Phinn & Phoenix Kelly-Zuckerman are twin brothers who were both standout players on the ADVNC SF & NDP 2025 teams. Phinn is a defenseman going to Haverford College, and Phoenix is a FOGO, going to Bowdoin College.
Phinn (left) & Phoenix (right) Kelly-Zuckerman in the early days with the Coyotes.
The twins were introduced to lacrosse at an early age. “One day, our mom decided to sign us up to play for the Burlingame Coyotes rec team,” recalled Phoenix. “We just really loved it right away and wanted to find out how we could play more.”
The boys’ mom, Mara Zuckerman grew up on Long Island as a soccer player. But she knew about lacrosse, and loved the game. “When we moved to the Bay Area from New York when the boys were two years old, I tried getting them to play soccer,” Mara recalled. “But it just didn’t seem like they were built for soccer. It was apparent they needed a sport more physical like lacrosse.”
“When I first started lacrosse, I didn’t know anything about it and I was confused,” Phinn said. “But soon, I started to really like it. It was super fun. I liked how fast paced it was compared to soccer. And both my brother and I liked to hit people.”
“I remember when I was trying to find a place for them to start lacrosse, I called the Coyotes, David Seeberan called me right back,” Mara said. “I signed the boys up right then. I just loved the enthusiasm the Coyotes had for the game, for growing the game, for the community and the friendships you build through the game. All of those things still exist for us. It’s wonderful.”
Phoenix is a standout FOGO on Serra’s Varsity team.
The twins started with ADVNC SF soon after they started playing lacrosse, during the summer before the 3rd grade. They played with ADVNC all the way up to this past January when their ADVNC careers ended at Sandstorm.
“I was a little intimidated by ADVNC at first,” Phoenix said. “I’d hear other kids talk about how good ADVNC was and how it was the best team around. It was very competitive. The coaches pushed us to get better all the time. I enjoyed the intensity of it and how it pushed me to keep working harder to get better. Without ADVNC, I never would have realized how much harder I needed to work to realize my potential.”
“It was fun playing in that competitive environment,” Phinn said. “But it wasn’t always easy. I didn’t always start or play a lot. I eventually changed positions to defense so I could play more. ADVNC made me work a lot harder. But it was always fun. I really liked having the best coaching and best competition I could find.”
Phinn is a standout defenseman at Serra.
“I remember the first time I met Chris Rotelli (ADVNC Founder & CEO),” recalled Mara Zuckerman. “I was with my partner, the boys’ other mom, Brielle Kelly. Chris was talking to all the parents at a parent meeting. He said that ADVNC wasn’t here just to make your boys better at lacrosse. They were also focused on making them the best young men they could be. Brielle and I said to each other after that, that we were going to have our kids play with ADVNC as long as they could. We knew they needed an outlet for life’s stresses and to meet other people who were driven and had high character. We’ve been with ADVNC ever since.”
“ADVNC has handled my children in a way that I didn’t think I could.” said Brielle Kelly. “Back then, Phoenix had a bit of a temper and the boys fought with each other a lot. The ADVNC coaches handled them with grace and kindness. The boys learned how to respect their coaches, their teammates and how to take instruction to improve. I credit ADVNC for all of that.”
The twins eventually tried out and made ADVNC NDP. “NDP was a big step up for me,” said Phinn. “I never had to work that hard to just make the team before. I made NDP the first year, but then didn’t make it the second year. That made me know that if I wanted to play in college, I needed to work way harder. It was the first time I’d been cut. It really motivated me. Then when I made NDP again, the level of competition was so high. And there were so many really good players on my team.”
“When I got to my first NDP team, I saw how many great players were there, and it made me a little nervous at first,” Phoenix said. “But that higher level of competition inspired me to work harder and get better. I wanted to prove that I deserved to be there. I was never guaranteed playing time either. But I liked the intensity and higher level of competition. Being on NDP made me realize that I wanted to play in college.”
When the college recruiting period came around, both Kelly-Zuckerman boys knew they wanted to find a college that had great academics, first and foremost. They are good students who take academics seriously. But they both wanted to play college lacrosse as well. At first, college programs showed little interest in them.
“Chris Rotelli told us to be patient, and that there would be a good fit for both boys,” said Mara Zuckerman. “Looking back on it, it was kind of like when you first starteded dating. You think everyone that shows interest is THE ONE! But then you get rejected, and you react so emotionally. The advice for other families who go through this is: try to not take it personally. Rotelli would always say, trust the process. But it’s hard when you’re going through it. You sometimes feel like a victim. You sometimes feel left behind. It can be really hard. But if you stay patient and trust the process, it will work out.”
“As you go through the recruiting process, there are small, serendipitous moments,” said Brielle Kelly. “It’s a lot of work for both the parents and the players. It gets exhausting and like Mara said, it gets emotional. But when the right one comes along, you will know it. It may feel like you’re late in the game when your peers have already committed to colleges but if you stay patient, it will work outworks out.”
Phinn was told before a game with ADVNC last summer at Naptown by his ADVNC coach, Will Casertano, that Haverford was there to see him. He visited the college in Philadelphia after the tournament and accepted their offer a week or two later. He plans on studying computer science.
Phoenix didn’t have a ton of interest from college programs till last summer either. But Bowdoin eventually reached out and he took a visit. “I love the campus,” he said. “It’s really beautiful. The school is great and the head coach (Bill Mason) was really kind and made me feel valued and wanted.”
Phoenix plans on studying physics at Bowdoin.
The boys have the following advice for young players who want to play in college. “You need to push yourself to work hard, while still having fun doing it,” Phinn said. “There have been times when I hated having to practice. But you have to remember that it’s just a game and if you love it, you will enjoy putting in the work to improve.”
“You have to put in more work than anyone else,” Phoenix said. “At some point you have to just decide to work the hardest you can. That means showing up early and staying late at practice. That means working out on your own, all the time. The work you do when no one else is looking is what matters the most.”