Hooray for your son. And by the way. No indictment on the club teams or directors. They are more than happy to receive your $$. It's the parents that drove this. PAL wasn't good enough. Middle school wasn't good enough. HS not good enough. And the unintended consequences? Kids playing year round. And you can say it's voluntary, but parents don't want their son to fall behind. So the best kids move in a certain direction and the masses follow. Are you saying the recruiting of 9th graders is a positive thing? Are you saying parents with limited resources have to pay thousands of dollars a year to just keep up with his teammates? I'm making a broader argument, and those with tunnel vision talk about their own son. My son is done. Graduated college. Played lower Division 1. He has said to me he probably won't let his son play lacrosse. And if he does, there is no way he is going to spend every summer, traversing the east coast tournament circuit. I guess if there is any silver lining, his education and experience has given him perspective, many of us have lost.
If you want to talk equality, there is none and never will be. Get over it. Even in a socialist society, like the former USSR and China, there are haves and have nots. There is no equality in sports either. Some kids are born with more talent than others. There is no equality, thats just crap.
Club teams are what you make of them. PAL is obligatory if you value your community. My kid hates PAL but does it because it is the right thing to do. Club lax is what she likes and has fun doing. As a family, we enjoy the travel and going to places we might not have otherwise ever been to. It is a good experience and everyone has fun.
If a child feels like they NEED to play club maybe there something wrong with the big picture? Why NEED? Why do they feel it is forced? To be competitive? To get recruited? For what end? A scholarship - anyone who doesn't know those are mostly pipe dreams is an idiot. Or because they want to be the best they can be at the sport they hopefully love? That is a want, not a need. If you WANT to do it, it is not forced. So do it. It sounds to me like parents bitching that they need to cut back on some things they want in order to pay for something their kids want. Tough shiat. Shouldn't have had a kid.
