I had a team attend a tournament this fall. We were just made up off some local kids in three school districts in my area looking to play. The kids paid the tournament fee and about 18 bucks for a pinnie. We registered for the "B" bracket in our age group. The girls contacted some D3 coaches about our schedule and parents shot game film on their iPads. Everyone had fun.
Anyway, we played a yellow jackets team. On the sideline for the yellow jackets was a man doing the subbing. I asked him how his team was doing on the day, as I assumed he was a yellow jackets coach. He said that he was just a parent and that no coach from the yellow jackets was going to be helping him much. He said they had too many teams at the event and that this team was not good enough to have a coach there.
My team beat this yellow jackets team by 3. My girls paid under 100 per player for the event. Not sure what those players for yellow jackets paid but it was most likely more than $100.
My point is that if a girl plays for the top yellow jackets teams it is totally worth it. If they don't play on the top squads in each age group, the player would be better served to go with a smaller travel team. No coach on the sideline does not seem right to me - assuming the parent was not just being sarcastic. At least on the smaller teams the girls all get attention from the coaches. Also, if you don't play on a top YJ team you aren't getting looked at by best college programs anyway. You don't need a YJ jersey to play college lacrosse.
Anyone else have a similar experience? | 
