call me a wuss, but in the interests of maintain relationships, I bit my tongue and ran out the clock...i did mention during games about ALL being involved and that would work for a spell....prob should have ben more forceful, but held back more to protect daughter and friends status dynamic..
Okay, you deserve credit, far too many criticize without ever taking any action to make it better.
I commend you, for I feel i might be going through the same situation. My son likes the game. Last year was his first year of travel lacrosse and I will admit he was probably ranked the lowest on the team. After a summer of practicing, clinics he has improved. Fast forward to the fall my local PAL team was going to have indoor fall practice. He played once and had an off the field accident that required wearing a cast on his hand so fall lacrosse ended. During that time we tried to stay in touch but later found out the team played in a fall winter league. Never did we receive a call to see if my son would be interested in playing. Nothing. Fast forward to the winter and a good friend of mine organized a skills practice indoors. Due to limited space only 18 kids could participate. If i wasn't friends with the person organizing this we would've been left out. The reason why i know this is there were players showing up for spring practice not having picked up the stick since the fall. I understand the coach will play his son some more minutes. I get it. I just don't understand the haves and have not aspect. I show up to practice with my son and there seems to be a click of kids and parents who are on the "inside" that know each other very well. I get the friends aspect i do. After a few games under his belt he still learning. The better players on the team are divided from the rest of the team during practice working on clears and rides while the bench players and subs are doing line drills on the other side of the field. Its laughable how obvious it is. Having played college lacrosse myself I kinda see the writing on the wall. Speaking to another father the other day and we wished there was an "A" and a "B" team. I have no ego wear i would want my son to be on the "A" team. I think he would thrive if given some confidence on the field but his chances are limited due to the fact of some players playing in more situations. At the PAL level its supposed to be a learning tool. We are looking into the Travel lacrosse circuit to see how that goes.
Are the fall and spring practices part of PAL or does the town have a separate travel team? It confused me at first in my town because the team name, coaches, everything else was the same. Luckily we had the right number so that everyone who played PAL was "invited" to travel, but I suppose other towns with larger numbers leave some out of the travel team??? It is a shame, but I do see both sides--and I'm conflicted.
This year on our PAL team there are kids who have been playing together for the 4th straight year and others who are picking up a stick for the very first time. I see with my own eyes it's difficult for coaches to cater to both groups. They get in on play sets and can't catch, so the practice grinds to a halt. It looks so futile. I'm not criticizing... Just think it might be better for newbies to do more skill work at practices. Our town PAL does have separate beginner clinics in the winter and summer for older beginners (throwing, catching, scooping, cradling) though. I just hope the newbies don't get discouraged seeing the "vets" whip the ball around rather get motivated and use those clinics to get themselves caught up.
My son started only one year late (1st grade, not kindergarten!) and I could not believe how much I felt I had to catch him up even at that early age. I never played lax, rather baseball and football, so it was plenty of youtube, and buying MY first lax stick at 40+ years old to catch him up. I've also googled rules, etc. to answer his questions. Where baseball and football are on the tv at home all the time, lax isn't really (although I recommend espn3--they have replays) I never imparted and lax knowledge on my son until it was crunch time. I also got him in clinics and other events not associated with our town program. Lizards games, etc. I will so long as he's enthusiastic about it.
I hope your son doesn't get discouraged. From what I've seen kids do get caught up eventually.
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