US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Long Island Yellow Jackets Lacrosse

honestly, most of the folks on this site need help....

Helpful as long as you are not applying to Harvard etc. Why do you assume my YJ kid did not do extremely well on her SAT and will not get a degree that will give her many options. I will tell you why its just pure jealousy. You cannot beat the YJ teams and players on the field so to make yourself feel better about it you make up some fantasy world in which all YJ players do sub par in school and only go to college for lacrosse. My daughters team had 5 valedictorians from their respective high schools, not sure but I would bet they will get some great degrees.

Take heed parents (Fitzgerald is the football coach at Northwestern)

Pat Fitzgerald: Evaluating parents has become a big part of the process

Evaluating parents has become a much bigger part of the recruiting process for Pat Fitzgerald.

You’re not going to see a parent ranking database in recruiting coverage (well, hopefully not), but Fitzgerald says he’s passed on players because of parents. But the flip side is even better.

"An increasingly larger part of the evaluation of the prospect, for us, is evaluating the parents. It's a big part of the evaluation,” Fitzgerald said Wednesday. “We have and probably will more so, and it’s a private deal — I’m not going to share who and where — but when we talk about our fit, we're evaluating the parents, too. And if the parents don't fit, then we might punt on the player and not end up offering him a scholarship. That has changed over a decade. Ten years ago, that wasn't as big of a role. Now it's a big part of it.

“On the other side, it’s big when it’s a good fit. It’s terrific. Everybody’s a little bit different there, but that’s the way we’ve seen in not only holding commitments, but having very little attrition when guys come into our program.”

Fitzgerald signed 20 players in this year’s class and says all the families fit. Much of the class was committed before the season began, and the camaraderie among the parents has been strong for some time.

“We’re signing 20 new families, and if any indication of their future success is at home, when you look at these families, it’s awesome,” Fitzgerald said. “We had 18 of the young men on campus together, and the parents had a better time than the players. This group has built relationships for a long time. The 19 guys and our 20th, they’ve had a chat group together. They’ve been in constant communication as a group of young men. The parents created a Facebook group for each other. It’s nuts. It’s cool. It’s really neat to see.

“When I got recruited, you got dropped off, and it was the death march to reality. You’d huddle with your family. Now, you show up for an official visit, and the families’ parents are partying, and the guys have great comfort together. That’s really changed a lot.”

At Stony Brook, the parents tailgate every home game. Everyone is welcome, even the fans. I was there with my daughters to watch the game and was amazed how they just invited us over to hang out.

Why? Please enlighten.

Easy to do when there are 100 people at a game and 60 of them are the players parents LOL

Ouch that's cold

I guess you haven't been to a Maryland game. Less than 100.........so whats the point.

Why ruin a good story with actual facts. Northwestern led the country in attendance; Maryland was either in second or third averaging over 700. Maryland like Stony Brook welcomes everyone to their tailgate. Keep in mind mid week games do suffer at the ticket booth but the weekend games boost the numbers. I am looking forward to attending the Stony Brook games once again. GO SEAWOLVES!

Last year's attendance figures for a Maryland home game:
2/22 vs UNC 1136
3/4 vs UMBC 387
3/7 vs SYR 1506
3/14 vs FLA 1116
3/18 vs UPenn 312
3/21 vs JMU 1307
4/4 vs RUTG 1589
4/8 vs PRINC 597
4/18 vs MICH 1254
4/23 vs PennSt 1094
5/10 vs UMASS 531 (NCAA)
5/17 vs NU 980 (NCAA)
Just for fun...5/24 vs UNC 8143 (NCAA Champ game in Philly)

You were WAY off dude. Next.

Last year's attendance for Northwestern home games
3/7 vs COLO 674
3/22 vs SYR 927
3/26 vs UMd 650
3/29 vs LOU 667
4/5 vs UPenn 682
4/19 vs PennST 895
4/25 vs OSU 1008

UMd averaged 984 per home game and Northwestern averaged 786 per home game. Keep the "facts" coming YJ person. Next!

Typical YJ...confusing ego and "facts". But hey...They're the TOP PROGRAM!

Stony Brook averaged 521 people per home game last year

Here's a fact- Attendance for both men's and woman's lacrosse finals is down for 9 straight years with the men drawing 28,000 and the women drawing 9,000 last year. I think the hard core club crowd are driving out the casual player and fans at younger ages than ever before. Where we live we have some really strong club players on our school team, the middle player has quit and then we beg kids to fill out the bottom of the roster. Lacrosse is a very tough sideline to share with club parents where it's all about their kid and where they will play in college.

Seriously a bunch of idiots... are you really comparing how many people are in the stands. You people don't have a shred of dignity

My original post said "top programs". Learn to read. The "s" makes the word plural, meaning more than one. It's a classy way of including a group, in this case a group of clubs without singling out one in particular. You have and continue to say the Yellow Jackets are the top program. That's not what I said. You said it. So you must therefore believe it and are not too happy about it. I'm sorry for that. Be happy. Life is too short.

I think this thread has sunk to a new low. Let's re-calibrate, ignore the pot stirrers, YJ haters and move on to more productive discussions.

yeah you can see it with the TV coverage. there used to be 8-10 D1 games between ESPNU, 3, or Big Ten Network. Last year hardly any. game is too physical, like a slightly les masculine version of the mens game. only no time-and-space sidearm shots. sad the game doesn't get watched by hardly any fans. Less than 1k at MD games??? defending champs... wth

Playing lacrosse in 25 degree weather isn't fun for the players and even worse for the fans. The season needs to start later. All teams would draw more fans if they played in warmer weather.

