Definitely not, but unfortunately it is in the fabric of LI travel lacrosse. This topic has been beat to death. Bringing in ringers (older/same age) is cheating, period. My son's old program had the chutzpah to bring in a ringer for a tournery under the notion we were short players. Funny, my son and the rest of the 2nd and 3rd line mids were all there. They all could have moved up 1 line and we would have been fine. Instead they bring in some kid who is a year older, start him over the kids on the team! Did I mention he (ringer) brought a friend along for support. He also started and played while our kids sat. We "won" the tournament and yes, the picture went up on the web minus the ringers! I moved on right after that charade.