When Tehoka Nanticoke was born, he was immediately handed a lacrosse stick.

Lacrosse carried him 1,400 miles away from home to Florida’s IMG Academy, helped him through tough times during his three years at the University at Albany, and finally brought him back to Buffalo to play for his childhood team, the Bandits.

Ahead of Native American Heritage Night, Bandits.com caught up with Nanticoke, a member of the Mohawk Nation, to talk about his love for lacrosse, including his days at IMG, his becoming an assistant coach for the Niagara University women’s lacrosse program and his career thus far with the Bandits, as well as the team’s hot start to the season.

How did you first get involved with lacrosse?

Being Native, it’s a pretty significant game to us, for my people and my Creator. Not every Native boy is born with a stick, but I would say a lot of us are. So literally at my birth, I was given a stick and it’s been ingrained in me ever since. One of my older brothers, Chancey Hill, did a great job of teaching me everything I know about the game. My brother is 10 years older than me. And then not really having a father figure in the younger years of my life, he kind of was able to step up there and teach me everything I know about the game. It’s a pretty big deal to my Native people, our Native communities. It’s a huge part of our daily lives. I grew up with the stick pretty much from day one.

When did you realize that your lacrosse ability could bring you to where you are today?

I kind of just always played the game to play the game because I loved it and I still do that to this day, but there was a point in high school where I kind of had to make a decision on what I wanted to do with what I had. In my situation, I wasn’t necessarily set up to go to a Division I school like I had kind of wanted to do, but I also didn’t know much about Division I or college lacrosse in general. I was at a tournament in Florida and I talked to a coach down there and he asked me what I was doing in school. And then I was like, “I plan on doing this back in Canada and then maybe trying to go to JUCO and then eventually try to get to a Division I school.” And then he right there kind of told me that I had the talent to go Division I, I just had to figure out how to get there. At the time I didn’t really know much about field lacrosse. I started playing field lacrosse just a little bit before high school, but that kind of pushed me to kind of learn about it and try a little bit more, so I applied to three different prep schools in the States.

I ended up reaching out to the first school (IMG Academy) that had kind of sparked this idea. It kind of seemed like a long shot for me to get in or to go there. After I got into IMG Academy, the high school that I ended up going to for three years down in Florida, that was able to help me go Division I. I’m very grateful to them for everything they did and everything that they pushed me to be because they’re a huge reason for where I am today. You have no idea how much just that conversation with that coach back then in my sophomore year, the fall of my sophomore year of high school, meant.

When I got into IMG, I had to ask my mom if I could go. She had no idea that I signed up or I was doing all this, and she didn’t want me to leave. She was against it at first. Then eventually she signed the permission slip that I needed to go there, and the rest is history. But my mom definitely fought it for a solid 20 minutes in conversation after finding out because she was shook, like she had no idea that I was even signing up for the other prep schools. When she found out it was a school that we had toured earlier in the year, she was shocked, but she ended up doing it and I couldn’t thank her enough for it because that’s the whole reason I’m here.

How do you keep your love for lacrosse fueled?

More or less it’s kind of like conversations like these, being able to think back and remember those days. And then also a lot of the hard days and depressed days that I’ve had in the past, all those throughout the years kind of make me appreciate a lot of things more. So all those hard days that I’ve had at IMG, at Albany. Just being able to go through those and being able to still be here and now it’s like damn, it makes everything sweeter. I’m more grateful for it. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t go through everything that I’ve been through. So, I’m just grateful and I’m glad. Every morning, I get to wake up and remember that this is really my job to play, teach and coach this game to the next generation of players.

Talking about memories, you were a ball boy for the Bandits when you were younger. Just looking back on that now that you’ve been playing for the team for a few years, how crazy of a full-circle experience is that?

It’s unreal. Even as I got older after being a ball boy, I always knew that I wasn’t going to be able to pick where I got drafted or where I ended up, so it’s pretty unreal. I came to terms of whatever happened of where I ended up in the league, but just for everything that I’ve been through and then to end up here and then to have the years that we’ve had, it’s awesome. I’m grateful for it and I’m also excited for the future because this is a dream. I’m living the dream. I’m literally sitting here looking at KeyBank Center. I can’t wait until Friday to get back after it.

You’re surrounded by legends on this team and your head coach is a player you grew up watching, somebody whose jersey you had. What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned throughout your time in Buffalo?

