COQUITLAM - Hong Kong is the first Asian country and ninth team on the roster for the 2016 FIL Men’s Under-19 World Lacrosse Championship being held July 7-16, 2016, in Coquitlam.
Coached by Victoria, B.C., resident Scott Browning, Hong Kong joins Canada, the U.S., Australia, England, Germany, Ireland and Israel in the field of teams committed to date. Browning is one of three Victoria, B.C., connections on the coaching staff.
"It's a real honour to continue working with the dedicated people of the Hong Kong Lacrosse Association," Browning said. "We are currently operating development programs in advance of tryouts next spring. There will be training and competitions with other teams from the Asia region, prior to final pre-tournament camp in North America."
"Lacrosse is growing quickly and the quality of play is improving in Hong Kong and the Asia region in general," said Hong Kong Lacrosse Development Officer Jordan Wong, also originally from Victoria B.C., who has been a big part of the game's development and is starting to develop and introduce youth lacrosse programs. Currently, most players are introduced to lacrosse at the University of Hong Kong.
Browning said there are quite a few good athletes in the development program, some of whom gained great experience playing with the senior men's team at the Asia Pacific Championships last July in Bangkok.
"The majority of Team Hong Kong will have four or less years of lacrosse experience, so our expectations for the world championships need to be realistic," Browning said. "Our team will compete hard and represent Hong Kong with pride."
The connection to lacrosse in B.C. runs even deeper with U19 assistant coach and goalie coach Bert Marshall, who is another Victoria-export. Additionally, the Hong Kong Lacrosse's women's program head coach is Travis Taylor from New Westminster.
"Hong Kong may just be a local favourite next July, after host Canada of course," Browning added.
As a new entry to the U19 tourney, Hong Kong will receive an exemption to have U-21 players on their roster.
Hong Kong is the ninth team to commit to the tournament that also includes Canada, the U.S., Australia, Finland, England, Germany and fellow newcomers Ireland and Israel in the field of teams committed to date.
More team commitments will be announced in the coming months.
Learn more at www.hklax.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hong-Kong-Lacrosse-Association-101953226560593/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HKLacrosse
