How ‘stick net ball’ – or lacrosse – is aiming to become more than just a niche sport in Hong Kong
The sport may be little-known to many in the city, but with the backing of a wealthy patron has big plans to expand its popularity and success
“Lacrosse is ‘stick net ball’ in Cantonese and tennis is ‘net ball’, so most people think I’m a tennis player when I tell them what I do,” says Carrie Hui Ka-hei, captain of Hong Kong’s women’s lacrosse team.
“If I clarify, most people can’t picture what it is – so they usually just smile and say, ‘Good luck’!”
That blank reaction might be common towards a sport that occupies a very small niche in the city, but major efforts are under way to change that.
“It’s not even known here, it takes a little while to explain what it is,” says Raymond Fong Kun-sheng, chief executive of the Hong Kong Lacrosse Association.
Since being introduced by a British Hong Kong University professor in 1963, the game has become part of the uni’s culture, but struggled to gain traction off-campus.
But thanks to the backing of a wealthy Taiwanese businessman who fell in love with the sport at university in the US, the local association has been able to hire several full- and part-time administrators and coaches in an effort to bring the game into the wider community, and improve the local representative teams’ skill levels.