This team is crazy. We’re all our own player, but we all have that same goal and that’s to win. And at the end of the day when we’re playing the lacrosse that we can play, it’s beautiful lacrosse and I think that’s just, it’s the medicine game. The more fun we’re having, the better it gets. It doesn’t really matter what happens. We’re going out, doing the best that we can, competing every shift and getting better every week. That’s all we can really ask for.

The “medicine game” refers to the Native American belief in the healing powers of lacrosse.

Putting aside the actual lacrosse, what’s the best part about being part of this team?

There are too many. There’s not just one thing, it’s just being able to represent this city with a group of guys that we have on this team with a game that we all love, it’s awesome. Like for us to be playing in the NLL. For anybody, whether it’s the Bandits or not, we have to love this sport. We have to love what we’re doing because it’s a grind. I just really come back to the medicine game.

Coach Tavares raved about your unselfishness after last game talking about how if he draws up a play for you you’ll give it to somebody else if you think they’ll have a better look. What do you credit that unselfishness to?

Seeing the floor, knowing what would happen. Everybody eats on this team. When it’s my time, it’s my time. If it’s somebody else’s time, I’m always just thinking of an easier way to put the ball in, if it’s me, if it’s somebody else, awesome. I want the ball in the net the easiest way possible. And I think if the ball goes into the net the easiest way possible, that means we’re having fun. That’s the good thing about Bandits lacrosse, is when we’re buzzing, it’s fun lacrosse.

At IMG, at Albany and even still today, you’re a great goal scorer, but how do you think your game’s evolved in the NLL?

I don’t think much has changed since IMG. I’m still me. I’m still going to do everything that I’m doing. I don’t think there’s one thing that I’ve done in the NLL that I didn’t do in high school. Or there are maybe a few things I’ve done in the NLL that I didn’t do in high school, but there are not many. I think my love for the game has grown a lot and that just pushes me to make sure that I’m getting better every single day. That’s actually something that I preach as a coach. I think I’ve coached six or seven teams with the Jr. Bandits and then over at Niagara University. That’s just one thing that I’m preaching, every day we have to get better. 

Going back to the Rochester game, one of your goals has made its rounds on social media, the one where you spun around multiple times in front of the goal and scored. What was going through your head once you got the ball back off the glass?

I caught the ball and I was about to pull it out and then I heard one of the defenders say, “Where’s the ball?” So then I turned and at that point, I’m like, “OK, I can literally roll into a fake, get my hips turned and jam it in there.” I only shot it as hard as I did because I thought somebody was going to at least come home and get their stick in front of my stick. But yeah, my first thought was to pull it out, use the clock and then when I heard, “Where’s the ball?” I was like, PK cool, I can put this in the net. 

TN1 went for a spin. 🌀#LetsGoBandits | @Tehoka1 pic.twitter.com/L0EzCWFE9a

— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) December 29, 2024

How has being an assistant coach for the Niagara women’s lacrosse team been?

It’s good. We’ve been on break for the last couple of weeks here now and we’re getting back into it soon. I have a meeting with the other coaches next week so that’ll be fun. I helped out last year, I was more like a practice coach. I was able last spring to make a few games around the Bandits’ schedule. I was there in the fall this year, so I was able to help out there and we had some fun and we have a really young group, a young team, but just fresh off of a conference championship last year, so excited to get back into it with them and get better every day.

The team has had a few byes to open the season, how have you been training during the off weeks?

I feel like not much has changed since IMG. I have dedicated time to the gym, to recovery, which I didn’t do as much in high school as I wish I did. But just being able to dedicate time to the things I need to do during the week. Set a time for the gym, find a dog sitter, make sure I’m scheduling my physios and then also when I coach, I tend to buzz around sometimes, especially my high schoolers. I like to run around with them and kind of just show them like “I’m here, I’m in this, I love this game just as much as you guys do.” Like, I’m involved even at Niagara. I can’t say I jump into plays because I don’t, but I’m running up and down the floor when the offense is looking nice.

3-0 start for the Bandits this season, what’s been the key in your eyes to the dominant start and how do you keep it going?

I think we have a very veteran group with a couple of young minds, and I think we’re all kind of able to let everyone know and just trust each other. Nothing really matters about last year or the year before. Like it’s a new year. Everybody’s coming for us. I don’t think we have to say that much. I think we’re all kind of well aware of it and know that we have to bring our A-game every single week. Even over the years, we’ve always hit our stride at the right time, and I think right now we’re hitting our stride and I think that’s only a little of what’s to come. We can still get better. We can still have more fun. We’re a good team, and I think we can be even better.