Lacrosse team houses six pairs of sibling players

Senior Jack Esberg remembers the story just as well as his freshman brother Frank. It was a during a spring scrimmage for the St. Paul’s lacrosse team. Jack was in eighth grade and Frank was in fifth. It was Frank’s first year playing lacrosse so his stick skills weren’t the greatest. Halfway through the scrimmage, one of his teammates lobs the ball to the inexperienced Frank. He makes a successful catch and begins cradling the ball down the field. Frank sees the goal get nearer and had to decide whether to pass it off to teammate or take a shot on goal. What he doesn’t see is his older brother charging to body check him. So before Frank can make a decision, Jack introduces his little brother to the physical game of lacrosse.

“I laid him out,” Jack said. “It was his first year and we weren’t supposed to make that much contact with other players. I saw an opening, lowered my shoulders and decked him. After the hit I got yelled at by the coaches and my parents. But it was absolutely worth it. I would never do that to any other player, but Frank is my brother.”

The Esberg brothers are one of six pairs of brothers on the lacrosse team this season, something that is very rare to find in any sport. And as anyone with a brother or sister would know, playing with their sibling on the team has its ups and downs.

“It’s cool having him on the team because we haven’t been on the same team before because we’re two years apart,” sophomore Connor McGannon said of  his brother, senior Patrick McGannon, who has played lacrosse three years at East and one year at Rockhurst. “He gives me someone to look up to and learn from. Every time I make a mistake he helps me find out what I did wrong and how to fix it. He’s really helped me improve as a player. I also sometimes help him if he makes a mistake and talk to him about it.”

But according to Connor, sometimes the advice can be just as annoying as it is helpful.

“Sometimes I don’t want to hear what he has to say and he doesn’t want to hear what I have to say,” Connor said. “It can get pretty painful to listen to when were on the way back from game. But I know he just wants me to get better.”

Frank is also experiencing the positives and negatives of having Jack not only being on the same varsity team as him, but also the same midfield line.

“It’s nice to know a lot of seniors because of Jack and have someone to toss around in the backyard with, but the bad part is probably that I can’t say anything because he’ll just mess with me and tell me to shut up,” Frank said. “He gave me the name rib pads after I wore rib pads to a couple games. He’s also given me the honor of being the team waterboy and ball bucket captain.”

But according to Jack, the hazing is well deserved.

“He still wears rib pads,” Jack said. “No one wears rib pads in high school lacrosse, so of course I’m going to give him some crap for it. He’s a freshman on varsity so I like to make him earn that by giving him a hard time and making him play hard at practice.”

The Esbergs aren’t the only brothers that give each other a hard time at practice. Sophomore twin brothers James and Patrick Simmons not only mess with each other but also their teammates.

“For the most part we work pretty hard, but sometimes we play pranks on our teammates together,” Patrick said. “Sometimes we mess with the freshman players while coach is talking or when we have a break. But when we get on the field, it’s strictly business.”

Other brothers, like junior Jeff and freshman Kevin Cole, have pushed each other this season to get better. Jeff is playing his first year of lacrosse while Kevin has been playing since elementary school. The brothers are regarded as two of the hardest workers on the team. Jeff, a member of the varsity football team, has pushed his little brother to become more athletic and  stronger. Kevin, who is the starting varsity goalie, also says that his older brother has helped him get through some rough games.

“One night, everyone was playing decent but I was playing awful and coach pulled me out of the goal,” Kevin said. “At halftime, Jeff came up and just got on me for some poor mistakes. He really helped get the right mindset and get back in the game. He always pushes to get better.”

With the help of all twelve of these brothers, East has reached second place in the state rankings with a 5-3 record. Jack believes that the large number of brothers on this years team is just another example of how lacrosse is growing more and more at East and the Midwest.

“Our grade was one of the first grades to go through a youth lacrosse league and that really affected our little brothers and their friends,” Jack said. “That has really helped spread the sport at East and gotten more kids playing. We have 30 freshman this year, which is probably the most we’ve ever had. So I can definitely say the talent is getting better each year.”