same time the organisers unveiled the unique event logo.
From July 23 to 29, 2023, the best Fistball players in the world will travel to Mannheim, Germany. 800 days before the start of the Men’s World Championship, the City of Mannheim, the hosts International Fistball Association, the DFBL and TV 1880 Käfertal presented the official logo of the 2023 World Championship on the large video cube in Mannheim’s SAP Arena.
“Mannheim is a sports city and ball sports plays a major role in this. Mannheim is represented by teams in six of the 15 national ball sports leagues. That’s why I’m very pleased that the fourth Men’s Fistball World Championships to be held in Germany will take place in Mannheim, and that we can expect 16 teams from different continents and more than 30,000 fans in our city.” says Mannheim’s sports mayor Ralf Eisenhauer.
“We are very pleased to present the official event logo 800 days before the start of the World Championships,” explains IFA President Jörn Verleger. “Our logo is different from what people have been used to, because the World Championship is also different than before. The final phase in the SAP Arena on natural lawn is extraordinary for Fistball as an outdoor sport. The different shapes and widths of the letters represent a Fistball playing field as well as the City of Mannheim and the teams that bring the field to life. The colours symbolise the organisers: red for Mannheim and the DFBL, blue for the IFA and both together are also present at TV Käfertal.”
The striking shape of the letters is very impressive, but stimulates interest. For the first time, a unique font has been created for a Fistball world championships. “This font will run through the World Championships and has a high recognition value,” says Jörn Verleger.
Game Changers for Kickboxing
WAKO GameChangers is a newly created sport leadership and management programme tailored for the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO). It is designed to educate and develop the future potential leaders of the sport.
WAKOs President Roy Baker said “I am very excited to start working with this team of competent young people from around the world and to assist in their development and to implement the programme going forward. This is all about empowering our next generation, the next leaders, to develop succession planning and ensure we are focusing on the right people at the right time, to get the right outcome for the sustainable future of the sport of kickboxing. We will of course need to expand and explore further possibilities, that energize, empower and excite our next generation, to bring out the best in our youth – to be curious, to learn and to share.”
The GameChanger programme will have a kick-off in June, planning the coming year for the 15 ambassadors representing 15 countries from around the world.
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 7-17 July 2022. 3,600 athletes from over 30 sports and 100 countries will take part in The World Games.
