Coronavirus: Hong Kong lacrosse players sacrificing jobs, family to train abroad and prepare for major world tournaments
- The women’s squad are preparing for their world championship in Maryland, USA in June while the men are aiming for August’s Under 21 event in Ireland
- The teams are unable to train in Hong Kong because of Covid-19 restrictions and some are willing to resign their jobs so they can spend months away training
Hong Kong’s lacrosse teams are reluctantly packing their bags for the long haul, with players adjusting their studies or sacrificing their jobs to spend months abroad preparing for two important world tournaments.
The restrictions in Hong Kong brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic means the women’s and men’s teams are unable to train at home, forcing them to go overseas to ensure proper preparation.
The women compete in the World Championship in Towson, Maryland in June while the men’s squad are gearing up for the Under 21 Worlds in Limerick, Ireland in August.
“With all the other countries adequately preparing for this event and with us not able to, we feel it is best to get our team to Europe,” said women’s coach Jen Marrosu.
“With Hong Kong’s Covid restrictions and having weeks of quarantine we have only been able to travel once since 2019. Last October [only] half the team was able to compete at the Dalmatia Cup in Split, Croatia because some of our players have jobs that simply won’t allow them to travel for a week and then sit in quarantine for two weeks.
“We need high-level competition and consistent practice sessions to be able to prepare properly for a World Cup. We haven’t been able to see that in Hong Kong.”
