University of Albany: Resetarits brothers similar in lacrosse success

It is pretty typical that a younger sibling follow in the older’s footsteps. Joe Resetarits has followed big brother Frank’s blueprint in lacrosse to a tee, thus far.

So it was no surprise that Joe asked for and was given Frank’s jersey number five as he readies himself for a freshman season at Albany University where big brother ranks second all-time with 241 career points.

Joe wore Frank’s same No. 5 when breaking the all-time Western New York single season goals mark in 2008, the same record Frank had set, also as a senior, five years earlier.

In fact, that number has been waiting for Joe since Frank graduated last year with Albany hoping that the little brother would follow the path of his older sibling.

With seemingly limitless potential to once again one-up his big brother during his college career, Joe can now also use Frank in aspiring to an even higher level.

Frank has made it the professional lacrosse ranks, playing in his second season in Major League Outdoor Lacrosse for the Long Island Lizard after finishing up his rookie year in the National Indoor Lacrosse League as a San Jose Stealth.

“They have a classic older brother, younger brother relationship with Joe looking up to his older brother, and Frank has done a good job as an influence,” their father, also a Frank Resetarits, said.
Since he was very young, Joe said he remembers being very in-tune to Frank’s teachings and guidance.
He would work with Joe on his stick handling and shooting skills and taught him how to be mentally tough on the field. Joe believed watching his big brother play was like a clinic in itself.

“That’s where I learned everything,” said Joe, who was selected as an Under Armour All-American and will play in the All-America game for the North team on July 12 in Baltimore. “I would always look up to him and watch him play. He’d come home and we’d shoot around and he’d teach me how to shoot and work on improving my skills. He’s probably the biggest influence in my life, sports-wise.”

Now, Frank can see much of himself in his younger brother. He is in awe of Joe’s great game sense and how his brother can be so unselfish but then suddenly take over a game.

Frank wanted to see Joe follow him along to Albany, where he helped take the lacrosse program to new heights, but wanted Joe to properly weigh his options.

After showing interest in several of the many schools zeroing in on him, Joe decided an emerging lacrosse program, appealing campus and the fact that he knew the head coach, Scott Marr, and some of the players on the team, made Albany the most appealing.

“I told him not to just go there because I did,” said Frank, a first team All-American as a senior at Albany and finalist for the 2007 Tewaaraton Trophy, awarded to the “Most Outstanding” collegiate lacrosse player in the nation. “I told him to pick the best school for you and I think he did. He’s lucky that some of my friends are still there and could help him adjust.”

Joe also liked the idea of building a Resetarits legacy of success at Albany.

“Their success of late kind of got me wanting to go there and I feel like they’ll be good for a while,” Joe said. “Everyone seems to love to play for this coach and I already knew people there. I felt like I would be at home.”

Though the two’s play and paths mirror each other, each maintain parts of their game and idiosyncrasies which make them who they are as individuals.

Hamburg High School head coach Jerry Severino has seen both play and believes Frank is more of a finisher who knows exactly where to be on the field to make a play, while Joe is more apt to bring the ball up into the offensive zone to help create the “magical” movements around him.

“What Joe gained from Frank is something that few siblings can say they have gotten,” said Severino, who coached Joe all five years at the varsity level. “Joe willed himself to be as close to Frank’s ability as possible. They’re both dynamic athletes but different players.”

The creation of phenoms

As young boys, the Resetarits brothers could not get enough of playing sports.

Though the two would love to pass around the lacrosse ball, it would not be a surprise to see either of them on the football or baseball field, swimming, wrestling or playing basketball.

Either brother could have played almost any sport at a very competitive level, but both decided to take on lacrosse exclusively during some point in their high school careers.

“They were the kind of kids that just liked to play sports but as they grew older they weened away from some of the sports,” their father said. “Through a process of elimination, lacrosse became the sport that they most enjoyed playing.”

Though there is a trend toward high school athletes specializing in one or two sports, there is still a lure for many of the finest to remain three-sport stars.

However, Frank and Joe appreciated lacrosse too much to risk injury in another sport. Frank actually would have been the starting quarterback for the football team had a separated shoulder during the fall of his junior season not changed his mind about playing more than one sport.

“I know in Joe’s case there wasn’t a sport he wouldn’t have mastered. He’s that good of an athlete,” Severino said. “Like his brother, Joe plays lacrosse for 12 months. You just aren’t able to do the things he does by playing three months in a year.”

Parents integral to success

The brothers’ father, Frank, said it was always the hope of he and his wife, Madonna, that their sons were given the opportunity to excel in athletics, but more importantly, to be surrounded by positive influences.

So the two parents were always willing to go out of their way, making those long drives or giving up their own personal time to get them to games, camps and clinics that would enrich their sons’ lives and help them to be more confident athletes.

