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

tournament: max 1500x5= 7500 (and that's stretching it... ALOT! Insurance: $25.00/player = $250.00 uniforms: fully sublimated: $100.00/uniform: $2000.00. Travel expenses for coaches????? I guess around 10 grand. But again $1500/tourney is estimating high.... Please if I'm wrong let me know!!!! And if you paid higher for anything you got ripped off

Cost is not the issue. It is a clear conflict of interest.

Parents need to get lives

yup what a jerk off that's I needed to hear...because a kid doesn't play on the schools summer tournament team and dump money in your pockets then no matter how good the kid.is when he comes out for varsity you'll bench him!?!? you my man are a [lacrosse] jerk off!! that's all I wanted to hear. I knew it. punk coward high ache lacrosse coaches threatening 6th and 7th graders with varsity playing time if they don't sign up for your pay as you play rising 7th and 8th grade programs. coward!! what school do u coach at coward. criminal

You parents started this mess. Demanded Little Johnny get better coaching than the PAL could offer in order to get a scholarship LOL. The Travel teams formed and were more than happy to take your money, laughing all the way to the bank. If there was no demand there wouldn't be 35 travel teams. Then some towns pushed back demanding that you stay with the town program (HS) or not play on varsity. Boo Hoo. These travel teams are a joke. You know how many 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and even 5th grade prodigies are no longer playing lacrosse? More than the travel teams would like to admit. But they will fill a demand. If parents want a college coach to coach their kindergartener, for the right price it will be offered. Hopefully, in 20 years when we look back at all of this nonsence, (2nd grade travel teams,9th graders committing to Hopkins) we will ask what the [lacrosse] were we thinking and go back to some level of common sense!

You parents started this mess. Demanded Little Johnny get better coaching than the PAL could offer in order to get a scholarship LOL. The Travel teams formed and were more than happy to take your money, laughing all the way to the bank. If there was no demand there wouldn't be 35 travel teams. Then some towns pushed back demanding that you stay with the town program (HS) or not play on varsity. Boo Hoo. These travel teams are a joke. You know how many 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and even 5th grade prodigies are no longer playing lacrosse? More than the travel teams would like to admit. But they will fill a demand. If parents want a college coach to coach their kindergartener, for the right price it will be offered. Hopefully, in 20 years when we look back at all of this nonsence, (2nd grade travel teams,9th graders committing to Hopkins) we will ask what the [lacrosse] were we thinking and go back to some level of common sense!

Hooray...someone who gets it.

Don't think so.

You parents?? Are you not a parent? Who then?

Yes, some parents want better coaching then what is offered by a handful of self appointed parents who control the local youth league. They also want their child to compete with the best.

Few if any parents on my sons team are fixated on an athletic scholarship.

Now, High School coaches are in the business of making money of the local kids. However, instead of competing in the free market coercion is used to force families to pay to play. Are the HS coaches who engage in this practice not laughing all the way to the bank?

You apparently believe this to be acceptable: "Then some towns pushed back demanding that that you stay with the town (HS) program or not play varsity." Really, that is acceptable? How about 4th graders being told they cant play on their town team if they also want to play for a club team? is that acceptable as well?

"These Travel Teams are a Joke." Really? Tell that to all of the kids that have played on them over the years. Go check and see who the top kids to come off the Island in recent years are. You will find that the large majority of them all played club ball growing up. They play club to help in their development as a player. Club lacrosse is played in addition to HS / Town lacrosse not in place of it.

There will be five times the amount of college coaches watching 2018 games between 91, Dukes, Crabs, Laxachusetts, Express, Madlax etc.. than their was watching the Long Island Championship Games. Tell the college coaches not to go because its a joke.

So, only 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade boys who play for Club Teams stop playing lacrosse as they get older? All of the little super stars who "only play town/PAL" go on to be HS and college players? None of the town/PAL only kids hang it up?

Is it a bad thing to have a good coach work with young kids? If I could have had a college coach work with my kids when they were young I would have been very happy.

I am happy for any 9th grader who has the opportunity to commit to Hopkins.

Lacrosse is not alone, just about every sport has travel / elite clubs. Wrestling, Baseball, Basketball, Swimming, Track, Tennis, Volleyball, Gymnastics etc...
It is the exception not the rule that an athlete will reach their full potential by playing only locally.

However, in most cases if you are not on one of the Top Travel Teams there is no advantage over Town/PAL.

Enjoy watching your child play wherever that may be. Do what is best for your child and do not let others dictate where your child can play.

