Former Jays take lax to next level

In May of each year, anxious Hopkins lacrosse fans swarm to Homewood Field, filling it to capacity to cheer on the Jays as their season comes to an end. And each May, it does just that. Lacrosse ends abruptly and the book slams shut on the careers of each senior on the team. Whether or not the team has reached the playoffs, and whether or not a player has made the local news or become a PJ's celebrity, May is the death knell of the player's career.

But the times, they are a-changin'.

Major League Lacrosse proves that there is life after college. Replete with Hopkins alums, the league is bigger than ever in its fourth year. The league continues to grow at an exponential rate, culminating in this year's championship game broadcast on ESPN2 with a record eight thousand two hundred fans in attendance -- a crowd to rival any Hopkins home game.

The Blue Jays have been a huge part of that growth and success. The leagues press releases tout the "top academic institution" which supplies them with their players.

In fact, of the 150 players in the league, 16 are Hopkins alums with five on the Baltimore team alone.

"Ultimately what this league boils down to is guys playing because they love to play," said Kevin Kaiser, a '98 Hopkins alum who just completed his rookie season with the Baltimore Bayhawks. "The paycheck is nice but it's not why we play."

"I still love to play lacrosse. I don't want to stop playing at all," said Kevin Boland, the ex-Blue Jays midfielder who began his major league career after finishing his senior year in May. "The good part about it is you get to play against guys you used to play with and play with guys you used to play against."

"It's kind of a nice reunion to see someone you haven't seen in a couple of years on the weekends," Kaiser said.

But how do players balance lacrosse and real life outside of the Homewood campus? With a 36 game regular season and pre and post season games tacked on either end, playing in the league is a full time job in and of itself, yet players hold down the typical 9-to-5. Salaries for league play only compliment regular income, as the league's top players pull down a maximum $25,000 per year. There is hardly a hint of the glamour that you find in other major league sports.

Yet to the players, this is inconsequential. They are devoted to the sport "which we all grew up on," says Kaiser. "It's not everyday that people have the opportunity to play beyond their college years."

For former Hopkins defender and current Philadelphia Barrage star Brian Kuczma, the time and energy that is devoted to playing in the major leagues more than pays off. "I'm going to play as long as I can compete at that level, whether that be in three years, five years," he said. "I think this league has proven it will stick around and I'll be a part of it as long as I can."

And Kuczma pulls it off seamlessly. A teacher in New York City Monday through Friday, Kuczma has weekends and summer vacations to devote to the league. Though occasionally it does interfere with the schedule of the high school team he coaches, "that is only a couple of times a year."

One of the first players in the league, Kuczma spent three years with the Boston Cannons before being traded to the Barrage. Living in New York and traveling as far as Boston or Rochester each weekend is no picnic. Yet Kuczma's sentiments echo those of every other player in the league -- the hard work is worth it. Though playing at the next level does not garner the same big-fish-in-a-small-pond status or the media attention of college play, there is something even more rewarding about playing professionally.

"The college game is great," he said. "There's nothing like playing in front of a crowd that large, but with the level of play in the MLL, it absolutely makes up for it. The stakes are just as high as winning in [the NCAA]."

By all accounts, play in the major leagues is considerably more intense than even the best college games. Besides the fact that only the creme de la creme are recruited to the major league, the rules are tailored to create a more impassioned, faster-paced environment. Besides changing the shot clock to 45 seconds and creating a two point goal line to enhance opportunities to score and raise the stakes, Major League Lacrosse is more lenient with body checking rules than the NCAA. In addition to limiting the number of long stick defenders, the League has eliminated the restraining box, making the game more TV-friendly for audiences accustomed to the intensity of hockey or basketball.

With a game so different from what they are used to, Blue Jays appear surprisingly ready for the challenge. "It's a chance to compete at another level," says Hopkins men's lacrosse head coach Dave Pietramala. "Any time a person goes from one level to the next, the bar gets raised. [It] gets raised when you move up from college to the pros. They're no longer freshman or sophomores. They are adults, and usually they do elevate their play."

By Pietramala's estimate from watching his former disciples in action, they have risen to the challenges presented to them by this extreme form of the sport.

"You sit there and you watch them and you can't help but be their coach when mistakes are made," Pietramala said. "But I'm so proud of all of those guys. So is everyone here at Hopkins."