Owen Barno, 12, and Cooper Barno, 10, have played hockey and lacrosse for Freedom for the past two years. Although this year they don’t get the chance to finish off lacrosse, their last season of playing together.

“I actually joined the lacrosse team because my brother was going to,“ Owen explained.

After the hockey season was over, Owen was looking for something to keep him in shape and Cooper had the idea of playing lacrosse.

“It’s a lot different in lacrosse,” Owen said. ”I’ve always been the one who has to tell him what to do, but because we both joined the lacrosse team at the same time, we critique each other equally.”

Owen is used to having the upper hand, being the older brother and having more experience with things such as hockey. Lacrosse was a different story, they started at the same level and had to work together.

They have had some arguments throughout the season, but they’ve still shared memories on the field. “I remember winning the first game of the season,” Cooper recalled. “We both played really well, and we were excited for what’s to come.”

Owen’s favorite memory was during a ground ball drill at practice.

“Cooper was a freshman and was one of the smallest players on the team,” Owen explained. ”He ended up going against the bigger guys and beat every single one of them. It was pretty cool because I know that was a big confidence booster for him and it showed the older players that he was capable of being tough.”

This was a big moment for Cooper and Owen got to witness it with him. Lacrosse brought the brothers closer, they got to learn the sport together and make good and bad memories along the way.

“I wish we could have finished off the season since it was his senior year, ” Cooper said. “It is unfortunate that we couldn’t finish our last games together.”