Good, strong families are the key to the developing of well-behaved, disciplined children and — apparently — successful lacrosse teams, too.

There are four sets of brothers on Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s 30-man boys’ lacrosse team this season.

In his seven years playing and 19 years coaching lacrosse, Saints coach T.W. Johnson said, he has “never seen four sets of brothers on a team.”

But this year, his squad at NSA includes junior Noah Dowd and freshman Eli Dowd, senior Mac Hardee and freshman Austin Hardee, senior Cole Jackson and sophomore Tanner Jackson and senior Grant Leicester and sophomore Garrett Leicester.

Going into Tuesday evening’s home game against visiting Norfolk Academy, the Saints were 8-2 overall and 3-0 in the conference.

What has it been like playing with a brother on the same team?

“I like it,” said Grant Leicester, a senior defender. “It’s kind of awesome, because we compete sometimes in practice, and he supports me in games, I support him in games — so, yeah, it’s fun.”

Garrett Leicester, a sophomore midfielder, said, “It’s nice. I can always go and talk to him if I need advice on anything, and he’s like a leader on the team and he’s a leader at home, so it works out.”

Senior midfielder Cole Jackson is experienced having a brother on the team, as he also used to be teammates with his older brother Ian.

Now that Cole is the elder Saint, he said, “You do have to kind of fit in a different role. You have to be in the leadership role, rather than the follower role.”

He and Tanner, a sophomore attackman, have been playing together for a long time, he said “There’s lots of competition in practice and everything.”

Tanner added, “I would say it’s a lot harder when you go against the people from your own family, because you know them better than your other teammates, so it makes it more interesting.”

Particularly interesting has been the dynamic between senior Mac Hardee and freshman Austin Hardee, first-time teammates who both play goalkeeper.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Mac Hardee said. “It’s a lot of competition on the field and at home.”

Austin agreed with the characterization, adding that there is “just a little trash talk at home that brings out the best in all of us.”

Asked how he got into playing goalie like Mac, Austin said, “I started playing when we didn’t have one in (junior varsity), so I guess I picked it up from him.”

On playing with freshman attackman Eli Dowd, junior attackman Noah Dowd said, “It’s fun. He sucks,” but then he quickly added, “I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding.”

He noted he and Eli have played together before, and it’s good to have him on the team, because “I like him, we’re pretty good friends and brothers, so it’s fun to spend time with him and play a sport that we both like together.”

Eli said Noah “can give me advice, because he’s been on the team longer than me. We’ve been playing together some on attack, and that’s been fun. So, I like it a lot.”

Most of the brothers actually have shared the field this season.

“There are a lot of times where they’re out there together,” he said. “The only exception would be the Hardee brothers — if one’s not in, the other one’s in.”

But all eight brothers have gotten playing time.

Further aiding team chemistry is the fact that all the sets of brothers get along with each other.

“You hear stuff on the bus and you look back and it’s the Hardees talking to the Dowds or the Leicesters talking to the Jacksons, so it’s neat to watch them all grow together and help each other,” Johnson said.

He said it is also enjoyable to watch brother compete against brother.

“Sometimes you’re going, ‘All right, save it for the backyard,’ but it’s been healthy, it’s been a lot of fun and it’s definitely been good for our program.”