Long Island Lacrosse Forum | BackOfTheCAGE Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM Press Release : Beach Bums and Ripcurl Merger

Attention Lacrosse Parents,

Since the Beach Bums try out on Sept 30th we have had a major development. The LI Beach Bums Girls Lacrosse Club has merged its program with the girls program of the LI Riptide , The Ripcurls. The newly combined girls program will use the LI Beach Bums name! Greg Antolini and Tim Harrison will still be totally involved in running the new organization but we will be adding new directors from Ripcurls. Riptide directors Tim Dunn and Joe Guiliani will lend their support to this newly merged girls club and Jim Scheidel and Scott Mullins will help run the New Beach Bums. Since these two girls lacrosse programs have similar mission statements and are located in nearby neighborhoods on Long Island, we decided that instead of just sharing a similar philosophy we might as well join forces and create a stronger club.

Both clubs have a belief that girls do not need to travel 5 weekends every summer to play competitive lacrosse. Nor does travel lacrosse need to be overly expensive to play. We came to believe that by combining our programs we would be able to supply a fantastic lacrosse experience to over 200 families and do it without having to break their wallets.

The partnership between the Long Island Riptide and the Long Island Beach Bums lacrosse clubs will allow the Beach Bums to focus its energy on the girls side and the Riptide to do the same the boys side. These two groups will continue to work hard to provide lacrosse that is not only affordable but that is very competitive.

The NEW Beach Bums will be fielding teams in the 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 age groups; the 2013 Beach Bums will have the following teams:

2016 - one team
2017 - two teams
2018 - one team
2019 - two teams
2020 - one team
2021 - two teams

There are a few open spots at some of these age groups so please contact us if you are interested : beachbumslax@hotmail.com

One thing that for sure is that none of the things that have made these two programs special will change. Hands-on leadership and dedicated coaches (we will feature 4 current LI varsity HS head coaches and several current and former D- 1 players). We maintain a commitment to make sure lacrosse is still FUN ! These are kids playing a game and that often gets overlooked.

Some things will change. Cost will be $800 for all girls grades 5-9 but you will play in 5 tournaments instead of only 4. Grades 5 thru 8 will do 1 overnight event and the 2016 team will do 2. The 4th grade group (2021) will play 3 local events at a reduced rate.

Additionally there is some fitness training included in this cost. Practices will no longer just be in Babylon, we will now have access to field space in Islip. More fields mean more time to practice.

We will grow from 4 teams to 9 or 10 teams overnight and we will use this to continue to expand our core base. There may be some growing pains the first year but we do not believe any of these pains will hinder what we have always tried to do. With the landscape of girls travel lacrosse ever changing, both organizations felt that if we combined these two local established programs into one larger program we would be able to compete at all levels while maintaining the smaller "family" feel that we have all enjoyed in past years.

If anybody has any questions please don't be afraid to call me Greg Antolini at 516-971-1680 or Jim Scheidel at 631-335-1760.

Watch for additional coverage in our Monday, October 15th BOTC Newsletter!

Can anyone tell me what happened to the Beach Bums? The club website doesn't seem up to date and provides little to no information other than minimal infomation on the Babylon Lax Blast. I've attempted to contact the club throught e-mail on numerous occasions and my messages have all gone unanswered. I know they still participate in the summer tournament circut and host an event but given the unresponsiveness and lack of current information on the website, it appears as if the club is regressing.

We saw the Beach Bums at Lax by The Sea so they still exist. The team was not very good (quite bad) and I doubt they won a game. So they exist but are merely a shell of what they were. I cant imagine they will survive much longer since there are so many other reputable clubs on LI for girls to go to.

My daughter left there last year and moved to Team Elevate, you can not even compare the two clubs. Elevate communicates everything to you about tournaments, schedules, hotels, organizes team dinners, etc. Elevate also has year round offerings for clinics, camps and winter league. you do not have to do them but they are offered. The coaches are very good and the organization is very family oriented, I just wish we found this club sooner. With clubs like Elevate out there I doubt the Bums will survive too much longer.

2018 team won tournament last weekend. I guess some of their teams are pretty good still.

Just looked at Lax by the Sea Results - Beach Bums went 0-4, scored 13 goals and let in 45 goals and had a loss to Elevate's B Team. What Tournament could they possibly win? Was it against all town teams?

Which tournament? Sure each age group has talent.

At what age does team elevate begin.? How many teams per age group?

Elevate starts at 3rd grade (2023 this year). They have about 2 - 3 teams in each grade. The younger kids go to a mix of local tournaments and away tournaments.

