Back of THE CAGE Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND MAIN FORUM Girls 2025 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

M&D, Yellow Jackets and Hero's, the top 3 teams in this age group in the country and 3 of the top clubs overall have parent coaches. I guess they are doing something wrong.

she not of recruiting age yet[/quote]

Sorry I assumed you were plugging your daughters 22 blue team. The only club team that tries to get all girls to D1 lax.

Parents coaches are more than qualified to coach, but doesn't mean its the best option. Parents coaches just add a level of political corruptness, favoritism, and of course they think their D is the best player.

No... only some parents are qualified to coach. That’s the problem. The whole point of club is advanced coaching and better players than rec

I don’t want to pay close to $3,000 per year for an average parent coach. Isnt club supposed be o be special ? And you’re right ..., it immediately brings nepotism and favoritism

Parents coaches are more than qualified to coach, but doesn't mean its the best option. Parents coaches just add a level of political corruptness, favoritism, and of course they think their D is the best player.[/quote]

On the flip side of the argument. Only parents coaching will be invested the entire year -every year to a team and their development. If the caoch is objective with all players it is a better scenario than the fleeting young ex-player on her cell phone. These jobs pay nothing so turnover is high. My d has a parent (dad) coach who is the best teacher of the game that we have had. This is our 3rd D to play.

Then your daughter is one of the lucky few. Let me know if you feel the same about her coach once she’s in high school and it’s no longer about winning and all about showcasing.

That's great for your daughter - but I think you will find more often than not the parent coach is an issue. If the parent coach's child is one of the strongest players its easier to swallow but when they're not one of the strongest players (or worse yet - towards the bottom of the roster) and they're out there playing ahead of other stronger players then it is a huge issue. You will find it in every sport. Rec lax is dwindling now but a couple years ago playing club was a way to get away from the daddy-ball that was prevalent in rec. Now it's just transferred over to club. The other issue that comes with a parent coach is the "friends" issue. Whether it be the friends of the coach w/ players on the team or friends of the coach's child playing on the team. The same issues that come with a parent coach's child start to also happen with the "friends". Sometimes they play more or play certain positions cause adult friends of the coach pressure the coach - sometimes players should be cut and are not cut for the same reason. And I'm sorry - that's not how club lax works. Personal relationships should have no bearing on a club lax team. When you add multiple parent coaches to a team the problem gets even worse. As soon as a parent coach acquiesces to his/her friends - it means these friends are now interfering with other players place on the team. While I agree a parent coach will stay invested longer than a hired coach - I don't think hands should be thrown in the air and say "ok all of our teams are now turned over to parent coaches". Maybe a solution is to have parent coaches be the assistants ??? The mommy-ball/daddy-ball issue will never go away. But you will not have these issues with a non parent coach. No parent should be able to influence coaches at all and not having parent coaches is a good step towards eliminating that.

Agree with the point about parent coaches and the "friends" issue. See it all the time. If your friends with the coaches daughter, your included more in everything. Even if the players are on the bottom of the roster, they are still around because of the friendships. Nothing you can do about it, just keep improving yourself and look forward to high school lax

That can be a huge issue and I don't think anyone can argue that. I see it on our own team That said coaches like the 24 MnD coach who have no family ties to the team are hard to find and you have to find the right situation for your D.

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You are right, I should have said some parent coaches are qualified to coach. If the coaches D is a beast then I really don't have any issues with them getting playing time, but that's not the case. Also the point about "friends" of the D on the team is absolutely terrible, because it is like the coach has like 5 D's on the team. And if there is 2 parent coaches, Ugh!

I would pay an extra $500 - $1000 in fees to get an outside paid coach. I'm sure if you paid someone like 5-10k/season you should get someone good. I'm surprise a club has not done it yet.

What if the D is a beast and the offense runs through her stick and players are told to move out of the way to make room for her to drive, and she doesn’t come off the field?

Sounds like daddy coach made it easy for other teams defense.

Seeing as Hero’s is dominant at the 2026 age group, not sure she picked wrong. I think Maryland and Cathy will be just fine. MnD just has sour grapes that she picked a program other than theirs.

Of course Terps will be fine. I will be interested to see how many of the Hero’s 26 (very good team) end up at MD with Reese’s daughter on team.

Let’s also not act like Terps don’t recruit nationally anyways but you’d have to assume CR has great insight on 2026 class than normal.