Lacrosse coach Jenifer Marrosu sets fresh goal after Hong Kong qualify for 2021 Women’s World Cup

Two years ago, Jenifer Marrosu was watching the Hong Kong women’s team playing in the Asia Pacific Lacrosse Championship on her computer.

Marrosu had no idea at the time that some of the women she was watching on live stream would one day come under her wing. She knew next to nothing about Hong Kong.

In fact, when she later heard about an opening for the position of Hong Kong women’s coach, the New Jersey native went on Google to find out where the city was on the map.

In the eight months since her arrival, though, she has fallen in love with the city and her players, who last month qualified for the 2021 World Cup in Maryland, United States.

“I was actually watching them in 2017 never thinking that I would be affiliated with them let alone becoming their coach,” said Marrosu, a coach of more than 12 years at elite level. “I recognise some of the girls from two years ago not knowing I would coach them.”

Hong Kong beat Taiwan 9-3 and China 16-4 in Gyeongju, South Korea in the 2019 Asia Pacific Championship in June but lost to the hosts 16-8. That was still enough to qualify for the World Cup in 2021.

Hong Kong finished 18th in the past two World Cup tournaments and Marrosu, who started coaching the squad in December, said the goal would be to improve on those performances.

“We have quite a bit of talent on the team already and I’ve seen them improve drastically in the eight months I’ve been with the team,” said Marrosu.

“They have been working hard at practice as well as strength and conditioning so they are getting stronger and trying to catch up with [opposition] players who have been playing all their lives.

“It’s a question I get a lot [on how far behind are we] but it’s not so much that we are far off, it is more the years we are trying to play catch-up.

“Some of the American athletes I’ve worked with started as young as kindergarten, some younger because the sport is embedded in their family.

“But our lax IQ is there, our knowledge is there, the passion and dedication are all there. We just need to fit all the pieces of the puzzle so we can become one solid family unit.”

While the World Cup remains the ultimate goal, the immediate priority is preparing for the under-19 world championship in Peterborough, Canada, starting on August 1.

A handful of players who took part in the Aspac tournament will be part of the U19 squad. Hong Kong, coached by veteran American Jane Karger, are in pool E with Israel, Belgium, Puerto Rico and a team from the Haudenosaunee Native American community.