The whole system is a total joke. Paying upwards of $20k for a travel team chasing a dream. Sure, does it benefit about 15% who get D1 scholarships? How about the parents whose kids are on the B,C,D teams? Wouldn't that $$ be better served paying for the first year's college tuition. And hooray for the 9th grader that commits to Hopkins? No freakin way! It hurts everyone else. It forces parents to push their kids to mature quicker than is natural. And you wonder why there are parents screaming like maniacs on the sideline of a 4th grade Team 91 game? Read this month's Inside Lacrosse on the poaching of players. I applaud Kevin Corrigan of Notre Dame. He plainly states he will not recruit 9th and 10th graders. Thank God. And he will continue to recruit the early commits of other teams when they become upperclassmen (ie Brian Willets). And Pietramala says he hates the system and recruiting freshmen, yet continues to do it. I pray his early commits change their minds and go elsewhere. We are pushing our children to mature earlier and earlier, the coaches complain about the system, and then perpetuate the same nonsense. As a disclaimer, I'm not only a parent, but a varsity coach and also coached a travel team.

The whole system is a total joke. Paying upwards of $20k for a travel team chasing a dream. Sure, does it benefit about 15% who get D1 scholarships? How about the parents whose kids are on the B,C,D teams? Wouldn't that $$ be better served paying for the first year's college tuition. And hooray for the 9th grader that commits to Hopkins? No freakin way! It hurts everyone else. It forces parents to push their kids to mature quicker than is natural. And you wonder why there are parents screaming like maniacs on the sideline of a 4th grade Team 91 game? Read this month's Inside Lacrosse on the poaching of players. I applaud Kevin Corrigan of Notre Dame. He plainly states he will not recruit 9th and 10th graders. Thank God. And he will continue to recruit the early commits of other teams when they become upperclassmen (ie Brian Willets). And Pietramala says he hates the system and recruiting freshmen, yet continues to do it. I pray his early commits change their minds and go elsewhere. We are pushing our children to mature earlier and earlier, the coaches complain about the system, and then perpetuate the same nonsense. As a disclaimer, I'm not only a parent, but a varsity coach and also coached a travel team.

The whole system is a total joke. Paying upwards of $20k for a travel team chasing a dream. Sure, does it benefit about 15% who get D1 scholarships? How about the parents whose kids are on the B,C,D teams? Wouldn't that $$ be better served paying for the first year's college tuition. And hooray for the 9th grader that commits to Hopkins? No freakin way! It hurts everyone else. It forces parents to push their kids to mature quicker than is natural. And you wonder why there are parents screaming like maniacs on the sideline of a 4th grade Team 91 game? Read this month's Inside Lacrosse on the poaching of players. I applaud Kevin Corrigan of Notre Dame. He plainly states he will not recruit 9th and 10th graders. Thank God. And he will continue to recruit the early commits of other teams when they become upperclassmen (ie Brian Willets). And Pietramala says he hates the system and recruiting freshmen, yet continues to do it. I pray his early commits change their minds and go elsewhere. We are pushing our children to mature earlier and earlier, the coaches complain about the system, and then perpetuate the same nonsense. As a disclaimer, I'm not only a parent, but a varsity coach and also coached a travel team.

Great post. Now as a varsity coach and a travel coach can you add your thoughts to what makes a varsity program better. A kid playing within the town/school club during summer or playing with the best players possible at the club level. In my opinion the right club situation is far better because it makes the kid better i.e. a better varsity player and raises the level of other players.

do 8&9 year olds play with action figures anymore?? or are they playing lacrosse all year round and not allowed to be 8&9 anymore? I certainly am happy my childhood wasn't rushed. played three sports. excelled at lacrosse. we didn't have Jack [lacrosse] club teams though. just PAL. when that was over we moved on to the next season. the next sport. if there was club lax back then my dad wouldn't have paid for it. as much as he pushed us in sports, he always said each sport has its season. he would be thought these club coaches were crooks as he'd put it. all that being said.....there was no rush to grow up when I was a kid. had thousands of action figures played video games road bikes with my friends. and guess what I was a three time all county lax and football player in high school and played compettive division 2 lax in college and was a three year starter. so the club and bs and rushing the kids to grow up means zero in the end. if your kid is made for it he's made for it. don't stuff it down his throat. when it's done and it goes fast....it's just memories. the sticks, the cleats, they go up in the attic. u don't bring your lax accolades on job interviews

What everyone is missing is the national number is still just around 2% of varsity athletes that will get athletic money in college and then even fewer will be going to a top program.

Most if they play will be at a low D1, D2 or D3 with a big athletic award of $2,500 - $5,000 if the are lucky on a huge team roster of 50 players.

So the parents paying $5k+ a year to play on some clubs "C" team really need to have the facts about the ROI. There is still a much better ROI if you put the $5k into tutors to raise your child's grades and SAT scores. Lax is a great game but the travel business model is OUT OF CONTROL!