although cage and others suggestion to just out the coaches or programs, i hope we can all agree there is no upside to being the whistle blower in our society.
We are talking about youth lacrosse, not bringing down an international government. The bottom line is that allowing a coach to dictate what an amateur player is doing at the youth level is wrong on a myriad of levels; allowing it to happen as a parent is a second problem.
The spin machines will make anyone out to be disgruntle in some way. We have all heard coaches who give kids that play (pay) with them over the summer the benefit of the doubt when it comes to playing time.
Again, name the coach and the program. Is the benefit of the doubt due to money or better preparation? Let's name the program and look at the details.
The empty threats that they won't be able to help them get recruited.
Lacrosse parents need to cross the bridge that soccer parents did almost a decade back - you can personally control and manage the college recruitment cycle outside of the club structure. It is a matter of self-education and determination on behalf of your student-athlete. There is a fine line between working with the club on recruitment and abdicating your role in the recruitment cycle.
Its sad, they have lost most of their influence due to the early recruiting process and will bully kids and their parents to make them stay in bad town teams so they build chemistry" while the coaches pad their pockets on top of the huge public pensions they enjoy.
Top caliber players will never stay with "bad town teams". The whole premise makes no sense.
If I hear another coach say we need to keep the kids together so the bottom kids can get better, what about the best kids don't they deserve to play with better kids so they too can get better?
Which explains why there are "A", "B", and "C" teams along with different club options. Look, we can teach every eighth grade student in an Algebra class, but not all of them are going to make it to AP Calculus AB or BC come their senior year.
