Good for the deserving teams, good for the parents of those programs. But do the other teams and parents feel their kid's club is good enough to compete with teams outside of LI, vs clubs that will punish 91 & Exp as well? Some teams that played shouldnt have been there and it was evident. They wasted their money. But that is probably what the parents wanted. And dont tell me about the experience. Driving 5 hrs to be eliminated in 2 hrs and play "consolation games" in a rain storm the next day? Doesnt sound like an enticing experience to me. Should have spent that $ getting your kid's more even competition locally.
There seems to be a huge gap now in tournaments. B and C teams play in tournaments they have no chance of winning or even being competitive in. Used to be plenty of reasonable tournaments, clubs and talent to go around. Now the top programs take 30 or more kids and tournaments are mega events. None of this is good for the development of young athletes, but hey what do I know. Everyone else seems willing to pay, travel and chase the top programs in hope of one day making it.
I honestly believe people don’t what the right answer is until they go through the whole process and do a look back. For now it’s use my checkbook and influence to get my kid on a the best team. Not get my kid on the team that he can be the best on. Will those teams every beat a 91, Express, Hawks etc..not likely. But isn’t that okay? I really, really enjoy one thing about youth sports, watching my son play and him and his team succeeding. Sorry I measure success that way, but what other way is there? If you had a son play no meaningful minutes this weekend, you probably want to evaluate and ask is this every going to change?
