US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Girls High School Lax

Your coach

Why are you so obsessed with how many goals other girls have. Worry about your own daughter. And no, I am not a loser. Please don't call people names.

If your daughter is that good she will be noticed and recognized for her talent. If she's not maybe she is not as good as mommy & daddy thinks. Its not all politics but as long as you keep thinking that and telling your daughter that she'll never get better.

It's not all politics, but if you don't think there is favoritism, nepotism and politics involved, you're naive. That shouldn't take away from the talented girls who earn awards, but some girls get cheated and some girls receive awards on reputation rather than that season's achievements

I know its only NEWSDAY, but i am sure its like this in any major lax area,,,but kids and parents do get a kick out of seeing their names in paper next day...wouldn't it be nice to credit defenders in blurbs about the games?
As previous poster mentioned, kids play selfish when they are looking to get name in paper next day.Sounds trivial, but for teenage boys/girls, its a big deal.
A mention of how well a defender played or how big a stop the defense made to win a game w/b a nice thing o see once in a a while.
Instead we get "Mary Jones led the scoring with 8 goals, ..or "Susie Smith had 4 goals and 3 assists"..

Ok here it is. Mary ran around all game with her stick in the air yelling ball. At one point she scooped a ground ball which she immediately passed to the goalie(she did this once this game,but twice last). She gets the defensive star of the game for yelling ball the loudest. Congrats Mary.

This is the truth. I've seen it happen too often. The coaches wheel and deal behind the scenes too.

Coaches should recognize the players who had a meaningful impact on the game and they should share the spotlight and credit whenever they can. I agree that in many cases it should be draw control, ground balls, a great defensive effort or goal-keeping that should be highlighted. It is not done enough in my opinion.

As a mother of a high school defender I agree, just once it would be nice to be recognized.She works very hard as I'm sure many do.

I am not obsessed with how many goals any individual has, poor sportsmanship is a pet peeve of mine. If a team outscored an overmatched opponent by more than 20 I generally have an issue ,if in a blowout an individual puts up an unnecessary amount of points I have an issue with that. My kid lays on a sub par team and regularly gets blown out by 20, its gets real old watching a few ball hogs on the other team score over and over. Get your lead put your back ups in and if they score so be it but to leave your starters or have a few ball hogs run up their numbers is ridiculous.

So that's it in a nutshell for you on how big an impact defense has in a game, in your sarcastic opinion?
Wow.

Nice attempt to stir the pot, child.

pot stirring?..not so sure with a comment like that....you just know he is that loony Dad on sideline yelling for his little princess to 'go to goal" every time she has the ball....
then sits on his hands and keeps deathly silent when the defense makes nice play or someone other than princess puts one in..
that is why ladies lax is so selfish....folks like the above taint wipe ..

The problem with MSG varsity stats is that they are reported by the winning teams coach. Now that coach may have a injured player that really doesn't care who did what in the game especially the other team so the stats are frequently wrong. Now if your coach is lucky enough to have a booster club that pays someone to do it for the team then it all depends on if they take the time to mark down caused turn overs or ground balls. They should also keep stats on how many 8m penalties a player commits. Msg also sometimes doubles the points so please don't think that that is the official stat record for the season.

Just the typical parent who knows nothing about the sport. If he really understood lacrosse he would understand that defense will win games. The most important part of lacrosse today is midfielders playing defense. Transition lacrosse, shut down the offense with the ride, win the game. Simple, for those who know the game.

And middies who can play defense are gold yet few and far between.

Why is everybody so concerned about stats, look at he the Nassau stat leaders, only one girl plays in the power conference where it really counts. The rest would not have 1/4 of those points if they played in that conference. Stats are irrelevant watch the game and you will see!!!

It's team coach and then opposing coaches. It's a give and take. Depending on how well (or poorly) the team did, the team is then only entitled to a certain number of selections for each award.

Come on the guy is right. Besides the game is unwatchable. Who would ever play a position that can go an entire game without touching the ball. But great award Mary. BALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.

It's a tough position trying to cover the best athletes on the field. Is it true the worst field players and the players that can not run become goalies.

We know who this mom is. Her poor daughter never gets any credit or recognition. We know we know everybodys been hearing it for years

When do the seedings and brackets come out?

What if that ball hog won the draw, worked her butt of getting the ground balls and got knocked down a few times in the meantime?

Ball hog is a ball hog. Not every player who scores a lot of goals is a ball hog. Everybody except the player and the players parents knows the difference. Some coaches apparently can't tell the difference either.

Selfish players will almost always hurt their team. The worst part about it is the player and the parents do not care. As long as they score goals everything is okay. The parents are usually non athletes or maybe played something in HS but thats about it. They do not understand the game so the only thing they can recognize is a goal. Selfish play is easy to spot and ugly to watch and is detrimental to the team.

