Chapter two of the U.S. women’s national team’s trip to Europe begins Thursday with lacrosse’s first foray into The World Games. Here’s a look at what’s ahead for Team USA:
What are The World Games?
The International World Games Association (IWGA) is formally recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Every four years it puts on an Olympic-style event for sports not included in IOC programming that is known as The World Games. The first event was held in 1981 in Santa Clara, Calif.
This year’s event is being held in Wroclaw, Poland, and features 31 sports and athletes from more than 100 countries. The sports range from common sports like bowling, handball and squash to more obscure sports like fistball (think volleyball on a soccer field) and korfball (think basketball with a really tall basket and no backboard).
Russia has won the overall medal count at the last four games, and as of Tuesday led this year’s event with 40 medals earned so far.
What’s Different?
One of the biggest changes from FIL international play to The World Games is the composition of the competing countries. Since the IWGA follows Olympic guidelines, England, Scotland and Wales will combine teams to compete as Great Britain in The World Games. Six countries were selected to participate in The World Games — Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, Poland and the United States.
Another major difference is that each team will only have 10 players on the field at a time versus the normal number of 12 for women’s lacrosse. Related to that, each roster size is limited to 15 players as opposed to the limit of 18 for FIL play.
Who is playing for the U.S. team?
The U.S. team will consist largely of the same players that just won the FIL World Cup in England on Saturday. Alyssa Murray, an alternate for the World Cup, will be on the active roster along with Becca Block, Ally Carey, Kristen Carr, Taylor Cummings, Megan Douty, Brooke Griffin, Gussie Johns, Marie McCool, Alice Mercer, Kelly Rabil, Jennifer Russell, Katie Schwarzmann, Michelle Tumolo and Devon Wills.
What is Team USA’s schedule?
The U.S. plays the host nation, Poland, on Thursday at 10 a.m. local time (Wroclaw is 6 hours ahead of Eastern time). The U.S. then plays Great Britain on Friday. The semifinals are set for Saturday, July 29 and the championship game is set for 2 p.m. local time (8 a.m. Eastern) on Sunday, July 30.
Where can I watch?
The Olympic Channel is providing television and streaming coverage of The World Games. The television version of the Olympic Channel just launched earlier this month and is airing one hour of highlights each day from The World Games. The channel is currently available in more than 35 million homes nationwide – check local listings to see if it’s available in your area.
The online Olympic Channel is providing 24-hour round the clock coverage of The World Games at no charge. The Olympic Channel will stream both semifinal games and the championship game either on a live or tape-delayed basis.
The semifinal game between the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds will be streamed live at 4 a.m. (Eastern) on Saturday, July 29. The semifinal between the No. 2 and 3 seeds will be streamed on a delayed basis at 1 a.m. (Eastern) Sunday, July 30.
The championship game will be slightly delayed, streaming at 9:45 a.m. (Eastern) on Sunday, July 30.