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

I didn't say that they don't have players from other towns, what I said is the majority of players are from the 3 towns previously mentioned, it is an organization that favors those 3 towns, enough said!

My friend, I have seen their teams at tournaments and I observe what I observe, I'm good like that....Rocky Point, Comsewogue and Mt. Sinia/Miller Place a few West Hampton here and there and yes they do take players from other towns, but again very few......but through observing them over the years, I have to say TLI is very loyal to the players that they have as they seem to move up with a secure spot year after year, can't say that for many other organizations...........wish I was from one of those towns ^^

That maybe true for the older teams. but u-15 an under there is way more diversity. My son is on the U-14 A team. There is 2 Mt Sinai,1 Rocky point,1 Miller Place, 1 W. Hampton, NO Comsewogue! That is 5 kids from those towns. There are at least 10 towns represented on our team! The best kids make it. It doesn't matter where you are from! I agree that TLI is loyal to there kids. If you are on a team you really have to play yourself off the team to be replaced!

Rather than call it Team Long Island, they should call it Team Suffolk. No Nassau kids at all?

Rather than call it Team Long Island, they should call it Team Suffolk. No Nassau kids at all?

and where do the j-e-t-s play and practice.

Rather than call it Team Long Island, they should call it Team Suffolk. No Nassau kids at all?

Everyone from Nassau knows that the Jets practice and play in East Meadow!

good one! illustrating the point further that some people are always 5 years behind where they should be.

I doubt Smithtown frowns on club teams. Some of their HS coaches coach for the LI Thunder.

does Team Smithtown take kids from both High Schools?

Yes, Team Smithtown takes kids from both schools. If they have enough kids to create an East and West team, then they will. That is what they are going to try this year with U13 teams. However, they are also setting up these teams to play all year long like other clubs, so I doubt you will have a choice to play on another club at the same time!

Team smith town, what other towns can create a competitive team to pay you guys...

Who runs / owns Team Smithtown?

Who coaches the High School Teams, JV and Varsity?

Getting back to the original concept of this thread, HS summer teams should be optional and or in addition to travel teams. Many HS teams in Western Suffolk play weekly in a local league. Thus, "keeping the boys together". The play and practice with the school duringthe week, and the do their recruiting tournaments and travel clubs on the weekend.
This seems to be a good complimentary situation.
In no way should a HS coach make his team play for him all summer. It all comes down to control and financial gain, wether actual or perceived. Having one man in control of your son's potential lacrosse aspirations is not what you want. The people who should be driving the recruiting process are the parents and the player. The HS coach should only be there to help the process along, not control it. Having the HS coach control what recruiting camps your son will go to or how much playing time he'll get over the summer in front of key coaches, is not a good situation. This is especially true for the average prospective college player, good enough for the next level, but maybe not a D1 kid. For the superstar it doesn't matter, the top schools will find him.
With regard to the financial piece: Any time a coach is making kids play for a team he runs and you pay for, always creates an underlying sentiment that there's a profit motive. Wether the coaches motives are pure or not this situation always wreaks of financial impropriety.
Let the kids and parents make their decisions for summer ball, and let the HS coaches worry about the spring. Very simple.

This is one of the best posts on this subject!

Totally agree great post- ESM boys coach should read this as well

Totally agree great post- ESM boys coach should read this as well

Just curious, do the high school coaches want to control a players decision whether to play on a club team during the summer because said coach would like the opportunity to bring his players to a higher level within their system, and at the end of the journey, that same high school coach has the pride in knowing that he is the reason the player goes on to play college lacrosse. I would think that if a high school coach is dedicated enough to put together a team and keep it together during the summer, and this high school coach watches his team grow from year to year, this high school coach has invested a lot of time into his players, and he would like to see his players succeed knowing he had something to do with it. I do believe though, that a player should have a choice as to where he or she would like to play, but I feel that they should do all that is possible to represent their school team if given the opportunity.

Just curious, do the high school coaches want to control a players decision whether to play on a club team during the summer because said coach would like the opportunity to bring his players to a higher level within their system, and at the end of the journey, that same high school coach has the pride in knowing that he is the reason the player goes on to play college lacrosse. I would think that if a high school coach is dedicated enough to put together a team and keep it together during the summer, and this high school coach watches his team grow from year to year, this high school coach has invested a lot of time into his players, and he would like to see his players succeed knowing he had something to do with it. I do believe though, that a player should have a choice as to where he or she would like to play, but I feel that they should do all that is possible to represent their school team if given the opportunity.

This trend has reached a new level in Ward Melville. For years, the youth program has said if you play outside of our 3 village program you can’t play on the town travel team. That was fine and everyone understood their options. Some families stayed with the town program, but some also left for select teams like express, 91 team LI...The families that left generally have either really good players that wanted more competition than town team tournaments, or players that weren’t as strong that weren’t getting playing time on the town team. It was sad that the teams lost players and the boys lost the opportunity to practice and play with their friends, but generally it worked out ok for all.

Now, at the HS travel level they have two teams-Green and Gold (JV and Varsity) being coached by HS coaches. At the recent try-outs, there were approximately 100 boys for roughly 50 spots. There were several boys trying out that had previously played on select teams (all whom are now very strong players). Having talked to some of those families I learned that they were trying out to make sure the HS coaches knew their kid existed…

At the end of the try-out, the coaches thanked all for the boys for trying out and were pretty open about their expectations. They don’t want any Ward Melville boys playing outside of their reams. The threat is clear, play elsewhere and you have no shot at playing on the Varsity team ever. Now, for most of the boys, the threat is really nonsense as the HS varsity team rarely plays more than 12 or 13 boys during any game (except for last Q in a blowout, starters don’t leave the field). So unless you have a real shot to be one of those 12 or 13, you should tell the coach to jump off the local bridge. However, if you have a shot to be one of those, then you are in a ridiculous bind. The coaches want the boys together because they say it makes the HS team stronger and it is a fair point. But all the boys want the chance to play. So if you are one of the 12 or 13 you get looked at by colleges and have a shot to get recruited, but if your are not and only play at junk time, no one ever sees you.

The summer team plays 5 tournaments and so unless you are on of the 12 or 13, you need to get really lucky to get an opportunity for a college coach to see you do anything…It is left to each kid to figure out how to get himself recruited.

The net result in WM is that at any given time there are 10 kids that won’t see the field that would get a starting job at most other HS programs. They are giving up their shot to play and get looked at by colleges (remember D II and D III are really great options for most kids) –all to make the HS program stronger???

In my humble opinion this is a completely inappropriate use of power by a HS coach, by a school district and a complete shame. I have heard a rumor that Smithtown is making a similar threat and as a result I suspect Turtles team will also be impacted as some will choose HS team over Turtle team.

Jake Reed

Bueller, Bueller, Bueller

Bueller, Bueller, Bueller

sour grapes...you're a whiner, glad you're gone.

Will be interesting to see how many kids they lose from the current structured program. So much for staying as a "town team" only to be dumped by the next level. Don't buy into it in the early grades.