American pair embrace Australian roots as Olympic lacrosse qualifying campaign begins on Sunshine Coast

With lacrosse returning to the Olympics for the first time as a medal sport since 1908, Grace Fujinaga and Marcus Wertheim have embraced their Australian roots to fulfil a dream of competing at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The Australian men’s and women’s lacrosse teams qualifying journey to LA starts on Monday at the Asia-Pacific Sixes Lacrosse Championships on the Sunshine Coast.

Fujinaga was born in Sydney to American parents, with her family moving back to the United States when she was a toddler.

Wertheim hails from the US, growing up in St. James, New York, but has Australian heritage through his Melbourne-born mother.

Both Fujinaga (New York Charging) and Wertheim (California Redwoods) have played professionally in America, but have relocated to Australia to feel a proper part of the nation’s push to be part of lacrosse’s return to the Olympics stage.

“I started coming back here and playing club lacrosse to explore what playing in Australia and for Australia might look like, and just fell in love with the place and the people, and want to be a part of it,” Fujinaga said.

“On this next phase of the journey towards the Olympics, I just felt really strongly that I could be on the ground, and Lacrosse Australia have created an infrastructure to support training between the state institutes and training sessions.

“It just felt like the place that I needed to be to be my best self, and the best lacrosse player I can be, and be part of the team.

“It’s such an amazing experience to even be able to work towards something like the Olympics, and I just couldn’t fathom not being close to it and close to all of my teammates.”

Wertheim said he wanted to represent Australia to honour his mother.

“She made the sacrifice of moving across the world, raising me, my brother and my sister, and now I have taken this opportunity to pay her back for all the sacrifices she made for us, and be able to connect with this side of our family,

“This is something I can do for her after she’s done so much for me, just being able to represent Australia, and give myself and my family that sense of pride and that sense of nationalism.

“I saw the Australian national team playing while I was in college, and it was something that I’ve always wanted to do, and having that opportunity now is something very special.”

Fujinaga and Wertheim said the Sixes version of lacrosse being played at the Olympics would appeal to fans, particulary those new to the sport.

“Sixes is super exciting. It was really built for the Olympic format,” Fujinaga said.

“It’s much easier for spectators to understand the rules, and men’s and women’s sixes are much more similar than in field lacrosse, so it really unifies the sport.”

Wertheim said there was “less stop and go” in Sixes and that “you have to be a complete lacrosse player to play Sixes, playing both sides of the ball”.

To advance to next year’s World Lacrosse Sixes Championships which is the next stage of qualifying for the Olympics, Australia’s men’s and women’s teams must finish in the top five of their respective Asia-Pacific campaigns.

“The expectation for both squads is winning the Asia-Pacific crowns, and it’s another opportunity to showcase what we’ve built over the last couple years,” Wertheim said.