Crabs added another Cali and another Texas kid? Must be great for the kids that have been on the team that he keeps bringing in these kids from out of state.
Not a Crabs parent. I don't see the problem with this. Crabs is a "brand" as is Dukes, Sweetlax, Express and others -- including Hawks, Roughriders and Rock which are trying to build multi-state platforms in an effort to expand its footprint and support those organizations such as Hawks/CSE that operate its own tournaments which can benefit by brand identification. This is the trend in youth/H.S. Club lacrosse -- build all-star teams that elevate the brand and enrich the business principals. That will permit the brand to monetize the rationality or irrationality of parents that think that affiliation with the "brand" will make the difference in achieving the goals and aspirations of parents and players. Parents justify enrollment in those programs with full knowledge that you may be recruited over, and that the team will be large in numbers because the brand can command those subscriptions. I am not sure that HOCO should be any different than any tournament that is run in which a brand can pick and choose where it wishes to play. If we locals get feed up we can always encourage our club to form NYPLL version 2.0 and limit participation in whatever manner the subscribing clubs wish.
You’re not wrong. However, the practice of flying in ringers who don’t practice with the team sends a horrible message. You think McClernan or Millon don’t ride kids who miss a practice during the week only to welcome their out of state studs who just show up on game day? I don’t blame the kids or families flying in for middle school lacrosse games, as crazy as I find that, but I do think it is terribly hypocritical to demand the local kids attend every practice, clinic, box training etc. and reward them with the privilege of backing up the stud from CA or TX. I think it says a lot about the brand that the proprietors can’t attract enough local talent to compete with the other clubs. It says even more about the ownership when their are different standards for kids in the programs.
Very well said. Also, we accepted the spot on the team after tryouts back in August. This was not done with knowledge that RM would continue to bring in more out of state players. If these kids come to tryouts and earn their spot then fine. But don’t form a team and every couple months there are new kids from CA or TX added to the roster. He is still trying to add the Koopers kids which would put the roster over 30 kids. For what?
