US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Boys 2024 5th Grade Fall 2016/ Summer 2017

Totally on the whole WP attack. I agree. I personally record every game of every team and I spend my days analyzing all the best 10 year old players. Then I rank them, first by team, and then by region. And then I put all their pictures up all over my wall with thumbtacks and every good and bad play, I note in a notebook that I keep on each kid. I really appreciate that there is a place I can come with likeminded people.

Igloo gave WP a run next time wevwill be on top. I feel WP is slipping

You're an idiot. Notice the proper spelling. Take note for next time.

Idiot -

Stop

The issue is the lack of D talent at this level, no kids have been able to stop the Big Lefty on Express nor the Little Lefty on WP.
Those 2 are top talent at this grade level and at this age most teams have their weaker kids playing defense.

Not on the top teams. Watch Taz play D (really good athletes and play together), watch WP play D (really good athletes). That's what separates these two

Ok Dad. LOL its so clear who you are. You are embarrassing yourself

Neither of those boys did anything at attack in either game. Stop it Dad, its apparent who you are

Dad, I know your stint in JV high school lacrosse was a let down to Grandpa, but just try to keep yourself in check through this, ok? See you at dinner. Love, Lefty

Thanks for nothing RVC Mommy

Neither of them did anything against igloo

You obviously do not watch a lot of Lacrosse

It has nothing to do with weaker kids jackwagon. Defense is very difficult due to the concept of slides and team defense. Most teams focus on offense passing and scoring. You can't have just 3 kids back there that know the slides and how to play defense. You need 7 kids all on the same page playing team defense. It's difficult at every level and it's practiced a lot more then it is at the 5th grade lacrosse.

ok igloo you won one game vs express. relax you twerp

Has express EVER beaten a quality team?

?? Lefty on express is big and that's obvious but the righty attack is right up there and the kid who plays behind the cage for the WP was real good. One kid on Igloo attack looked pretty solid as well. To pick these 2 boys out and say they are the best at the grade is just foolish. Good players yes but not enough to single them out. It also takes a whole team to make any one player look good and that is something I teach my son everyday at town ball as well as travel. Once they forget that, its all downhill.

Don't think Express A will meet Igloo again this spring or summer, guess it will wait until next season

Agreed, But in that defensive area is where the Express team has sustained a couple of injuries. Hopefully those boys can recover well enough to play this season.

It's the new defensive defensive coach coach igloo has that makes a difference as a father I see the difference

like Igloo was behind express a week ago? Outlaws haven't even played in a tournament yet this spring.

that may be the least intelligent thing i have ever read on BOTC

Doubt it.

Defense wins games at any age not gonna have any real success if u put ur weakest players there

Or could it be igloo is practicing 2 to 3 times a week. If outlaws and express did that you would also see a great improvement. They may even be able to give Taz and WP a good game.

Not 2-3x a week but consistently over the winter. Coaches deserve credit for their dedication. WP and Taz are still the top teams in this area. Igloo boys have gotten better which is all you can hope for at this age. If Express is like EVERY other top Express team in the organization they will work things out and be just fine.Good luck to all the teams this tournament season...just go beat the Maryland teams lol!

Tough to compete with Maryland teams. They all go 2x a week and play 1 or 2 games on the weekends.

time to commit to travel programs after this year and say goodbye to PAL. Its more frustrating for decent kids playing with kids who don't know where to go and can't catch or even scoop a ground ball. Plus these PAL coaches are over the top. Most of these coaches know the game, but can't "coach" kids. I know the double schedule is becoming too much and the conflicts are annoying. Its been fun PAL but after 5th grade bye bye.

ELite 8 tournament, we want to wish all the Long Island teams best of luck!

Same boat. My son plays both now. But after this year. We are done with PAL. Our town can't even get a team of 12 5th graders. It's a mix of 4th and 5th.

What town?

Wait the last 3 weeks are conflicted with travel tournaments . Next year all PAL coaches are required to take a full day coaching course and be level 2 certified to continue coaching. There will be more fall out.

