Shinya Maruyama

Team: Japan

Position: Attack

Age: 23

Birthplace: Nagano, Japan

The skinny: Maruyama has established himself as one of the World Games' fastest and most exciting players on an undersized but fundamentally sound Japan team that won the Red Division. A track runner, baseball and badminton player in high school, Maruyama has always loved being an athlete. He began playing lacrosse only four years ago in college because "it looked fun to play." After attending Nihon University, he began playing attack for the Valentia Lacrosse club team in Japan. He said he's proud to play in the World Games and "watch all the other teams, see what we can learn from that, and bring what we learned home to Japan." Besides playing lacrosse, Maruyama works as an office clerk in Japan.

Superstitions: When Maruyama is on the field without the ball, he sings to himself and imagines himself scoring in an effort to relax.

Pub Date: 7/23/98