My son plays for the U15 team that seems to be generating a lot of bad press here. He saw steady minutes and really enjoyed his teammates so there is no sour grapes here or any reason to be anything but truthful. Objectively speaking here is the good,the bad & the ugly. First the good. Hard to argue with a trip to the U15 Nationals in sunny FL. Great experience. The team was legitimately and objectively picked based on tryout performance and not pre-determined like many other big name clubs. It didn't matter who you knew or thought you knew which is the way it is supposed to be. Rich is a gentleman whose intentions are good but he did NOT nor does he coach the U15 team and only did so for the Nationals. The cost of the program is "cheap"($1150) relatively speaking when compared to some of the other "big name" clubs while still being able to deliver just enough lax swag (bag, shooter etc..) to keep them competitive. Jesters are one of the bigger clubs on LI but still manages to employ a family type atmosphere, plus the kids really love the uniforms. The bad. Communication was poor to say the least. Practices when held were routinely canceled the day of. There were instances when practice was canceled within an hour of its intended start time which resulted in parents rushing to the field only to find out the hard way it was canceled late. Minimal practices with little teaching and rudimentary drills, not what you would expect for a U15 AA Nationals contender.
The ugly. Roster size of 25 sometimes 26 was way too many kids. As a result playing time was erratic for many which created some unnecessary drama. If you are going to take 25/26 you had better make sure everyone sees the field because in theory you are saying they were your best 25/26 at tryouts. Coaches were disinterested and approached it as a job and not a teaching experience. There was ZERO effort to connect with the kids let alone the parents. Coaches were not involved with the team in any capacity until a week before the first tournament. Outside of Maryland and FL tournaments(which were additional cost add-ons) tournaments were mostly 2nd tier(JDRF, Summer Slam & UMass-Neylat). The only real high level tournament that was included in original cost was Hofstra and even that had issues as the team played in JV division rather than varsity. Had the team attended the Mid Summer Classic Recruiting Showcase at Umass as originally communicated and posted rather than Umass-Neylat this would not have been an issue. Unfortunately this gave the appearance of the old "bait and switch" which I truly do NOT believe was the case to intentionally deceive but happened none the less. One of the previous posts was spot on regarding the Nationals where the roster was expanded even further to the ridiculous number of 27 players. Many players watched for long stretches from sideline while their teammates melted in the Fl sun. How could you possibly justify not having one practice prior to the Nationals especially given the influx of newly added players(5) and 2 new coaches? It was a recipe for disaster which wound up costing them in the end in FL.
While the Jesters are not perfect they could be considered the lesser of 2 evils when compared to some of the other big name programs because of cost and a director with good intentions. In the end you will find out they all have warts just to varying degrees. Hope this helps!