During the week, Roy Lang is just your typical 23-year-old Mill Valley resident with an Ivy League degree.
Lang, however, undergoes a transformation when Friday rolls around. He boards a plane and travels to the other side of the continent to Hamilton, an East Coast port city in the Canadian province of Ontario.
On Sunday, he straps on his battle armor and becomes the ultimate weekend warrior, playing midfield for the Major League Lacrosse Hamilton Nationals.
By his own admission, Lang ? an athletically gifted 6-foot-4, 203-pounder ? says the weekly transition from California boy to Canadian pro athlete was not an easy one.
He played his college career at Cornell and his rookie season in the MLL in New York for the Rochester Rattlers. In the off-season ? the MLL season runs from early May to the championship games in August ? he was first traded to Ohio and then dealt from there to Hamilton before his second pro season ever began.
"I wasn't initially excited about going to Hamilton," said Lang, who played his prep career at St. Ignatius in San Francisco where he was California's 2008 player of the year. "But you can't have that attitude. In this league, there are so many good players and so few spots, you take what you are given. Hamilton traded a decent amount (goalie Scott Rodgers, a second-round pick in the 2014 draft and defenseman Chad Wiedmaier) to get me so
I really wanted to prove myself."So far, Lang appears to be holding up his end of the bargain for the Nationals (6-3), who won their first five games this season ? at least from Nationals coach David Huntley's perspective.
"We were talking about things we needed to do to get better this season and one of areas we needed to address was more athleticism in the midfield," said Huntley, who was an assistant coach for Team Canada at four World Lacrosse Championships, which included the 2006 gold medal-winning team. "We were familiar with Roy from his outstanding career at Cornell and we had the opportunity to get him. He's everything we thought he would be and more."
Lang, who has become a defensive specialist in his pro career ? he has seven goals in eight games played ? says he has embraced his role.
"Everyone wants to play offense and score," said Lang, who had 26 goals and 37 points during his senior season at Cornell. "It has taken a little bit of maturity on my part and a little more appreciation of the game to accept my role. Coach Huntley has me doing it more with defense now, and I'm OK with doing whatever it takes to help the team."
Huntley quickly points out, however, that although Lang's primary responsibility is on the defensive end, he always remains an offensive threat.
"His primary responsibility is keeping the ball out of our end," Huntley said. "But he's very capable of scoring at the offensive end. He's got some really good offensive skills and has scored some big goals for us."
Lang is thrilled with the opportunity to play on the other side of the field from Nationals midfielder Brodie Merrill, a seven time All-MLL selection.
"Just playing alongside Brodie, one of the all-time greats, it's awesome," Lang said. "Playing with him you just pick up way he hunts the ball down. There's a lot of teamwork between us and we just get the job done."
Despite their five-game winning streak to start the season, the Nationals have lost two of their last three.
Huntley, however is not worried about the recent struggles. He believes his team, behind the strong midfield play of Lang and Merrill, is improving every week and in position to make a run in the playoffs.
"We played some good shooting teams the last few weeks," Lang said.
Not the least of which was undefeated Denver, which handed Hamilton its first loss, 22-7, three weeks ago.
"We started 5-0, but did we deserve to be 5-0? No," Lang said. "We got some lucky breaks. Denver is the best team in the league right now. I didn't play very well in that game against Denver ? nobody did.
"We want to peak at the right time. We're still figuring things out and we're well-positioned for the playoffs as the No. 2 team in the league."
It has truly been a season full of adjustments for Lang. He laughs when he thinks about his first few weeks playing in Canada.
"I'm still learning the Canadian culture," Lang said. "I'm trying to more get involved, but I was listening to one conversation for like 20 minutes with some Canadian teammates and I never knew what the heck they were talking about."
Lang, however, is impressed by the Canadians' stick-handling skills.
"A lot of those guys have played 10 times more lacrosse than I have in my life," Lang said. "They have unbelievable stick-handling skills. You come here, and kids have sticks in their hands all the time. But the same guys couldn't even catch a football."
Lang's younger brother Joe, however, is pretty handy with a stick "... and he can catch a football, too. Joe, an incoming senior at St. Ignatius, was the lacrosse player of the year as a junior in the West Catholic Athletic League and also plays on the SI football team.
Joe is one of his big brother's biggest fans.
"My brother inspired me to play lacrosse," Joe said. "I'm a natural right-hander, but after watching my brother play left-handed, I just did it the way he did it. Roy is real good. He's the fastest guy on the field and he can run on forever. On top of that, at 6-foot-4, nobody can push him around."
Roy, who was selected 11th overall in 2012 MLL collegiate draft, obviously has a bright future in professional lacrosse.
Of course, the six to eight hour flights every Friday during the season are not something he really looks forward to, but, not surprisingly, he is learning to adjust.
"All the travel is inconvenient," Roy said. "But I sleep for most of the flight ? I've gotten pretty good at that."
And Roy, despite all his frequent-flyer miles, is content playing professional lacrosse.
"I wasn't sure I was going to play coming out of college," Roy said. "But I'm happy I did. To have the chance to do something I love and the chance to play with the best players in the world, I might as well take advantage of that."
Contact Tim Menicutch via email at tmenicutch@marinij.com
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