US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Conflicts! When HS Coaches Incorporate Summer Tournament Teams in Town

Agreed , but is there a FREE option ! No matter where you play or who your child plays for, there is a cost involved. However if the H.S. Coach is running the program perhaps there might be some cost control. The coach may not be able to fleece your pocketbook in fear of being spoken about to the school district.

I guess I look at this slightly different , I think it's great when the local coach puts in the effort to make the team better. It's a significant amount of work and for 750 , there's not much in making money there. Yeah maybe the coaches are getting paid, but they're not getting rich. Probably 1-2k for the whole season per coach. 2 practices a week and 4 weekend tournaments, probably getting 20 an hr.

Now these 25 kids, some who will never make another travel team get to play together. It's much better for the school program then the top 2 kids playing with a travel team with kids from 10 different towns.

What will be a bigger accomplishment , Li championship with all your high school buddies or winning the tristate with 20 different families ?

Hello. Both of my boys play Northport and we love it. The cost is 1/3 of the traditional travel teams. The are playing very competitively and my sons are growing as players by leaps and bounds. Sometimes the grass is not greener on the other side. Also, there is a wonderful feeling of community which cannot be surpassed. Both of my boys have made in the past the best travel "A" teams there are so I think as long as it is a positive experience and your sons are up to their fullest potential -- then you're a winner.

Here is the true reality. More lacrosse is GOOD for all players. If your coach is preventing your child from playing with other teams, it is time to find a new team.

Please send your concept to Three Village.

3village has a great program for in-house and PAL. They nmade a decision that if a child wanted to play travel lax on the 3v team, the child could not also participate on one of the elite teams. Their slogan--one town one team.

That worked for many years, however, the last few years have seen large defections from some of the younger teams. The current 6th, 7th and 8th grade 3v travel teams have been decimated. Kids and coaches have left the program to participate in the elite world--gladiators, express, 91...

The result is that these 3v teams cannot compete in the A bracket of tournaments any longer. they are now plauying in B brackets or town team only tournaments.

For the older grades-9th, JV and varsity-those teams were able to keep most of their kids and are still playing at a very high level.

So what worked for a long time, is no longer working. change has come to this sport and the town teams must evolve or lose in every toutrnament...

that said, at the HS level for school ball, the best kids in 3v get to play regardless iof which travel team they are plauing for...

High school coaches who want to keep their job as HS coaches play the best kids regardless of which jersey they wear in June and July at tournaments. Do you really think a lesser skilled player is going to play over a more skilled player because the more skilled player opted to play for an outside travel team? Not happening - coaches want to win championships and you do that with your best players on the field not on the bench.

If only we could all make this work.

How about this, since there is limited field space. Practice for town teams on certain days and travel on others. Play travel games on the 1st and 3rd weekend of a month and town on ONE of the other weekends. (or visa versa).

Play with your town friends and play with new boys. What a concept.

Good luck with that. The people at US Lax can't even organize a roster like PAL football has had for a decade. This would allow opposing coaches to see a photo ID of each player before a game. That would prevent clubs from borrowing players, or having nephews from out of state play on your team when the tourney brings you down that way!

Please tournaments are not leagues, rosters are not locked in stone in Sept. however, rosters do need to be submitted but whats to say they put the out of state player on the official roster, what then.

Is US Lacrosse going to say my child or nephew can only play on one team. No because becuase that would not be in the best interest of the child or the sport. Why stop a child who wants to play with their friends as well as with others every once in a while..

Long Island Junior Soccer League strictly prohibits a player from participating on more than one team, this I know first hand, having a child who plays up a year on a very competitive team and also wanted to play with his friends on a team his age and the answer from [lacrosse] was a simple "NO" and a follow up to them asking why was answered with a "because we said so"

Long Island Junior Soccer League strictly prohibits a player from participating on more than one team, this I know first hand, having a child who plays up a year on a very competitive team and also wanted to play with his friends on a team his age and the answer from [lacrosse] was a simple "NO" and a follow up to them asking why was answered with a "because we said so"

Please tournaments are not leagues, rosters are not locked in stone in Sept. however, rosters do need to be submitted but whats to say they put the out of state player on the official roster, what then.

Is US Lacrosse going to say my child or nephew can only play on one team. No because becuase that would not be in the best interest of the child or the sport. Why stop a child who wants to play with their friends as well as with others every once in a while..

You seem to pooh pooh the idea. You DO cite an instance of good intent, which is fine by most, if not all. However, why allow teams to pick up heavy hitters because they know that a rival club is in the same bracket, etc.? How noble is it to select a team, practice it, and field it? I am thinking that the kid who is looking for some extra play time is a guise for holding off the eventual ID verification. The sme coaches who seem to show up with duplicate jersey numbers at tourneys, or new faces/ foreign helmets usually justify dodging ID checks using the same scenario stated in your post. I guess that it's too much to stick to a roster for commitments sake.

I am assuming you are bringing up the soccer analogy to show how you should only play for one lacrosse team and not play on a summer select team. However, LIJSoccer League DOES allow players to play on a summer select team-ODP. Serious soccer players can play during the summer with different teammates at a more competitive level. [lacrosse] is not trying to hold back players that love the game and want to improve their skills. This is no different for players that want to play summer lacrosse with a different coach and group of kids. It's a good life experience.

Hmmmmmmmmm, wonder what district you are speaking of, 2 high schools, we can elimate the fact that you are referring to Sachem they have 2 high schools, but their athletic programs are outstanding, what other district has 2 high schools in Suffolk County?????????????

Who said it was Suffolk?

Hmmmmmmmmm, wonder what district you are speaking of, 2 high schools, we can elimate the fact that you are referring to Sachem they have 2 high schools, but their athletic programs are outstanding, what other district has 2 high schools in Suffolk County?????????????

I believe there are potential negatives and positives to having the HS coach run a summer program.

Poitives: Keeping the teams playing together makes the boys know exactly what thier teamates will do on the field. It can make an average team play at a much higher level. A team that plays selflessly and together can beat teams with higher caliber players. Also, it builds team unity and district pride. Further, if done right it can yeild serious results. We all know the HS teams that play together in the summer. They are the same ones that compete for Championships almost every year. SWR, WI, etc...


Negatives: The cost to the individual player is most likely going to be the middle tier kid on any given team. A kid like this may be constantly pidgeon holed into a back up role. If they never get the chance to play against the tough competition or get an opportunity to be the "guy", they never grow. This is especially true at the middle school and JV level. At least at an outside club they might have a chance to improve away from the microscope of the School coach. I have seen kids go off and play summer ball with a club, come back and really catch the School coaches eye.

Not sure what the ansewer is? Perhaps you try and do both. If your son is not getting playing time over the summer with his school coaches team, he surely will not get it in the spring!!! If this is the case, who cares if you [lacrosse] the school coach off. It won't matter anyway.

Great topic...how do you handle the HS Coach who requests that kids play with the HS team thru the summer tournament schedule and if you do not, you are told it will impact your play time when school ball comes around ? I have had to address this with my son who plays at a high travel level with Express and as a 9th grader should not have to face this issue from the HS Coach. We do not come from a strong HS program, and the exposure with Express is much greater. Open to your comments