PAL is dying. Plain and Simple. Yes you get a town here or there that can put something together and make it work, but the majority does not. Complaining parents, uncommitted kids that show up randomly to practices etc. If your kid wants to play this sport and I mean really wants to play, your best bet is the travel circuit. PAL puts kids on the field that don't belong playing together and that creates a major problem. I understand the $ it costs and that its not doable by some, but the sport as a whole needs to recognize what can happen at this level. You get a defenseman who plays on a tier 1 travel team go up against a kid who only picks up his stick 1 or 2 times a week on PAL, he's either going to get trampled or hurt. What's the sense of it. Than the coaches get the backlash because "my kid should be coached on how to deal with that defenseman" on the flip side I have to watch my sons face as he leaves a field upset from the lack of effort from some his teammates who really don't want to be there. Listen mom and dad if your kid picks up a stick to go to practice and then puts it down until next practice, he's not into the sport. Period. Take some responsibility for this. For those who have a kid that wants to get better, and wants to be on the field, the coaches and players are a much better fit at the Travel level. As much as I want PAL to work the sport has grown so fast that Travel has made itself the place where kids who want it can go out and get it without having to deal with a kid who is just out there because his dad played back in the day and rarely picks up a stick. Didn't make the rules here but its obvious what s going on. Writing those checks is sometimes painful, but the difference in my sons Travel team to his PAL team is light years and I think its worth it. Skill wise. coaching wise, teammate wise and overall IQ wise.

Great, thoughtful posts on PAL. Kudos to those who out there who want to have good dialogue. The ONLY benefit to PAL (just playing Devil's Advocate here) is that these are the kids that your sons/daughters may be playing HS ball with - so there should be some bond - -does not need to be airtight, but general knowledge is good. Otherwise - the way we think of it is this - PAL is dessert and Travel is dinner. Gotta eat right before you can have a little fun. And I love seeing my son hooking up against kids on his Travel team - that always is fun.

Before the weekend, I would have argued against this post. After yesterday's game, I have come around more so to this POV - my son is one of a half-dozen plus travel players on his PAL team, and they have almost no one after them that can even begin to play with them. The game goes south very fast when these better players start trying to do too much to make up for the other players - the aspects of team O and D disappear and a loss turns into a beat down. My son is now not enjoying playing PAL, and I need to decide if playing in the community program is worth risking him losing his enthusiasm for the sport altogether. If the travel kids bail, then the PAL team will not have enough players in general, and would only be a hot mess if they could scrape enough boys together. The only way I can see this working, and that might only be a band aid, is to combine with another age and have an A and B team of each - so, in my son's case, combine the 5th and 6th better players and the the same thing with the sames ages' lesser players - both would play in the 6th grade PAL division, but one would play top tier while the other would play lowest tier. That would work out for the A team - not sure how that would for the B team. Either way, this would be sticky for the parents of players that are on the B team for both ages - too many parents don't want to acknowledge that their little Johnny is both not very talented (which is OK, and could be for numerous reasons - years playing, etc) and/or not nearly as committed as others. Tough spot for the local organization, but they will have to look longer term to see if their action or inaction is going to kill the program.

So don't play PAL if it's so painful, what a bunch of empty headed belly aching. Simple solution dads/moms, DO NOT SIGN UP FOR PAL, see how simple that is. What a crock. PAL isn't going anywhere because there are more kids who want to start playing and learn than so called "studs".

LI Express is horrible - they tell their parents to "Shut-up", like in last years Rhino Tournament - Saratoga Shootout. LI express is a waste of money.... embarrassing to watch the parents get upset with coaching like that... gees... Express Garbage is more like it.

agree with both you guys. in my town some actually look down on you if you are playing travel. insane right?

Great PAL posts. I saw it yesterday as well. My sons game is compromised because of not enough help around him. He tries to do too much on his own to make up for this and either gets double or tripled teamed because no one helps or worse starts to question his own ability in these cases. In the end, community or not the concern is keeping my kid interested in the game he loves. If at one point he hangs up the stick on his own that's fine, but not because he thinks he doesn't have what it takes to carry a team of disinterested boys. Time to focus on Travel, it is the future of where this sport is going on the youth level. If you don't think so, read the new rules. The recruitment rules just blew up the whole scenario. Cant do it to early, but no rule about talking to Travel programs and coaches about their boys they coach. Adapt or become extinct

perfect reply.. love it