In a profile of Scott Neiss, the executive director of the Israel Lacrosse Association, The New York Times reported that his idea to bring the sport of lacrosse to Israel began in 2010, when Neiss was neither playing lacrosse, nor living in Israel. Not only did Neiss establish the sport in Israel, but he was successful enough in doing so that he was able to bring the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) championship to Israel next week.
While Neiss hadn’t played lacrosse, he had worked for a professional league in the United States. During a Birthright trip to Israel in 2010, he started wondering if he could run his own team, and ended up creating the Israel Lacrosse Association.
In just eight years, Neiss developed enough of an infrastructure to lure the world championships to Israel — the games will be played in Netanya — after Manchester, England cancelled due to financial difficulties. According to the Times, “it will be the first time in the event’s five decades that it will be hosted outside the United States, Canada, England or Australia.”
With just a logo, a website, and the beginnings of a plan, Neiss attempted to create the league.
When he reached out to FIL’s director of development, Tom Hayes, Hayes asked Neiss how he planned to expand lacrosse in Israel. This spurred Neiss to get Reebok to donate equipment. He also contacted David Lasday, an American who had run basketball clinics in Israel and was familiar with the overall sports scene in Israel. With just that connection, Neiss sent 20 lacrosse sticks with Lasday’s mother, and Lasday held a clinic for a small group of boys in Tel Aviv.
While Neiss described the clinic as “hideous,” it was important because he had pictures of the event and could say, “Look! We’re doing stuff on the ground,” and after that “things started to get very real.” FIL was looking to get lacrosse reinstated as an Olympic sport and needed more affiliated nations. In 2011, Israel became an associate member of the federation and qualified for an equipment grant.
After raising money and doing publicity, Neiss was able to stage an exhibition game between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Jerusalem’s Kraft stadium. The game yielded a lot of publicity and the game grew in Israel.
In 2012, Neiss wanted to try to get the Israeli team to qualify for the 2014 world championships. He recruited 20 American-Jewish players to play in a lacrosse festival held in conjunction with the 2012 European championships. Even though Israel had a slot in the European tournament, the festival players did not qualify for the slot because they didn’t have Israeli passports. So Neiss recruited an inexperienced Israel team. Remarkably the newcomers made it to the championships quarterfinals and the Jewish-American team won the festival. Now Neiss had 40 players who could spread the sport around Israel.
Israel placed 7th in the world championship four years ago. In 2016, it won the silver medal in the European championships and last year won the European indoor title. This year the Israeli lacrosse team will compete for a medal, not just on its home field, but featuring, Ori Ben David, the first Israeli-born player to come through its system.
The championship is set to last from July 12 through July 21 and feature 48 teams consisting of 2,000 of the top lacrosse players in the world. Some 8,000 fans from around the world are expected to attend.
Jake Silberlicht, the Israeli national team’s captain, introduced Ben David to the game, and observed, “Now we’re competing on the same field.” Silberlicht added, “But at the end of the day — and I learned this from Scott — our goal isn’t to win the world championship and have people remember our names. What we really want people to see, 10 years down the road, is what we’ve built.”
Silberlicht expressed similar sentiments in a podcast hosted by The Israel Project. In the podcast, embedded below, Silberlicht, and defense man Chris Friedman, explain the game of lacrosse, what it means to live in Israel, and the excitement of competing on the world stage.
[Photo: Israel Lacrosse / YouTube ]