Hanging on the wall next to the bed, the picture serves both as a memory and a promise of the future.

The two high school lacrosse players, sticks at their sides, raise their gloved hands to high five each other in celebration. The two were not just teammates on the top-ranked high school lacrosse team in Pennsylvania, they are also brothers who shared a year together on the same field, wearing the same gold helmets.

For Penn State men's lacrosse sophomore attacker Rob Forster, this one year, however brief, was just one chapter in his family's lacrosse legacy. It is the camaraderie between him and his younger brother, Jack, which is most memorable in that legacy.

The Forster brothers only played together for one year at La Salle College High School in Wyndmoor, when Rob was a senior and Jack was a sophomore. The solitary season ended one game short of the state championship.

But next year, the two will be reunited. Jack, the No. 2 national recruit in 2007 according to Inside Lacrosse, will join the Nittany Lions' attack.

"[Jack's] the premier attackman in the country maybe," Penn State head coach Glenn Thiel said. "That's the kind of kid you try to build a program around, somebody of that kind of caliber. The fact that he made All-State football tells you what kind of athlete he is."

Rob holds a starting spot in the Lions' offense, currently leading the team with 16 goals. Jack is a two-time first team All-State selection and a 2006 first team All-America choice for La Salle, a team ranked No. 15 in the nation, according to Inside Lacrosse.

In addition to individual accolades, the brothers are former and current members of a premier high school lacrosse program. La Salle has graduated 37 collegiate Division I athletes and 17 high school All-Americans, according to the school's Web site. The Explorers boast an astounding 99 winning percentage in playoff and league games since 1993. This year, with Jack at the forefront, La Salle is 16-0.

"They're right up there when you talk about guys who have had a profound impact on the program, both as players and as guys that everybody on the team liked and responded to," said Tony Resch, La Salle lacrosse assistant coach. "Within their class they've had the same impact and have gained that same type of respect from their peers and their opponents and their coaches. Rob and Jack have certainly set a very high standard for lacrosse in general here at La Salle."

Not only will the 2007 season be a chance to continue where they left off, but also strengthen the bond that has grown over the years. Although traditional lacrosse giants like Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and Maryland recruited both players, the brothers' friendship is what led both to the same program in the end.

"[Jack] was looking forward to playing with me, too, because we only got to play together one year," Rob said. "We really thought it was the place for him. I was on my way home actually, and he called me, and he was like, 'Rob, do you care if I come to Penn State?' I said, 'Yea, dude, come up this weekend. It'll be fun.' And he's like, 'No, like, come there.' He had full rides to Virginia, North Carolina, everywhere, and he chose here ... and it's awesome."

***

The four boys have set up the trampoline again in the backyard, and with a basketball backboard hanging from the netting around the trampoline, they're ready for 2-on-2 basketball. Basketball is just one of the many games the brothers would play together growing up in Jenkintown. In a household with four boys and one girl, there was rarely a quiet moment.

"It was a little crazy, still is," the boys' mother, Sherry Forster, said. "They're all about two years apart. Growing up, we always had some kind of major game going on in the backyard. It was a lot of fun, and back then, [there was] a lot of damage, broken windows, bodies through the drywall in the basement, and stuff like that."

Besides the video games and the summertime Wiffleball games, the siblings played several sports, starting lacrosse as soon as they were able to hold a stick.

"I remember I've had pictures of myself with a stick in my hand," Rob said. "When I was little, I know my dad used to bring me to Drexel camps and practices. Since I can remember, I've played lacrosse, so it's always been a part of me."

It's only natural that all four brothers would become premier athletes, especially in lacrosse. Their father, Ron, was an All-American lacrosse player at Drexel. Ron coached all his sons in youth leagues and is still an assistant coach for Jack's current All-Star team, the Dukes Lacrosse Club.

It was Ron's relentless dedication to the brothers' development that really shaped them into the players they are today.

"He would make us go out and practice after practice," Jack said. "As a coach, he's pretty much taught me everything about lacrosse. He made me the way I am right now. I look up to him."

Rob recalls days when Ron would pull the four boys away from the TV and take them to Abington Senior High School to throw off "the wall." One hundred tosses with the left hand, 100 with the right, and then they were allowed to go home.

Ron's dedication continues away from the sidelines, even if it means driving many miles in a few hours to see a game. The father remembers one day last year when he drove from Maryland to Connecticut in one afternoon to catch Rob's game at Fairfield after Jack's game was over at Calvert Hall College High, a trip of roughly 250 miles. He has never missed a game.

"I want to show the kids I support them, but I'm a lacrosse freak. You want to go and see every good game you can," Ron said.

***

Although the brothers will be donning blue and white next year, that's about all they will have in common. To know the two Forster brothers is to know they are completely different.

"Jack, he's a lot quieter," Sherry said. "He thinks things through a lot. It takes him forever to pick out a pair of sneakers or something, whereas Rob does things very quickly, and he's Mr. Personality, very verbal."

When they were younger, Ron said Rob earned the nickname "the Ambassador" because he would make friends with all of the players, regardless of team affiliation, at the lacrosse camps. However, Jack is more reserved when meeting new people and opens up once he gets to know them, Ron said.

The differences carry over to the field. Although both are stellar lacrosse players, their success is the result of different styles of play.

"Rob's just a carefree kind of guy," Ron said. "If he never had to practice, he probably wouldn't practice. He'd just show up for the games. Jack, on the other hand, is the kid who sits in front of the TV and watches film on his own. He watches how other people play so he can get better. He's more of a student of the game. Jack's just a real smooth player, and Rob is sort of just an overpowering, just 'I'm gonna get in your face and get it done' kind of player."

It's their differences that make them so compatible -- and the compatibility comes from mutual admiration.

"Yes, [Jack] really does [look up to Rob]," Sherry said. "It's good that personality-wise they're different because each has qualities that the other admires. Rob really admires Jack, too."

This admiration is what drove the younger sibling to follow in his brother's footsteps.

"We have a real good friendship," Jack said, "and that's one of the main reasons why I am going to Penn State to play with him."

***

The picture of the two brothers hangs on the wall in Rob's bedroom, a scene frozen from two years ago, symbolizing more than just a triumphant lacrosse moment. It truly symbolizes the friendship of two very successful brothers.

"With the kids that play together or the pals that play together there's a handful of brotherly combinations that have made a difference in Div. I, so maybe this is Penn State's turn to have the Forsters play together," La Salle head coach Bill Leahy said.

And for the father who has driven hours on interstate highways to watch his sons play, the reunion of the brothers holds not only memories of the past, but excitement for the future at Penn State.

"Both good kids, they really work together well," Ron said. "That's what I can't wait to see happen, if between the two of them they can do some damage."