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 BY JEFF FALK

 ANNVILLE – Adam and Andrew Long aren’t multi-sport athletes. They’re balanced, well-rounded young men.

 Adam and Andrew Long don’t live to work. They work to live.

 Adam and Andrew Long don’t follow the herd. They milk it.

 The Longs – seniors at Annville-Cleona High School – are the most athletic set of fraternal twins that you’ll ever come across. But what really sets them apart is the balance they have struck in their lives, between sports, work, school and family.

 Sure, there’s a whole lot of juggling that goes on. And yeah, the Longs could play more and different sports if they were so inclined, just like they could work more if they chose.

 But what they have seemed to have stumbled upon – intentionally or accidentally – is the fact that sometimes less can be more. Or that the key to life is some sort of personal balance.

  “If I didn’t have this job, I’d have a landscaping job,” said Adam Long, while cleansing the teets of a cow. “We like the flexibility with sports. We wouldn’t play more sports. We enjoy doing this, helping friends and family. We’re learning responsibility.

 “It’s a whole different thing than sports,” Adam continued. “Sports is physically demanding. Here, you’ve got to be ready for anything, whatever. Here, the cows are your money-makers. They’ve got to come first.”

 “Right now, I’m happy with the level of sports I play,” said Andrew Long, between shovels full of used bedding. “I like being well-rounded, not solely into sports. I like making money. Our family is big into hunting, plus family time is important too. Sports are a pretty big dedication during school.

 “If we didn’t work here, we’d work somewhere else,” Andrew continued. “Probably my uncle’s landscaping business, or we’d try to find another job.”

 For the better part of the last three years, Andrew Long and Adam Long have worked at Dubeco Dairy Farm in South Annville, an operation that includes up to 300 cows. Primarily, their responsibilities include milking, feeding and cleaning up after the ‘cash cows’.

 It’s outside work that can be difficult at times.

 “There are two main things that we do, milking and cleaning the stalls, which is where the cows are when they’re not being milked,” said Andrew Long. “I enjoy working. It’s the perfect high school job. Obviously the money is important, but this teaches you more hands-on things. It gives you experience. When you have a job, you’ve got to be on time. It teaches you responsibility. That’s why a job is nice for a high school kid.

 “The difficulty of it depends on the temperature,” added Andrew. “You’re in the elements out here. It gets hot and it gets cold. It’s not back-breaking work. There’s not much that’s hard. It’s just the elements.”

 “When we started here, we milked cows, primarily,” said Adam Long. “Is it hard? It’s monontonous. You have to do it over and over. You do the same movement again and again.

 “We enjoy it. We really like it,” Adam added. “We get to stay in the agriculture business. I was 15 when I first started working here. My grandpa had cattle, so we were around it when we were younger.”

 The Longs work 30-35 hours every two weeks during the school year and about 40-45 hours every two weeks during the summer. There are morning milkings and evening milkings, and the Longs have learned to manage their time.

 “We work year-round, but fall’s our off-season,” said Adam Long. “We work around sports, when practices and games conflict with the milkings.

 “The hardest thing is waking up at 3:30 in the morning after a basketball game or a baseball game the night before,” Adam continued. “It’s important to keep up the quality of your work.”

  “It depends on the schedule and it depends on the day, but it’s fun working with him,” said Andrew Long of his brother. “We have days when we work well together. He’s the person I work the best with. What he doesn’t do well, I do. And what I don’t do well, he does.”

 During the basketball season in the winter, the Longs are two of Annville-Cleona’s best players. Adam mans the point guard spot, while Andrew plays an off-guard.

 During the spring baseball season, the Longs are also two of the Little Dutchmen’s top performers. Andrew pitches and roams center field, and Adam catches.

 Their work ethics serve them well in both pursuits.

 “Oh man, it’s so close,” said Andrew Long of his first athletic love. “I’d say basketball right now, because of the constant nature of it and the speed of the game. I can’t wait for this year.”

 “Sports definitely come first, when it comes to basketball and baseball seaons,” said Adam Long. “That’s both mine and Andrew’s passions. In the fall, we’re big hunters. We like hunting in the fall. It’s not that we put work in front of sports. It’s an alternative. It’s something we enjoy.

 “My parents always ask us that (which sport they like better),” Adam continued. “It depends on the season we’re in. It’s the season and how you’re feeling. Growing up, we would’ve told you baseball, but basketball has become just as important.”

 What makes the Longs even more interesting is that neither is committed to college and athletics or agricultural pursuits beyond high school. They’ve got about nine months to figure it out, and neither seems to be in a hurry to do so.

 But they do have some options

 “That’s the big question,” said Adam Long. “I’m not 100 percent sure what I want to do. I’m thinking about options in my head. I’m not sure I’m a guy who can sit in an office all day. I definitely want to be outside.

 “I haven’t applied to too many colleges for sports,” added Adam. “I don’t think I see myself raising cattle. I don’t see myself going into the agricultural field.”

 “I’m not 100 percent sure yet,” said Andrew Long. “I’d like to commute to college, for some sort of engineering. But that’s just me brain-storming.

 “I’m not planning on playing any kind of sport after high school,” Andrew added. “But who knows. I wouldn’t say I’m going to do farming after high school, but I’ll always be trying to get into agriculture. I think I’m going to stay around here, in Annville or Lebanon County.”

  It is their experiences which have laid the ground work for whatever they decide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com.

 

 

 

 

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