With a full head of gray hair and a brace on his left knee, 58-year-old Chris Latimer would appear to be near the end of his athletic career. But on most Wednesday nights this summer, Latimer can be found mixing it up with players half his age in the Baltimore Indoor Lacrosse League's pickup games.
"I'm not anywhere near in shape as some of these guys," Latimer said after a recent two-hour session. "But I like to think that I'm smarter — and I'm more devious."
Latimer, a research and development technician at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory who lives in Howard County, is not the only veteran playing in the open sessions at the William J. Myers Pavilion in Baltimore. He was joined by Scott Prestridge, a 45-year-old business consultant from Laurel.
Latimer and Prestridge, both of whom look fit enough to run a half-marathon, get an opportunity to revisit their athletic accomplishments courtesy of the pickup games organized by the Baltimore Indoor Lacrosse League.
The B.I.L.L., as it is affectionately called, is celebrating its 30th year of offering box lacrosse in the Baltimore metro area. Created by former Perry Hall player and current Gilman boys lacrosse assistant coach Marc Hoffman, the league once attracted the likes of Gary and Paul Gait and Dave Pietramala to play indoor, or box, lacrosse.
The league currently runs a fall season that has featured participants such as Major League Lacrosse standouts Justin Ward (Loyola Maryland, Charlotte Hounds), Tucker Durkin (Johns Hopkins, Florida Launch) and Jordan Hall (Florida Launch), current Towson coach Shawn Nadelen and current Georgetown assistant coach Jack Runkel.
But the summer sessions on Wednesdays are a chance for former collegiate players and weekend warriors to dust off their lacrosse skills and play in competitive, informal contests.
Box lacrosse differs from the kind of outdoor lacrosse American fans are used to watching as the indoor game is played on ice hockey rink-sized stages, there are only six players on the field (including the goalkeeper) for each team, and there are no defensemen or long-stick midfielders with 6-foot-long poles.
The sport has earned a reputation for physical hits, liberal use of the stick and on-field fights. But Larry Fila, who runs the B.I.L.L. as a co-commissioner along with Ginny Capicchioni, said he can recall only one fight during his playing and commissioner days in the league. He said the players know that illegal hits and punches are not tolerated.
"It's a gentleman's game," said Fila, a former Cardinal Gibbons and Towson player. "It's a good workout, but we call our own penalties and we all know we have to go to work the next morning."
Prestridge, a former goalie at Bucknell who heard about the league in 2001, said playing two hours of indoor lacrosse provides a strenuous workout that helps the players stay in shape and feel better about themselves.
"You get a certain point in your career where if you enjoy working out and living a physical lifestyle, you need to find something other than the gym to challenge yourself," he said. "That's what it was for me. It was always easier to play lacrosse than convince myself to do a run or go on a bike ride or go to the gym. Two hours go by lickety-split, and I'm spent afterward."
Brian Kusterer, a Lansdowne resident who chairs the social studies department at Milford Mill, was invited in 2007 by a friend to play in a pickup game. The former goalkeeper at Howard High School and Division II Seton Hill said the summer sessions draw a regular group of players who have bonded afterward either at Pappas Restaurant in Glen Burnie or in the "parking lot pub."
"Even though it's only once a week and it's only pickup, I think everybody would be truthful and say they look forward to Wednesday nights," said Kusterer, 30. "It definitely helps to scratch the itch and keep playing."
Passion for lacrosse is what also keeps drawing Latimer to the pickup games. The former Virginia midfielder said he has given up playing in the fall season where the game is faster and harder, but when reminded by Fila that he played in 2014, Latimer replied, "I probably played because I didn't like being a scrub."
Latimer, who has driven as far north as Philadelphia and as far south as Richmond to play in pickup games, said he plans to continue playing as long as his body will allow him.
"I really don't think about being old," he said. "I know it sounds cliched, but it's the love of the game. It's a fantastic game, it's a community. When you're hooked, you're hooked."
About the league
The Baltimore Indoor Lacrosse League sessions run every Wednesday from 9 to 10 p.m. through July 22 at the William J. Myers Pavilion, 4300 West Bay Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21225. The entry fee is $20 per session. For more information, email lfila99@gmail.com or follow the league on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BaltimoreIndoorLacrosseLeague?ref=hl