There are some really great players who happen to score a lot of goals. They are not all ball hog. There are also some very selfish players who try to go to the goal as soon as they get the ball. They sometimes score a lot of goals but they are far from being good players. Worse than the standard run of the mill ball hog is the lazy player who also happens to be a ball hog. Start watching players when they do not have the ball. Watch them on both ends of the field. Watch them redefend. Watch when they are off ball (on offense and defense). Watch the effort, watch the communication, watch how they work and help their team. Then watch the ones who loaf around and wait for the ball. Watch the ones who start running with the ball every time they get it even when they should be passing. Watch the ones who try to run through three girls. It is easy to spot the ball hogs.
Good coaches will not put up with it. Bad coaches don't know what to do.

If your team has them good luck to you because the odds are that they will cost you when it matters.

You described this perfectly especially about what ball hogs do off ball. I played in college and this is hardest type of player to watch or play with.

I was that mom too. I know how you feel.

And to the person who said the worst athletes (I'm paraphrasing) become goalies, maybe that's true in elementary school but is not at all true as the girls get older. No, my child is not a goalie. But if you can't move then you aren't much of a keeper.

Defense is its own skill set. My daughter now plays D in college and anyone with an experienced eye can see who the "true" defenders are versus who got moved back or is a middie coming back to defend. Those are the players that get beat time and again. They don't see the roll or the dodge coming, they have a tough time anticipating a slide (or even sliding, period), they don't see the open player, and they often get frustrated and then the hacks and pushes come. Everybody has a role to play. I once spoke to a dad I know whose daughter was a nationally recognized attacker and he told me "anyone can be a defender, you just have to stand there." I was flummoxed. That was so patently untrue and showed his bias toward the offense.

Like a football linebacker or defensive back???

I'm sure your daughter is fantastic, but can little Suzy handle not scoring? Do you not buy her a Slurpee like you used to when she scored a goal in PAL? Sad she needs the recognition of scoring a goal to validate herself in your eyes, doesn't get it enough at home or through her school work. That's why defenders are the most stable, well-grounded, kids on the team. Their self-esteem isn't validated by goals scored and dad's reaction to it. They understand the reward of hard work. What's going to happen when lacrosse ends, where will she turn with her esteem issues? Scary......

If you think being a goalie is just for the fat, slow, untalented kids than your toe fat slow untalented parent that never played a sport and was in a Glee club, and now you come on this thread because your kid might have some athletic ability in spite of your lack of it, and criticize real athletes. Gear up your little super star and see if she can face a 75-80 mph shot, or will she duck and run like most. Lets see if super Suzie can face down a girl 8 meters away and make a save. Can youShannon tell when a girl is going to go BTB and adjust and save. your a pathetic loser and like most of the "Super Stars" your kid will be sitting on the bench , hoping to see some field time by her sop year in college

You learn at an early age if you are athletic,talented and can run the field. For the weaker ones,they become defenders.where else do you hide them.And for the real weak.Goalie.

I have never seen or heard of the most talented ,athletic or fast girls deciding they want to be goalie.My daughter will never sit the bench.Worse comes to worse she will become a defender.BALL.

Wow.....dumbest post I've seen in a long time. The weak players play defense????? So lets look at the facts.... Playing 1v1 in girls lax is probably the hardest thing in girls lax. The officials call virtually every foul against the defenders despite the athletic/talented players running into double/triple teams, charging to goal etc. Your uninformed stupid post justifies that you are an a$$ hat.

Sorry, never put a week player on derfense, you will never win a tough game with week defenders.!

Haha! Some truth to that. Think back to Pal when you had to force kids to play goalie. My daughter would throw a tantrum when banished to defense! But, it does take a village, to make a great lax team!

I was always told,if something bothers you it is either true or a complete lie.If you are calling me a liar so be it.But if your daughter was a stud she wouldn't be playing d.Ballllllll.Now that's a fact Jill.

Dude, you're like 12 right? BAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL, go hug your daughter jack@ss

When my daughter gets put on defense on her travel team (8th grade), which is a very competitive A team, she knows she's not playing well and is being "punished".

I have been coaching girls lacrosse for a decade and I can tell you from first hand knowledge that you build a team from the goal out. I hide my weaker players on attack.

Here's a fact, Jack. If your stud had to play D she would get crushed and her team would hate her for letting so many offensive players go past her.

Offense wins games, defense wins championships.

Only a [lacrosse] or a coach who has no understanding of the game or of athletics in general would put a week athlete on D. The only place to hide a week athlete on a lacrosse field is attack. The only parents who think it all about offense and scoring goals are the non athlete type who know nothing of competitive sports. A coach who puts week athletes on D will not win many championships. The parents who do not value defense worry more about how many goals their kid scores than they do about how the TEAM does.

Far from it you put your best athletes on D