Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Can you elaborate? What are the advantages / disadvantages to laying with one of these national/showcase teams at this younger age group?

As a parent of an older kid who plays at a very high level and did this. The only advantage for us was learning what a lax away of money this was at a young age and we stopped. Have your kid make the best team and stand out there if you think he is a National or showcase player. If he is not good enough to make the best team in your area, have him work at that, not to be on a Showcase team. The sales pitch to us was "You can take your kid to all the showcase teams and spend all that money, or you can play here and be in every championship and people can watch your kid there" Made sense to us so he worked to get on the best team and they are highly scouted. There are plenty of ways to enjoy lax, even at a high level and play a lot (all year long competitively local) without dragging your kid around like a circus monkey. The one other huge advantage is if parents are putting there kids on select teams at this age they are the ones really living their life through their kids and think it is the PLL/MLB/NFL/NBA all in one youth lax team. The sideline antics from a lot of the dads who sunk a lot of money in to these pipe dreams and grifters is more belligerent then on your local level.
Or, just maybe, the advantage is getting to play with kids from different areas and meeting new people and getting coached by different coaches who may have a different philosophy than your regular club coach. Maybe at this age it isn’t about getting seen but more about building a solid skills foundation and expanding your lacrosse relationships. At least, that what it is for us for our older son.