A lot of B team detest on some of these threads. If a kid is brand new to travel and gets placed on a B team at 9 years old, that's a waste of money? A and B pay same amount and B team seems to be good coaching so far.
Curious as to what the general consensus is on when it becomes a waste. Immediately? If kid doesn't move up to A in a year or 2? Do most good B players need to move teams for a shot at A or do you see them moved up often?
Sounds like your son is young. From our experience, not too many players move up. It does happen though and more likely the older they get, 8th grade and up.
B teams at Express is definitely a garbage shoot. Some great coaching some years, non-existent coaching other years. Unfortunately, most years they just don't keep the same coaching staff for the same B team. No continuity at all.
Don't accept a B team slot if Coach Chan says he will be the coach, total disaster. He does not have the patience to coach emerging players. He is all about his A teams. Eventually he will leave the B team high and dry.
As a B team family at Express, you need to be OK that the A team practices year round and gets indoor time over the winter for the same price as you pay. B teams rarely get extra practices, some years, you don't even get the tourneys you were promised.
The other issue with B teams at Express (and other clubs, I'm sure) is the team itself. Tryouts are a joke and no one gets cut. So it turns out that the bottom half of that B team has players that can't catch or throw the ball. The parents are just happy to be on the team and have no real interest in having their child improve. These families miss half of the practices but kids still play in tourneys. Disastrous during tourneys. Very frustrating for families that want the team and players to improve. I'm not saying win at all costs, I'm praying not to go 0-6 after a 5 hour drive to MD where the team goal differential is -50+. Rarely does Express put B teams in the proper tourneys so then there is a scramble to find less competitive tourneys for the team. Some years, it was week to week where we were going attend.
I will say that my son has had some great coaching and has improved greatly over the years at Express. His improvement is mostly due to a hand full of Express coaches and his work ethic with his stick skills.
Moving teams to find an A team is also very difficult.
Reality is you can find much better B teams outside the big organizations. Better going to an organisation with only one team per age group whose team happens to be st B level. They end up more competitive and you pay much less. Another problem with Express especially if CoachC is coaching the A team, they take double the amount of players for the A team from tryouts. Thus limiting any ability for the B team to field a decent team. And if someone doesnt accept the B team slot, CoachC is more than willing to let you pay to go on the A team and practice but not actually play. End result look for a good coach, but dont stay on the big organizations B teams. You are wasting your kids time. Let him enjoy playing lacrosse on a team where he has a chance to be competitive.
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