If I were you I would go stand on the sidelines next to elevate parents at a tournament before making a decision to move your daughter - not a pretty sight

Not from bums or elevate but have played both several times in a few different age groups. Elevate is head and shoulders above bums. Won't go as far as to say the organization will fold, they seem to host a tournament that fits the bill for many YJ younger teams to play in without traveling off the island. I'm sure this is a money maker for the director of bums. If CR were to ever pull the plug on tourny, they would disappear instantly.

Bums have much to do to get themselves to the top. Elevate is on their way. If you are a Nassau family Elevate is a much better program and option. If you are a South Shore family Western Suffolk Eastern Nassau you might think Bums as a better option for you.

But after a year (or has it been 2) I am not sure why Bums merged with Riptide. They didn't need to, Riptide was folding anyway. Can someone explain the benefits of the merger for either Bums.

(FYI Riptide then merged their boys into Legacy. Not sure why either merged with Riptide).

The Beach Bum program was once a strong and solid program but unfortunately, it has fallen by the wayside. The program directors daughters graduated and went off to play college lacrosse (both great athletes) and it seems that he has lost interest and negleted the club. It's such a shame to see what was once a flurishing club diminish.

weren't they making crazy cash like everyone else??

The owner of BB kids play on YJ

I don't think BB did a lot, if any, recruiting tournaments. That's fine at the younger ages but once you hit HS, you really need to be seen if you want to play in college.

I had some contact with BB a few years ago and was told they were more about staying local. It was just a more laid-back club. My daughter has HS teammates who play on it and enjoy it. It all depends what you're looking for.

Flurishing? Wasn't their original philosophy to coach them up until 6th grade and then let them try out for TG or YJ. That model was a good one. Not sure what the new model is; if you don't make the top TG or YJ team then go back and play BB if you had played their prior.

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There are some very good players on some beach bums teams. However, the depth of talent seems to be lacking. There is a huge falloff in abilty/experience between top players on the team and less experienced members. Thus, the top players seem to move on to bigger clubs for an environment where a greater number of teammates have skill sets more in line with their own.

Do you know how many great players started out with Beach Bums. and then left and went to other clubs. They would have had something else there if he could have kept these girls.

I think the club has older teams now, rather than the cutoff being 9th grade. There is a chance the club will be up again into a club with stronger teams.

If he could have helped is the key statement

The club seems to be losing any and all decent players they attract within a year or two. The lack of competitiveness of the teams is very evident when they travel off island, which is one reason they don't often. If the director can figure out how to separate the club from the money making tournament, and have the tournament stand on its own, you will probably see the teams disappear.

Any chance for an earlier release of the schedule for the Lax Blast this year? The last couple of years it came out a day or two before the tourney. Thanks!!!

it went out yesterday to the coaches.

Excellent. Are the coaches reviewing for accuracy before they post it on their website or are they relying on the coaches to distribute? In the past I believe it made it to the website. Thanks again!!!

so post it what's the problem

Call your kids coach he has your games.

It was issued and now being recalled for changes...

A beach Bum parent directed me to this post. I went to the Elevate site and see that they have already listed tryouts for next year on their website. It sounds like they are limiting the number of kids on a team next year, do you know how many teams are in eachage group?

2 teams

Why the changes

Schedule is posted on 91's website, not sure why BB can't do the same on theirs.

If it is, it's mostly likely wrong. It's being revised and has not been re-issued as of yet.

Latest version went out to coaches this morning.

I also left another club to go to Elevate this year. My daughter had an incredible year. For the first time, we felt like we were "part of a club". There is a tremendous amount of information sharing/communication NOT just with the top team in each age group (like other clubs) but with EVERYONE. They treat all of the teams the same. I have had kids on the top team and 2nd and 3rd team in other clubs and in those clubs we have felt completely left out an isolated where we were not on the top team. To answer the question above, I know Elevate has 2-3 teams in each age group. Given our experience and the fact that they are a growing organization, I believe that they will expand that next year especially since their webite says that they are reducing the number of players on a team which is a great move. Again, I think this club does a lot right and does things vastly different than the other programs that are out there today.

And that is what we should all be enjoying. Glad you found your team home. I, too, left a team that just wasn't working for us, we felt uncomfortable all summer, but when we found our current team (TG), it was comfortable from day one. I will qualify this by saying that each team within a club is different, but it's great when you find the one that fits.

That speaks exactly to the point. The teams within TG are completey diferent AND are treated differently too. We have our dauhter on the TG white team 2018 this year. Not only is the team horrible, we were crushed by a 2nd Elevate Team in that age group as well as many other clubs, but the bigger issue is that the organization treats us like we are non existent. We pay the same amount as the other TG teams but are given way less.

We left to go to TG this year. We are on a White team. We jokingly refer to it as the "White Trash" Team beause that is how the club treats it. We will not be back to TG next year and will explore other opportunities.