By John Loop
Sports Writer

When Air Force Academy sophomore midfielder and 2011 Coppell High School graduate Nate Hruby found out his brother, junior attackman Nick Hruby, would be joining him in Colorado Springs, Colo. to play lacrosse, he was ecstatic.

“It is just a huge deal no matter where [Nick] chose to go,” Nate said. “I told him that and that I am going to be really excited to be able to spend one more year with him.”

Nick announced his commitment to the Falcons in late March. He joins senior third baseman Tyler Jones, senior infielder Tyler Zabojnik and senior tight end Josh Self on the list of Air Force commits this year from CHS, though he will not arrive in Colorado Springs until fall 2014.

Because she had already been through the recruiting process once before with Nate, Kristan Hruby, Nick’s mother, was determined to let her son make his own decision.

“I felt like that it was a decision that he wanted to make,” Mrs. Hruby said. “We were trying not to push Nick because it is such a big responsibility and a big undertaking, and he saw how emotionally challenging and mentally challenging it was for Nate.”

Nick had been pondering the decision since the coaching staff first noticed him at a skills camp over the summer before his sophomore year.

“Ever since Nate went there, I had been in touch with the coach,” Nick said. “He has been to some of my summer camps the summer going into sophomore year and then summer going into junior year during my lacrosse trips. I have talked to him and he has seen me play, so it has always been an option and something I have been thinking about.”

Last fall, Nick cut his list of school choices down to four: High Point (N.C.) University, Dartmouth University, the U.S. Naval Academy and Air Force.

“He was talking to me about all the places that he was getting looks from and how he was ranking those places,” Nate said. “From his expressions, I just thought that Air Force was higher on the top of the list than I thought it would be.”

Though Nick kept his family involved in the recruiting process, his parents and Nate stuck to a hands-off approach.

“I have pretty much tried to stay out of it actually,” Nate said. “I just wanted him to be able to make his own decision.”

Still in constant contact with Falcons head coach Eric Seremet, Nick began his regular season with the Coppell Cowboys lacrosse team this spring.

Then the phone call came during the final week of March. Nick was sitting in Coppell’s new Smashburger restaurant with some of his friends when Seremet called him.

“I went out in the parking lot and talked to him,” Nick said. “He just asked me what I was thinking because I had visited up there earlier in the year, and if I was ready to make a commitment, and I said yes.”

Nick was so relieved that he had forgotten to tell his parents and Nate.

“At first I thought, I cannot believe he did not tell me,” Mrs. Hruby said. “It was so great that he was with his friends because one of the reasons that he is the person he is today is because of the choices he has made in his friendships.”

Getting into a service academy is not a first, or even a second, for the Hruby family. Nick’s father, Dale, is a graduate of West Point. Mrs. Hruby’s father was a two-star general in the Army, and Dale Hruby’s father was a colonel in the Army. Nick’s great-great grandfather is a graduate of West Point and also one of the first men ashore on D-Day.

“You would think that they grew up with us saying ‘you have to go to an academy, you have to go to an academy’,” Mrs. Hruby said. “And all their lives, we really never even talked about it or pushed it. When I was growing up, my parents were gung-ho ‘let’s go to the academy, let’s visit the academy’.”

And just because the Hrubys have a long military legacy did not mean automatic admission into a service academy in the first place.

“It is funny because a lot of people think that Nick and Nate have a special in,” Mrs. Hruby said. “You know when you go to other schools and people say ‘Oh, you are a legacy’, but that makes no difference. West Point never even looked at one of my boys for lacrosse, which was kind of discouraging.”

Nate knows being with his brother is going to make for a special senior season for him.

“It makes it really special,” Nate said. “The last time we were both on the same team was when he was a freshman and I was a senior at Coppell. I don’t think his skills had developed to the level that they have now. Besides him having the chance to play with me, it is going to be great to have your brother going to the same school as you for one more year.”

Nick will have to wait before he can be reunited, in a Falcon blue uniform, with Nate in Colorado Springs, but making this decision this early will make his senior year much less hectic.

“This summer is going to be pretty stressful going into senior year,” Nick said. “A lot of schools only have two or three spots left on their roster, so I would have had to go to four or five different camps, and now I can just relax and know that decision has already been made.”

As for his goals, Nick already has some in mind.

“I want to play,” Nick said. “I have heard all of the stories and everything and think it is something that I would be able to do. I would have fun with that kind of lifestyle.”