I like the PAL season. I know some people complain about PAL, but it gives the chance for the non club girls to play lax and get introduced to the sport and play like a team. My daughters like playing with their friends and for their town. People cite the fact that the MD clubs play all spring together in their league. I might be in the minority but my goal is for my girls to get better and for the town to get better for HS. PAL works toward that goal and playing club works for a separate achievement/goal. I might be in the minority but I am more concerned with my town players improving more than my club team improving. i would rather see a successful HS team than successful club team for my daughters. Club for me is used as a finishing product where players get a chance to play against the best of the best and fine tune their game and hopefully in the future get noticed for the next level. A Long Island Club league would be nice but not at the expense of the town rec/PAL leagues. That would only strengthen the haves and introduce the game to less girls.
Not all towns are created equal, some PAL teams have girls sitting on the bench so they really don't develop anyone but the coach's kid. Yes, sad but true.
PAL is a great way to introduce the sport to your child but if you going to sit back and think it's going to develop them into a superstar you will be waiting a long time. I guess its just easier to blame the PAL coach because your kid can't catch and throw.
What's funny is that club people complain that kids who can't play should play PAL while you're saying PAL is not for development. PAL is an intramural league and no one should sit on the bench, even if they cannot catch and throw.
