Three years ago, Wu Bo-yi, Liang Hung-wei and Hu Yuan-xun had never picked up a lacrosse stick, and hadn’t even seen the game being played. Now, the teens are representing Taiwan at the U19 World Championships in Coquitlam.
“I’m pretty excited to be here,” said Hu, with translation help from a coach.
He has only been playing for one year, but hopes to stick with the sport for many more. “Back in Taiwan, there’s not much that gives me an opportunity like lacrosse.”
The young athletes that make up Taiwan’s national team mainly hail from a high school in the small southeastern city of Taitung, where the country’s first-ever lacrosse game was played in 2014. Nearly half of the team belong to indigenous Taiwanese tribes, and most come from families that would normally be hard-pressed to buy pricey sports gear or send their children on international trips.
They are being coached by former professional box lacrosse player Travis Gillespie, who lives in Pitt Meadows.
The first time Gillespie saw the team play, he said, “I knew we had some difficulties. But you can’t argue with the passion, how intense and how happy they were to be out there playing.”
The players have improved in leaps and bounds since then, growth that Gillespie attributes to their full-time coaches in Taiwan and the dogged determination of the players.
The story of how the game came to Taiwan is one of persistence, luck, and generosity from lacrosse fans in high places. It begins with Chris Wei and Sarah Lin, two parents who decided to start a team after their sons returned from boarding school in the U.S., eager to keep playing their favourite sport.
Lin bought enough equipment for an entire team, and the pair tried to drum up interest in Taiwan’s largest city, Taipei, but the idea failed to gain momentum, according to Wei.
“It turns out, most of the kids in the city are reluctant to do outdoor sports,” he said.
But a month later, the headmaster of Kung Tung High School put up his hand and said he would like to bring the exotic sport to Taitung. His students responded with enthusiasm, practising for long hours in the tropical heat.
Players Wu and Liang have been with the team since the beginning.
“The physicality of lacrosse is one thing I like. And lacrosse gave us the opportunity to travel, and share our culture with other countries,” Wu said.
That opportunity comes thanks to people like Joe Tsai, the Taiwanese-Canadian vice-chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. Tsai played field lacrosse at Yale University, and his love of the sport led him to donate generously to budding programs in both Hong Kong and Taiwan. Taiwanese manufacturers of sports equipment have also chipped in.
Lacrosse now has a foothold in the capital city, where Taipei City University has formed the country’s first collegiate-level team. But Wei said that Taitung, where students have fewer distractions than in the big city, was the perfect place for the sport to get its start.
“This is all speaking from hindsight. We weren’t smart enough to know that in the beginning,” Wei said.
The indigenous connection — aboriginal Taiwanese kids playing a North American First Nations sport — was another coincidence. The players celebrated that link soon after their arrival in B.C., practising with the Iroquois Nationals and exchanging performances of traditional dances.
The Taiwanese players were awestruck by how the Iroquois team performed on the field.
“I’m so impressed that the Iroquois players. When they’re playing lacrosse … they are so creative in doing tricky things,” Liang said.
The Taiwanese team plays its first game on Friday, against Germany. The players are confident of victory, but their coaches and supporters say the real point of the visit to Canada is improving their skills and learning about the culture of another country.
“Our chances? It’d be a real Disney story if we make the finals,” coach Gillespie said. “Realistically, I think we have a chance to win a couple of games.”
The world championships kicked off Thursday with a game between Canada and the U.S. and continues until July 16. The complete schedule is available here.
