Not born with a stick in hand, nor with a silver spoon in mouth, as so many lacrosse players are characterized, senior John Pastorek worked the hard way to earn a spot on the Italian National Team this past summer at the World Lacrosse Championships held in London, Ontario.

While many lacrosse players first pick up a stick at an early age, Pastorek did not find the game until his sophomore year of high school.

'I played baseball until freshman year of high school,' Pastorek said. 'I then realized that I may not even play varsity [baseball] and certainly not college so a few friends convinced me that lacrosse would be a good sport for me. I already played a contact sport in football and quickly felt that lacrosse was the game for me.'

After playing three years of lacrosse at Chaminade College Prep in St. Louis, Pastorek joined the UD men's club lacrosse team. By his sophomore year, Pastorek, a pre-dentistry major, was the club president and improved the club by getting coaches involved and joining the Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association (CCLA).

In the summer following his sophomore year, while surfing the Internet, Pastorek found a web site about Italian lacrosse and it detailed the procedure for tryouts for the national team at the World Lacrosse Championships.

In the week prior to the beginning of school last year, Pastorek and his father trekked to Ocean City, Md., to play in a qualifying tournament. Following success on the East Coast, Pastorek traveled the Atlantic to continue the tryout process in Tuscany, Italy.

'Staying in a 17th-century villa, we played lacrosse for a week and it was one of the most unique experiences in my life as we played the first two lacrosse games in Italy's history,' Pastorek said. 'We played on a dirt field and as cars drove by, many were intrigued and got out to see this game that was entirely new to them.'

To aid the coaches in making their decision of who to keep on the roster and those to let go, the Italian coaches arranged for the University of Wisconsin club team to play as well as a club team from Slovenia. Many who made up the competition of the Slovenian team were American soldiers who were out of the states serving at bases abroad.

Each team is allowed to have four members on their roster who are non-passport holders. However, they must have a parent or grandparent who was born in the country in order to play. Pastorek's maternal grandmother was born in Italy, allowing him to compete for a chance to make the squad. The president of the Italian Lacrosse Federation made arrangements and Pastorek received a passport, greatly increasing his chances of making the 25-man roster.

When Pastorek was assured of his spot on the roster in April, the summer he had planned for would change greatly. While he prepared for the Dental Admission Test, Pastorek had a new challenge, getting his body in peak physical form so he began a rigorous workout schedule of lifting and running every day until the tournament began.

Pastorek and his teammates arrived in Wellan, Ontario, a town two hours outside of London, July 9, the day of the World Cup final. Italians and Italian-Americans alike, they gathered around televisions and cheered on Italy as they prepared for the tournament.

Pastorek's first day at the tournament was certainly eye opening, but he could not stand around and be star struck.

'My first day was really taking it all in, but I had to get over that really fast otherwise it would be over before I knew it,' Pastorek said.

Though rosters could have a maximum of 25 men, the Italian club was made up of just 18, giving Pastorek plenty of opportunities to play. Playing through a hairline fracture of his left knee, he found most of the time on the field as a defensive midfielder and a face-off specialist.

The team finished 10th with a record of 4-3 with Pastorek picking up a goal and an assist in the tournament.

While Pastorek tried to go for the goal on the field, he did recall that the entire experience from the first tryouts to the tournament was much more than just a sport.

'It was a family experience for me as I think my parents got just as much out of the experience as I did,' Pastorek said. 'Although my Italian grandparents have passed away, I knew how they grew up there and worked hard just to immigrate to America and I know that this would have made them proud.'

Pastorek will return to the field this fall playing for the UD club team. The team enters the season with the No. 1 ranking in the CCLA Division B. The Flyers have already scrimmaged Mt. Saint Joseph's. They have an upcoming tournament in Wisconsin and they return to Stuart Field Oct. 14 and Oct. 27 against Miami. The season will then resume in the spring.

As the sweat dripped off his forehead and the pain of the hairline fracture in his knee subsided, John Pastorek lived his Italian-American dream.