I read this site now and again because my kid plays 2022 and I like to hear what is going on and what is being said. It seems very 'angry' for reasons I don't understand but there were two observations I would like to make from the Long Island Lax Festival.
The first is parity. A very good United team tied twice in pool play; they are well-coached and the goalie is the best I've seen. Superstars had some very strong / big players and represented very well. Prime Time played extremely strong and is moving in the right direction. Igloo did not lose in pool play but lost by 1 to Smash, which lost by 3 to Mad Lax, which lost by 4 to Igloo. Express was not there, unfortunately. As the kids get bigger and stronger, the talent will continue to improve and ALL teams should benefit.
The second was the officiating. Evidently there were many tournaments on Long Island over the weekend and not enough referees to go around, which really hurt the tournament in my view. Many games got out of hand because no calls were made and several kids had to be carted off the field. That is terrible and needs to change as the game grows. There is no excuse for bad parenting but it is no surprise that tension was high as the games got chippier and there was no discipline. That was the only real issue in an otherwise great weekend with great weather and great teams.
