World Lacrosse Super Sixes: Hong Kong coaches divided over whether Olympic format should be city’s focus
- Women’s head coach Gemini Fan believes city’s small population means concentrating on six-a-side version of sport is best approach
- But counterpart Bob Snider wants to take broader approach, and says ceiling is ‘very high’ for men’s team
Hong Kong’s lacrosse coaches are divided over whether the city should concentrate on the sport’s Olympic format, or broaden the scope to focus on both versions of the game.
Gemini Fan Tak-kwan, the head coach of the women’s team, believes the Sixes competition is a better fit for a city with a small population such as Hong Kong.
She also was of the opinion that the speed and skills necessary for the quicker game were more easily transferable to the traditional 10-a-side one, rather than vice versa.
The sport will make its debut at the LA Games in 2028, and Fan said the next generation of players, not those representing the city at this weekend’s World Lacrosse Super Sixes, would be the one fighting to secure Hong Kong a spot.
“With our population size, finding players for the Sixes should be easier,” she said. “We only need 12 players, whereas 22 are required for the traditional 10-a-side version.
“And you need better skills to be good at the Sixes because it’s much faster both in terms of the game and decision-making, so if you’ve got good fundamental skills, you would generally be good across different versions of the sport, too.”
