Adam Ghitelman attempts to save a shot during the U.S. Men’s national Sixes game in Lake Placid on Tuesday, Aug. 3. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — A faster version of lacrosse was showcased in Lake Placid on Tuesday, Aug. 3.

The Lake Placid Summit Classic lacrosse tournament hosted a World Lacrosse Sixes demonstration with members of both the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams, respectively, at the North Elba Athletic Fields on Tuesday night.

Sixes is a new discipline, or an event within the sport of lacrosse, that showcases a faster paced lacrosse game. It’s played on a smaller field, with fewer players, a condensed game length and a 30-second shot clock, according to Lake Placid Summit Lacrosse.

“When you watch the game it’s kind of infectious. It’s very fast, a lot of the same things with skill and speed are there and it is played in 30 minutes versus an hour-and-a-half,” Lake Placid Summit Classic co-founder George Leveille said. “The idea is to make it much quicker.”

According to U.S. national team member Jack Kelly, who plays goalie, the game is up and down, and showcases a lot of shots.

Jack Kelly stretches out to make a save during the US National team demonstration in Lake Placid on Tuesday, Aug. 3. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

“It’s like basketball with lacrosse sticks really, so it’s fast paced, a lot of scoring and a lot of action, and I think we are having a lot of fun with it,” Kelly said.

The World Lacrosse Sixes aims to bring back lacrosse as an official Olympic sport for the first time since 1908. Lacrosse was a sport in the 1948 Olympics, but it was a demonstration sport — a sport that is played to promote the sport, not an official Olympic sport.

“The big difference here is being a smaller sized version and the reason for that is our quest to get into the Olympics,” Director of National Teams for U.S. Lacrosse Skip Lichtfuss said. “We are being dictated that size of roster length of game, that type of stuff. It is something that is critical for the International Olympic Committee to consider.”

Leveille said there has been a movement for the last 15 to 20 years to get lacrosse back in the Olympics. The sport has now grown, with around 30 to 40 countries participating in the upcoming World Games.

The U.S. national teams that will be showcasing the new form of lacrosse in Lake Placid will be participating in the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.

Leveille is hopeful that the new version of lacrosse will make it into the Summer Olympics in 2028, which will be held in Los Angeles.

“The Olympics are very challenging in terms of getting in, because of things like cost and things of that nature,” Leveille said. “So they have encouraged the sport to modify the way the game is played to be more accessible to more countries.”

The first step in the process of becoming an Olympic sport is recognition as a sport by the IOC, according to Brittanica, an online encyclopedia. Once a sport is recognized, it can move to earn status from the International Sports Federation. Lastly, a sport must be formally admitted into the Olympics as a sport by the IOC.

Lichtfuss said World Lacrosse has received the approval and have been accepted into the IOC membership, as the general assembly has voted to approve lacrosse as a full member. The next step is to actually find an Olympic city.

“The form of game they are using for the Olympics is also a form that can be used for learning the sport. That is a very important connection,” Leveille said. “We are teaching young people especially in communities that aren’t served, inner cities and places like that, to play on a small field with smaller players.”

The reception of the new discipline has not been all positive so far.

“There is still a lot of traditionals, there always is in every sport, I used to be one of those traditionals many years ago with the box,” Lichtfuss said. “I turned around and realized what a great additional way to learn the game, to play the game and develop skills. What I’m learning is that this game is nothing more than another discipline, another way to involve more people.”

Kelly said that he was hesitant when he first heard about Sixes, but once people come to a game and see it firsthand they are super excited about it because it showcases the skills of all the players.

Leveille said the demonstration is one of the first examples of this sport being played publicly in anticipation of being in the 2028 Olympics games in Los Angeles.

“This is the second of two sessions that we have run, because of the nature of the time of the year it is, we are competing with our professional leagues both on the women and the men’s side for access to players,” Lichtfuss said. “We have a combination of some younger players and some kids that are still in college as well as existing pros. It’s an exploration of discovery type of phase we are in right now.”

According to Kelly, players are picked from a pool for the national team, and are asked by coaching staff and management to play. He is one of the few players that participated in the first camp, as many of the players in Lake Placid, were playing for the first time.

With the demonstration being the second of three events for the U.S. National Sixes discipline teams, a third event, featuring international competition, is planned for October. The third event will be at USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Maryland, according to Summit Lacrosse.