Jamaica's World Lacrosse Championship team takes on a Long Island accent

Long Island was well represented on the field when the World Lacrosse Men’s Championship kicked off this week in San Diego. But not all of the Long Islanders taking part in the tournament will be playing for the favored U.S. team.

Many other countries featured Long Island-trained players on their roster, including the Caribbean island of Jamaica, which has four Long Island natives on its 23-man squad.

A.J. Knox of Coram, Jahiem Hawkins of Huntington, Danielo Parkinson of Roosevelt and Antoine Campbell of Uniondale all wore the black, green and gold colors of Jamaica when the team defeated Germany, 5-3, on Thursday at San Diego State University. Knox scored one goal for Jamaica.

“It means a lot,’’ said Parkinson, who plays for St. John’s, of representing Jamaica. “Just to represent my family. I think going out there and hearing my mom said she wants to come watch — she hasn’t been to any of my lacrosse games, so coming to this one is big. It’s bigger than me.”

The event began Wednesday with the U.S. beating co-favorite Canada, 7-5. Thirty teams are taking part, with the U.S., Canada and the Haudenosaunee (formerly known as the Iroquois) considered the favorites to take home the gold, silver and bronze medals. England, Australia, Italy, Israel and Japan are among the teams expected to challenge for a medal.

Jamaica is taking part in the World Championship for the second time. The country debuted at the tournament in Israel in 2018, just six years after the sport was introduced on the island, and finished 13th overall. The country also fielded a team at last summer’s Under-21 World Championship in Ireland, where it finished ninth.

Hawkins, who just finished his freshman year at Division III Westminster College in Pennsylvania, played on the U21 team last summer. He also played for the senior men’s team in the qualifying tournament in Colombia last summer that secured the team’s spot in San Diego. A long-stick midfielder at Huntington High School, he switched to short-stick defensive midfield in college. For Jamaica, he will play some long stick and some short stick and perhaps take some faceoffs.

He and Parkinson were born in Jamaica and moved to the U.S. when they were very young. Knox and Campbell were born in the U.S. to parents who had immigrated from Jamaica. In international lacrosse, an individual is allowed to play for a country if he or she was born in the country or if one of his or her parents, or a grandparent, was born there.

Campbell, a long-stick midfielder at Stony Brook, said he started playing lacrosse in sixth grade when his gym teachers introduced the sport at his school. After playing for Uniondale High School, he went to Nassau Community College and wasn’t thinking about playing lacrosse, but a former coach suggested he try out for the Nassau team. There he won a junior college national championship, earning All-American honors along the way before moving on to Stony Brook.

Campbell didn’t know Jamaica had a lacrosse team until last summer, when he was working out with former Uniondale teammate Dylan Donaldson. Donaldson had played on Jamaica’s U21 team in Ireland and told Campbell about it.

“He was like, ‘You’re Jamaican, right?’ ’’ Campbell recalled. When Campbell said yes, Donaldson put him in contact with the Jamaica coach, Mark Wilson, who offered him a spot on the team.

Knox, who played for Longwood High School, was a late addition to the team, coming on as a replacement for an injured player. He plays at Hampton, one of two Historically Black Colleges and Universities that sponsor men’s lacrosse.

Knox started playing lacrosse in second grade when his friend’s father, a high school lacrosse coach, gave him his first stick.

“I just loved it ever since, basically,’’ he said.

After graduating high school in 2019, he went to Division II Pace but came back to Long Island after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and transferred to LIU. He played two years there before transferring to Hampton.

Knox got involved with Jamaica Lacrosse after attending Boost Camp, a lacrosse camp for Black college players, last summer. There he met a fellow camper who was on the Jamaica team and told him about it.

For Hawkins, playing for Jamaica marked the first time he had played for a team on which the majority of players were Black. It’s an experience he cherishes.

“I feel like here . . . I’m free,’’ he said. “I can say what I want, because these guys know what I’m coming from. I can talk with them. I bonded with them so quick when I got here.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.