Josephine Emanuelli
Women’s lacrosse coach Jane Karger spent her winter break not in New Jersey, prepping for the upcoming lacrosse season but instead in Hong Kong, working with the Hong Kong Lacrosse Association’s High Performance Program. She spent part of the summer working with the Hong Kong Representative Team at the FIL World Cup in England, and this winter break trip was a continuation of that partnership.
Karger was able to coach alongside many of the players that she coached this summer, saying that she loved being able to coach with them after having them as players. In addition to coaching high-level players, she also worked with the developmental program. There, players from ages 13 to 65, with no previous experience, were learning how to play for the first time. Karger noted that she believes that this was lacrosse in its purest form: watching the players pick up a stick and fall in love with the sport for the first time.
A major difference that Karger found while working with the players in Hong Kong is the opportunities that the players have to continue playing after college. In Hong Kong, players often do not learn how to play until they reach the university level, but they are able to continue playing throughout their lives through opportunities provided by HKLA. HKLA is working to grow men’s and women’s lacrosse in Hong Kong and they are working to provide opportunities for everyone to play.
Despite being across the world for lacrosse, Karger made sure to visit some of the sights that Hong Kong had to offer. She was able to visit Lantau Island, one of the highest mountains in Hong Kong. The team she was with also took her around to a traditional “Hot Pot” dinner, along with visiting Macau’s, an autonomous region in the south of China that was once owned by Portugal.
Returning to the U.S., Karger described her trip as a dream, and cannot wait to return.
