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Kjälla Jackson has traveled to international lacrosse tournaments practically since she could walk. But she’s never played in one.

Jackson spent the first 15 years of her life following her mother, Teckla, to tournaments throughout their home country of Sweden and across the world. Both Teckla Jackson and her husband play professional lacrosse, so Kjälla would stand on the sidelines and observe while her parents’ teammates kept an eye on her.

But come June, Kjälla Jackson will have her first shot at competing on the international stage. This time, neither she nor her mom will watch from the sidelines. Instead, they will take the field together for the Swedish national team at the World Lacrosse Women’s Championship.

“It’s what I’ve been waiting and longing for,” said Teckla Jackson, 51. “I’m so proud that she made the team — and that I made the team — this year. Competition is getting harder and harder, so I’m excited to be able to play with her.”

After spending a year of high school abroad and learning to play lacrosse in Syracuse, New York, in 1987, Teckla Jackson returned to Sweden with two lacrosse sticks in hand and a determination to grow a sport that barely existed in her home country. She started a new club, Farsta Lacrosse, a few years later.

Still, it wasn’t until recently that Sweden’s national team had enough women at tryouts even to make cuts. “It’s growing, but it’s so hard,” said Teckla Jackson, who received the World Lacrosse Development Award in 2015. “We still don’t have enough club teams, but we’re on the way.”

Kjälla Jackson is one of just a handful of Swedish players who have grown up around the sport. She studied in the U.S. this year, honing her lacrosse skills at Hudson High School in Ohio. Instead of a traditional tryout, she played fall ball and sent videos of her training and games to Sweden coach Marcus Lind. “To travel around the world and watch people play lacrosse — which is a sport that I love, and I don’t really know anything else — it’s amazing," she said.

Teckla Jackson has competed in every international event Sweden has appeared in since the women’s team’s inception in 1997.  Kjälla Jackson started playing with her mom on the Farsta senior team at age 13, with teammates closer to her mother’s age than her own. Her time in the U.S. has provided a more traditional lacrosse experience.

“She’s grown heaps,” Teckla Jackson said. “She’ll bring different ideas and views of the game.”