Men's lacrosse coach Brian Voelker may have sealed his fate at birth.
The choice is an easy one when you grow up as a gifted athlete in Baltimore, Md. - the lacrosse capital of the world.
Voelker's pre-coaching years afforded him a playing career most athletes in the sport can only dream about.
He's got the accolades and the surgery scars to prove it.
"My uncle, who I'm really close with, played at Loyola College," Voelker said. "When I was little I . stole one of his old wooden [sticks] and just decided that I wanted to play."
After recreation leagues, Voelker wound up at Gilman School in seventh grade.
He was outside linebacker for the varsity football team and played three years of varsity defense in lacrosse for "good teams, never great ones."
But Gilman - currently the No.1 ranked high school lacrosse team in the nation - allowed Voelker to continue his passion at the college level, playing for 14-time NCAA champion Johns Hopkins.
"Growing up in Baltimore, it was kind of the thing to do to go down to Hopkins on Saturday afternoons and watch great lacrosse games," Voelker said. "It was kind of a no-brainer."
With the Blue Jays, Voelker was a three-time defensive All-American, playing alongside current Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala.
"Brian's one of the tougher guys that I've played with," Pietramala said. "When Brian had a [defensive] assignment he took it personally . you didn't have to worry about 'Voelks.' He's such a competitor he wouldn't allow himself to not do what he was supposed to do."
He also earned team titles including captain, most outstanding senior player and two-time most outstanding defensive player. His roommates were current Hopkins assistant Billy Dwan and Hofstra coach Seth Tierney.
Against Syracuse in the 1989 National Championship game, Voelker and his squad lost, 13-12, after a last second shot was stuffed by the Orange goalie.
"It was one of the best college games ever," Voelker said. "There were 20-something thousand people . At the time it was the largest crowd to see a college lacrosse game."
After school, Voelker made his first extended stop in the City of Brotherly Love, playing six years for the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League, winning three championships while competing with arguably the greatest player of all time, Gary Gait.
In 1994 in Manchester, U.K. and 1998 in Baltimore, Voelker represented his country on the U.S. World Championship team, bringing home the gold medal both years.
He was named most outstanding defenseman of the 1998 tournament, scoring some goals in the process.
"I'm a 'D' guy," Voelker said. "I didn't make my living scoring goals and getting assists and doing all the pretty boy stuff. I made my living checking hard and getting after people and hitting people."
Voelker played for two Major League Lacrosse squads, the Boston Cannons and the Long Island Lizards, suiting up in Boston Garden and the same arena where Slap Shot was filmed.
Voelker's first year at Penn (2003) was his last as a player. He simultaneously ran the Penn program and won a championship with the Lizards.
"I was kind of the old guy on that team," Voelker said. "I hung up the cleats and figured that was a good way to go out on top with the championship trophy."
With a surgically repaired knee and ankles prone to spraining by walking down the street, he no longer takes the field with the best players in the world, but he does manage lunchtime basketball games with the coaching staff.
"Old players always miss the game," Voelker said. "You see guys like Jordan retire and come back, there's a reason for it. The locker-room component . practicing hard against teammates, then putting it all on the line on the weekend, that's just something you never really get back. But I have a lot of lacrosse in my life, so there's not really time for me to miss it."
