Often, how good a town team and school team are, seems to be a reflection of how many top level players they have on the team that were developed and fed through the travel or club teams. Each boys and girls have certain schools that are successful and independant examples of good training and development. I would be extremely upset if my son or daughter's town/school team tried to block them from playing travel/club ball.
BOTC completely agrees with this view.
The truth is, I see the kids on the town/school team that stand out and it is because these kids are playing club, I see the kids on the field for town/school ball and there is a massive difference in athletic ability.
Again, we agree. This is where premier and elite lacrosse programs are pushing the sport at the youth level. As we have said, fifteen years back, soccer was similarly just seeing the dawn of real premier caliber, cross-state leagues. Lacrosse, due in part to the expense of constant summer tournaments and vague competition levels, will come to the conclusion within the next three to five years that an organized premier level of competition will be a better solution for the top clubs.
It is very hard for a town/school team to put together an elite group of kids because they have boundries or limited number of kids to draw from. Meanwhile a club team can pick the top one or two (or none) from of each town team to put together a roster.
Hence, the root of the "town" versus "elite" label.
Of course every town team would like to be west islip, but they are not and should welcome and encourage the travel atheletes and try to build on top of that. I bet you many of these programs would actually deteriorate by banning the travel programs. The kids would very rarely see the level of competition they see at the tournaments, it's kinda like home-schooling.
BOTC agrees that the elite clubs are training players at a higher level and on a more regular basis (year-round, hence the initial posting on this thread). Elite clubs operate year-round due to the financial aspect of running a business; the beneficiary is the High School Varsity and Junior Varsity programs that are inheriting these well-trained, top players. Town team players generally wind up with a background role. The Newsday coverage will focus on the powerhouse High Schools and you will find over time that more and more of those top teams will have the top players who are all part of elite programs. Again coming back to the original opinion piece in this thread, it explains why town teams will be relegated to developmental roles in the intramural years as the next five years unfold.