I guess you're right. I would watch any game on TV. It could be a D3 club game and I would watch, but yeah seeing 10 fans in the seats doesn't help the TV marketing side of things a whole lot.

What a dumb thing to say, actually quite middle schoolish. And you used LOL, like a child does. Who cares how many people are there? Did this mom/dad spend a day out with their daughters and have fun?? Yes. Did they do something together as a family? Yes. Was it better than the kids sitting around on their iPhones in their bedrooms? Yes. See the point? Maybe if you got out and spent some quality time with your kids you wouldn't be so bitter.

Hats off to this mom/dad that went to the SB game. Keep it up, it's the kind of thing that kids remember when they are older.

I agree..what a freakin' dopey, assinine & demeaning thing to say...knock a D1 program and the families? ...if you have never been to a college tailgate, I hope you never get a chance to hang at one...unless you daughter is the team manager and she is able to get you on the end of the food line...

Hopefully the shot clock takes the stall out of the game. With so many lopsided games at all levels (youth and college) the keep away keeps many from watching games.

I just saw that US Lacrosse is finally supporting small sided games, maybe girls will actually start passing the ball so kids stop quitting the game. There is hope for my youngest!

what a vague and weird statement. what are you trying to say? you're daughter is so upset by ball hogs she may quit?

A funny thing about ball hogs: the only people that truly appreciate them are mom/ dad and maybe a coach with the sole intent of winning. Most teammates despise them

I hate the ball hogs. They are usually the coaches daughter and her friends. But.... it usually starts because some girls cant catch the ball consistently. Still... the coaches need to emphasize development of the whole team. If certain girls cant perform they need to be cut. Otherwise, pass the damn ball! Kind of sick of hearing the loudmouth dad cheering only for his own daughter. I cheer silently when his daughter is stripped and smoked. That what arrogance breeds...animosity and a divided team. Think about that YJ coaches!

Lacrosse is a niche sport. It is not going to rival a major sport at any college. The attendance for the finals dropping over the past years is not a good sign for the sport. I know someone will come back with the number of new D1 programs but D1 level of play drops off dramatically after the top 20. The sport is in need of some focus and a new identity. Will the shot clock next year (and the year after in D3) make a difference? I'm not sure. I know it's going to make for a very messy game but maybe that is better than "keep away". The game is surely at a crossroads.

Lacrosse is the only sport my daughter plays that it's hard to root for everybody and that's really sad. When you are up by 15 and the same girls keep going to the cage and most coaches don't stop it, it really divides the sidelines.

I'm sorry your daughter doesn't get the ball but this is not PAL anymore where everyone gets a trophy

Thanks for validating why so many are turned off. You're the best!

thanks for reminding us why so many kids quit playing so many different sports , they are just simply not good at it and doing something you are bad at is not fun.

Another YJ parent making friends

I find it funny , girls sports are the only area where you have parents complaining that others peoples kids ruin the sport because they try too hard or are too competitive. How come in the class room when parents get their kids tutors( private training) and the kid excels leaving others behind you parents don't act like a bunch of spoiled brats. While I agree you have a lot of stat padders out there who run up their numbers in non competitive games which is pathetic that is not what is killing the game. Parents are killing the game filling their kids minds with all the negative comments they make about other kids which goes in both directions.

Continue your sentence which should say is being driven by club lacrosse and the goal of being an early recruit

Actually, driven by college coaches recruiting kids in 8ht and 9th grade and making offers.

There is an end game in education - let me know when your daughter receives her phd in lacrosse and how useful her skill set is in the real world. Most, if not all parents would be better off spending there money on tutors instead of one on one lax training and the travel lax circuit

I know 90% on this board have kids in club so that's why everyone gets so defensive, but with my 4th kid going through lax I can tell you for a fact school lacrosse sidelines are the toughest to take of all the HS sidelines. Maybe its because there is a disproportionate amount of lacrosse scholarships offered vs. the other sports. But if you aren't playing club lacrosse you get boxed out. My daughters have played volleyball, soccer and basketball and you just don't see it there as much. If you look at a school game objectively, club girls pass to other club girls and the coaches don't stop it and then the parents get pissy and then other good athletic kids end up quitting. The team sport has evolved into an individual game with the goal of getting recruited. Go ahead and bash because we all know unless you have that fancy backpack you can't catch.

Stop with college angel please
The number of kids who get real money is very slim
If one day a school offers your kid enough money to pay for her books
Give that school considerable consideration
But I am so sick and tired of hearing about college
For 8th and 9th graders

No bashing. Just a couple of questions. Are you saying that some of the best lacrosse players don't play club? I haven't seen that. And in other sports, are you saying the good basketball players don't play AAU or the good soccer players don't play club soccer? They absolutely ALL do. In fact on the good high school basketball teams every single player plays AAU. So maybe that is the issue? Maybe some girls (and their parents) for some reason don't take lax as seriously, and see it as just a sport to go play when their "real" sports aren't in season. Well that sucks. And they don't get to kind of just be ok and get the ball a lot. They wouldn't in those other sports either. I don't know why parents think in lax they should.