As the family car reaches the intersection of Curtin Road and Burrowes Road, 2-year-old Jake Hohenshelt looks up at Rec Hall and often asks the same question from the back seat, "Are we going to volleyball?"

The answer is usually "yes" in the fall, when Jake's dad, Dennis, takes the floor as an assistant coach for the women's volleyball team. In the spring, Jake is most likely just passing by on his way to Holuba Hall, where his mom, Tara, paces the sideline as an assistant coach for the women's lacrosse team.

Jake's striking familiarity with the Penn State campus stems from the hectic lives his parents lead as the only married couple among full-time Penn State coaches. Besides exposing Jake to Penn State sports at an early age, the unique pairing provides Dennis and Tara with a familiarity of the coaching lifestyle.

With the constant activity in the Hohenshelts' schedule, Jake is often moving around from one sitter to another. When Dennis and the women's volleyball team headed to the national semifinal round in Sacramento, Calif., the Hohenshelts considered taking him along.

Tara said her mother convinced them to leave Jake with her since they would only be gone for a few days, and they were also planning to take Jake on a vacation to San Antonio a few weeks later for the Alamo Bowl.

Because of the time difference, Jake could not watch his dad and some of his babysitters on the team celebrate Penn State's second national title in real time. Unlike most of the volleyball matches she attends, Tara was not chasing Jake around Rec Hall and had her full concentration on her husband and his team.

"Just to see all of his hard work, as well as their coaching staff's hard work culminate into a national championship is just something that brought us both to tears," Tara said. "It was just such an emotional moment that we got to share. I'm just absolutely thrilled that that team got to reach the highest part of their sport, and I was just fortunate to be in the stands and watch him achieve that as a coach."

After falling short of a title in his 10 years as an assistant coach with the men's volleyball team, Dennis said Tara was just as involved in the frustration that accompanied the close calls. The synchrony between the two made the moment where it all came together in Sacramento that much more remarkable, Dennis said.

The transition to the women's game may have led in nearly instant success, but the move was not easy for a coach who spent all his playing time and coaching career with men.

"With the guys, pretty much something happens, it's gone in two seconds," Dennis said. "With girls, it's drama and lasts for a long time."

While Dennis found himself in a surprisingly difficult learning experience with the women's volleyball team, Jake was also adjusting, continuously expanding his vocabulary. Jake celebrated his first birthday in between Dennis' last season with the men and first season with the women.

And while Jake was just a 1-year-old, experiencing a number of things from his first words to his first steps on his own, Dennis had his wife by his side.

Tara was there when Dennis walked in the front door to provide some answers and understanding. Since he had a significant amount of coaching experience before, his questions were mostly about one thing -- how to coach 18- to 21-year-old women.

Since Tara was also on the Penn State women's lacrosse team during her college career and now coaches the team, she was the perfect source of advice for Dennis. Tara explained to him how the mood at practice can change from one day to the next and that women may take things a little harder than men. In his two years behind the women's team, Dennis has slowly adopted a more finesse style of coaching.

"[She helped me understand] the inner-workings of how they bond within the team and the relationships they have and just how best to deal with the problems that you deal with on an everyday basis," Dennis said.

Since Dennis is a "laid-back and collected kinda guy," the new problems that he experiences with a women's team is nothing he can't handle, Tara said. It's that kind of attitude that also helps Tara move past difficult losses with her team.

With the women's lacrosse team typically in the underdog role this season, women's lacrosse head coach Suzanne Isidor said Dennis' extra experience as a coach allows Tara to gain perspective.

"He's great because he is a coach and he understands," Isidor said. "He knows when to say something and when to just shake his head. He's good at just shaking his head. I think it's a great support for Tara to have because he understands the ups and the downs, the being tired and the hard work."

In the Hohenshelt household, Jake's movies are often taken out of the DVD player and replaced with game footage during the volleyball or lacrosse seasons. Most of the time, it's only Tara watching lacrosse or Dennis watching volleyball. But, there are times when watching a game becomes a family activity. Although Jake can't give his opinion on the strategies he sees quite yet, Dennis and Tara try to point things out to each other.

When the pair watch game footage, it is mostly used as a time to learn the other's sport instead of studying the players' intricate techniques.

"I still refer to going to see a game, and not a match that has five games in it," Tara said of Dennis' volleyball matches. "So I definitely learned a lot of the terminology, and I think I've learned a lot more about the strategy from watching the women's game.

"I sit down and try to watch what he does with the scouting reports and charting all the rotations and he tries to teach me, but I still don't get it. One of these days I'll get it."

While Tara sits and tries to observe her husband studying opponents, Dennis uses his time on the Holuba Hall sideline trying to learn the reasoning behind every whistle. He said he's still picking up on all the rules of the game, but his knowledge on the sport is still much more than it was when he first met Tara on her first day of work.

Nine years after they met, the Hohenshelts recently celebrated the one-year anniversary in their State College home where Jake has plenty of room to run around and test out some sports. After Jake was born, Tara felt State College was a great place to raise a family; and with the Hohenshelt's profession, they are never lacking in babysitters.

The need for babysitters is always greater in the spring season with Tara working with the lacrosse team and Dennis in the middle of the grueling recruiting process. This past weekend was the seventh-consecutive weekend he was on the road.

When they are apart, Dennis and Tara are often asked about each other and how Jake is doing, which makes Tara feel like her family extends past the three of them.

The Hohenshelts have developed a special bond with other Penn State coaches, especially, and often get together to catch up and have dinner. One member of the group is softball head coach Robin Petrini, who is also Jake's godmother.

"They are a fun couple," Petrini said. "Their son is great, and we've maintained a great friendship.

"We're like family to each other, so I was very honored when they asked me to be Jake's godmother."

Although Jake's family extends to the entire Penn State community, Dennis said the life he and his wife lead is hardest on Jake. They always have to plan where he is going to stay and who is going to watch after him when both of them are busy.

"It's not your typical family situation, but we make it work," Tara said. "We don't spend a lot of time together on weekends, but [Jake] does have the opportunity to spend time with my parents and Dennis' parents, and that is just as great. It's not necessarily the quantity of time, it's quality of time."

It's no surprise that a lot of that quality time revolves around sports. In the fall, Jake spends time with his mom in the bleachers of Rec Hall watching his dad from afar. In the spring, Jake stands on the sidelines with his dad in Holuba Hall while mom coaches from the opposite side of the field -- anxiously waiting to run to the Penn State sideline with Isidor's three sons at the game's end.

As far as which sport he likes watching the most, Jake's parents disagree.

"He's a big volleyball guy," Dennis said. "He even likes to come and watch the guys play. He likes to be in Rec Hall and run around. Not that we get to watch much because he's running around, but he's a volleyball guy first probably right now."

Said Tara: "I'm so trying to pull him to lacrosse. Whatever he decides to do when he's older is his part, but right now I want him to be a laxer."