Frank believes sports and being around committed athletes and mentors has been a big help in creating values and a system of hard work and commitment.

“They’re too preoccupied with sports and being healthy so they were less apt to gravitate toward the bad things in life,” their father, a union representative by trade, said. “To this day, sports has given them a positive outlook on life and positive direction.”

Both brothers realize the sacrifices their parents made and continue to be very grateful to this day.
Their parents even went as far as to put up a net in the backyard so that Frank and Joe could get in practice at home.

“Both our parents have been instrumental in our success,” older brother, Frank, said. “They’ve done a ton of driving around and they spared no expense to let us play against the best competition. They expended so much effort so that we could be the best possible.”

Joe excels in Hamburg, Frank, a star at Albany

While Joe began his career with the high school program as just an eighth grader, older brother, Frank, ascended to the collegiate ranks with the Great Danes.

Frank had left big shoes for his younger brother to fill, coming off a Western New York record-setting 88-goal senior season and continuing to help build a program at Hamburg that was still without a Section VI title.

After both saw their games continually improving over the first few years of playing at a new level, there was great anticipation for the 2007 season.

That year, Joe led Hamburg to its long-awaited, first-ever sectional crown behind four goals in the championship game and Frank scored 57 goals and handed out 23 assists in guiding Albany to a trip to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament in a season in which the Great Danes were ranked as high as No. 2 nationally.

“They’re both two highly competitive players who have the ability to zero in and be intense in big situations,” their father, Frank, said. “Coaches have always marveled that they’re two kids that not only look good on the practice field but translated that into what they did in games.”

As a senior, Frank was nationally ranked third in points per game and second in goals per game and named America East Conference Player of the Year.

“It’s tough for guys at smaller schools to get noticed but the program at Albany started turning heads nationally,” Frank said. “Ultimately, that has helped me get to where I am now.”

In 2008, Joe finished off an accolade-filled high school career by being part of another Section VI championship team and helping Hamburg to a Far West Regional victory and first-ever trip the state’s final four.

He also became the second Resetarits to re-write the all-time scoring record, putting up 98 goals to eclipse Frank’s mark.

‘It’s been exciting to see how much the program has come along and been able to accomplish what Hamburg has never done,” Joe said.

Frank got to be a small part of that history at Hamburg. When he was home and on break from playing, Frank stopped by practices to help institute some plays for the team’s odd-man situational units, then got out to some of the team’s playoff games.

Severino said he humbled himself, took a step back and just let Frank provide him and the players with the world of experience and knowledge that could only come from a two-time collegiate All-American and continually improving communicator.

“The kids had heard enough from me, so what they were looking for was what could Frank show us,” said Severino, who noted that when Frank works at any type of local clinics, the attendance doubles. “His help was critical to our team. The kids’ eyes get wide-open when he’s out there on the field.”

What’s ahead for brothers

Frank was drafted in 2007 by the Washington Bayhawks in the third round (22nd overall) of the MLL entry draft, then traded to Long Island where as a rookie he scored 12 goals and added six assists. He was then picked in the first round (fifth overall) in the NLL entry draft and began his career during the 2007-08 season.

His San Jose squad finished atop the NLL’s West Division and Frank notched 17 goals and 17 assists in 17 games, including four points in an opening round playoff loss. In his second year of the MLL, Frank has notched 18 goals in eight games this season and the team is tied for first place in the East Division at 5-3.

“For the time being, it’s great to make a living from lacrosse, but I would do it whether I got paid or not,” said Frank, who lives in the area during the outdoor season and flies back and forth for practices and games which usually occupy a long weekend.

He said the fact that he did make it to this level is a testament to all of the influential coaches in his life, including former Hamburg High head man and program founder, Ed Van Tine.
Joe got an opportunity to see his older brother play when San Jose traveled for an indoor game to take on Philadelphia.

“It was really awesome to see Frank play against that type of competition,” said Joe, who is now playing juniors in Canada, competing against some of the best talent 21-years-and-younger, as his brother also once did.

Joe is also preparing for the new challenges ahead at the school he was being groomed to attend as just a fifth grader when he was first noticed as his older sibling began to be recruited, according to his father.

“Maybe in high school I was able to break his records, but it is going to be difficult to live up to what Frank has done in college and is doing now,” Joe said.

With the leadership skills both have already shown, Severino said he wouldn’t be surprised if either wound up being a coach. But first, Frank has got a career to tend to and Joe has more large imprints in the ground to attempt to fit into.

“I’ve been lucky to have made it this far and wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Frank said. “I know a lot of guys who would love to trade places with me. It’s definitely a dream come true.”

“It’s my dream to play a pro sport,” Joe said. “If I have a chance, I will work as hard as I can to do it.”

By Michael J. Petro