DOUBLE DUTY
Military men have moonlighted in the MLL since the beginning Being the top league for
field lacrosse in the world, it’s sometimes easy to forget just about every player in Major League Lacrosse has a day job. They get up in the morning, commute, do their business and head home just like the rest of us. Most of them practice once a week, fly in for game day and then play some of the best lacrosse you’ll ever see. A select few, however, have a
slightly different routine. They’re not just weekend warriors. They’re full-time warriors. At press time, four graduates
of the U.S. Military Academy were on active MLL rosters. Jeremy Boltus (Denver Outlaws), Garrett Thul (Hamilton Nationals), Brendan Buckley (Boston Cannons) and Tim Henderson (New York Lizards). “You definitely know what you’re
going to get when you have a kid from a service academy,” said Boston coach John Tucker, who coaches Buckley with the Cannons and also had several U.S. Naval Academy graduates on active duty play for him when he coached the Los Angeles Riptide from 2006- 2008. “They’re tough, hard-nosed players that are in shape, focused and ready to go.” Boltus, a fire control officer
attached to an infantry unit based in Colorado Springs, Colo., had 10 goals and six assists through the first nine games of the season for Denver. He had 30 points in each of his first two seasons with Hamilton and Charlotte. But being active duty and in school as an artillery officer, it’s not easy making things work. “Your military commitment is
your first priority,” Boltus said. “But you also want to be able to commit to your team. Sometimes you have to call and tell them that you just can’t make it on a given week. Even though everybody understands, you still hate to do that.” Henderson in June finished the
same Basic Officer Leadership Course that Boltus had taken and soon will head to Georgia to train for the airborne infantry unit that he will join as a field artillery officer. Thul and Buckley have had it
relatively easy thus far, as both have been on post-graduation
A Publication of US Lacrosse
Boston’s Brendan Buckley (above) starts field artillery training Aug. 1, while Denver’s Jeremy Boltus is a fire control officer in the U.S. Army.
leave. Thul will be posted at West Point as an athletic department intern and help coach the Military Academy Prep School team. Buckley, however, starts field
artillery training in Oklahoma on Aug. 1 and is scheduled to join his airborne unit in Germany within a year, meaning his rookie season may be his last as a pro. “If it works for the Cannons and
works for my chain of command, I’d love to keep playing,” he said. “Hopefully I can, and we can string together a couple wins and get to championship weekend. It might be my last season of lacrosse, ever.” Therein lies the difficulty of the
service academy lacrosse player. Unlike other sports, where some famous grads (think David “the Admiral” Robinson, of Navy fame) play sports full time after a two- year military commitment, these players are at the mercy of their posting and commanding officers. Most officers are fine with the moonlighting laxers, as long as their duties are done with the level of military excellence that comes with the West Point education. “All the places I’ve been, I just
sat down with my commander on the first day and weighed everything out,” Henderson said. “It’s clear if they give permission, it’s on top of your regular duties. If you come back Monday dragging, they’re not going to like it.”
Service academy players have
been a fixture in the MLL for most of its history. Army has produced nine pros, starting with John Ryan and Adam Fullerton in 2008. Navy has had 10, starting with Adam Borcz in 2001 and peaking in 2007, when nine former Midshipmen filled rosters. “Their schooling prepares them
well for that double-duty,” Army coach Joe Alberici said.
These military men are talented,
physically gifted, disciplined and mentally prepared for whatever the game brings — not to mention pleased the pendulum has swung from Annapolis to West Point. “They are our brothers in arms.
We go to battle with them,” Boltus said. “But it’s nice to have bragging rights and be able to say that we’ve turned it back towards the Hudson.” — Sean Burns
August 2013 >> LACROSSE MAGAZINE 49
©BILL DANIELEWSKI (BB); ©JEREMY BOLTUS
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