BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Complaint Department

US Lacrosse sets guidelines but does not have control over whether clubs, league & tournaments organize by grade or age. The do have a set of "best practices" that recommend age based guidelines with preference for single year (u11,u12,u13) if there's enough. You can criticize them for not have the strength or leadership to mandate age guidelines but they are on record as supporting age rather than grade for youth lacrosse. It's club operators that decided to change to grade and the tournaments adjusted. Tournaments make money if they attract a full field of teams. When there is demand for age based teams tournaments will adjust accordingly.

US Lacrosse has been and remains WEAK and will never ever mandate changes to club lacrosse. Soccer just mandated roster age changes starting next year and they have a ton more kids to deal with. US Lacrosse should set some sort of national guidelines on age and require legitimate player cards but we all know it will never ever happen and that is BS!

Does pretty much everyone still use US Lacrosse insurance? Is that no longer the case?

Agree. And so that begs the question what is the point of mandating a US Lacrosse membership and paying a fee to a virtually powerless organization?

It's just about filler the coffers. They are a useless, gutless governing body. Par for the course. The whole sport is just about recruitment to play in college. They are not for building the game for the masses

It will be interesting to see what happens when USL has their huge complex in MD completed and starts hosting true national championships every year. Grade based? Age based with an allowable window (summer bdays)?, hard Jan 1 or Sep 1 cutoffs?, or the stupid U13, U11, U9 crap they push now?

USL facility plans just have one field. Don't believe intent is to hold tournaments there but to be able to host national team tryouts and training

For now.... They have 12 acres to work with.

Anyone that runs tournaments will continue to do what the clubs want them to do because the clubs register the teams. The business model will never ever change. Club's run the sport.

How is it allowed that coaches and assistant coaches can accept money to train players on their own team? Isn't this a glaring conflict of interest? Especially when those players are getting preferential treatment?

BM did it on Honey Badgers.

Travel is understandable, but I'm referring to Varsity coaches/assistant coaches. AD's let this persist?

Not really. What people decide to do on their own time is nobody else's business. If you want your kid to be trained on the side with your coach just approach the coach and stop complaining about it and whining

Can't tell people what to do with their private time. The only thing an AD could do is not allow the coach to use school facilities. If you don't agree with it, it does not make it wrong or illegal.

Immoral, absolutely. Parents are essentially buying playing time.

Actually, I'm fairly certain that if the coach is receiving a paycheck from the district he's not allowed to charge to work with the kids that he's already being paid to work with.

It is a conflict of interest.

Sorry no law against it. Coach can do whatever he wants in his free time. Parents can pay whatever they want to whomever they want. So no laws being broken.

Conflict of interest, immoral, etc.. Those are opinions not laws. I have never heard of any law or any situation where a coach got in trouble for doing "private" lessons.

I don't agree with this practice and I think ethically it's a conflict of interest. But some might view this as paying your science teacher to come to your house to tutor you. I don't think there are any rules against that

I'm not talking about breaking the law; however, it's more than likely against district policy. Considering that teachers in that particular district are not allowed to charge students to tutor them (because they're already being paid to teach them), the same will hold true for coaches. Compound that with the fact that the players in question are underclassmen being brought up to play for his varsity team, I think there is a case to be made against it.

Really, you think that it is ok for a coach at a public HS to get paid directly by parents? Depending on how you want to look at it, it is either bribery or extortion.

If you do not see a problem with HS coaches from public schools operating for profit programs where they strongly encourage/coerce kids/parents to pay them to play for them you are not being honest.

I wonder how may paranoid varsity coaches read these posts and assume it is themselves being written about

Agreed. This was one of the contributing factors for a boys coach losing his job at a local district, though he was running a travel club. Now the girl's assistant coach is doing it. It seems fishy that parents can put upwards of $1000 in a coaches pocket and, in an unprecedented move, get brought up to the varsity team. It's disconcerting at the very least, grounds for dismissal at most.

....and then there are the travel program "extras" like over priced uniforms, the referrals to local gyms for team workouts, new helmets, winter practices the coach never deigns to attend himself but rather leaves to suck up daddy coaches and on and on it goes..:And let's not even get started on the fundraiser which gets held right before tryouts.

You guys are all nuts or I am. Ok I am, I know. If you want to win and have a serious team with a good experience you need to do the extras. You do it for your son and his friends who have become an extension of your family. You do it so they have the experience of their lives. So what if a coach gets a little extra scratch, do you think he should just volunteer his time. Now you may say everyone cant pay them. Sure, but we know who those are and it takes a village and it takes sacrifices. You are only as good as you surround yourself with.

I know I am partially nuts. I was willing as a parent to do what I could to help the team. But the administration coaches and parents talked a big game but when push came to shove no one really wanted to do anything extra.

So what happens the better kids leave, or the parents with the means leave. You complains that district make you do things extra, well yes if you want to be a serious team you should want to do the extra, if not I guess you are okay with mediocrity!

(I am not saying people don't take advantage of situations but it takes a village of parents coaches and administration working for a common goal. Everyone knowing their role because each does have a role to play)

Ok so teachers tutoring is an issue also. People get a life. Sometimes you just need to relax. It's mommy and daddys like the ones above that have made youth sports on Long Island horrible. Stop watch watching, everyone gets a trophy, crybabies. Wah wah wah. No wonder there are so many self entitled brats running around. You have created these little monsters.

First thing first I am being honest. I feel your being dishonest. In a court of law facts and laws are what prevail. No where is there a law that says what you are saying. It's your opinion. Show me where it written that it's against the law. You are the type of person that just assumes if it doesn't sit well with you it's against the law. I sit on a number of boards and steering committees and it's hysterical to have people come before them with complaints that laws are being broken and xyz needs to stop. Then when handed and presented with documentation and law books showing they are incorrect with their claim they start accusing there's collusion and the boards paid off etc. You sure you haven't been before one of my boards.

Nope board members overstepped their bounds in the case you are referring to. Some personal stuff played out in one of the most recent coach dismissals. Not the coach running a travel team. Uninformed and faceless claims on the internet.

And he wasn't flat out taking cash from parents and promising things like the girl's assistant. That's inexcusable.

Hearsay

Not hearsay at all. From the horses mouth. He was getting paid to train one player and when the father of the other player found out he basically forced him to train her too. And yes, they pay him.

So the parent forced the issue and forced the coach to train their kid? This is the coaches fault, how?

Yeah, what's the big deal? I would love it if a couple of the math teachers in our district got together and started a tutoring business. It would be even better if they marketed their business exclusively to the students who are in their classes. Better still if they were able to create the perception that not paying to take part in their program would be frowned upon by the teachers. Parents could line up to pay. Who cares if the parents are holding their nose as they write the checks? Most of the parents can afford it and they will view it as the cost of doing business. What a great business model. No need to compete for business just have the parents believe that paying for the service will be appreciated by the teachers.

And so we continue to pay.

I would happily pay to have the teachers my son has tutor him on the side. But only if they do not tutor all of them. Because Then the teacher could be holding back in the school classroom - that's would be wrong. What I want is the extra!!! The extra that will get my kid ahead.

Be it his teacher who knows him and knows where she will be directing her lessons or another tutor who knows him and the direction of the subject... I don't care, let me chose don't tell me the best option for my child is no long an option. Who do you think you are to tell me what to do with my kid!!!

Wow. You're not very bright. There is an obvious conflict of interest. In the teacher/tutor example, are the tutored kids being given preferential grades because the parents are paying the teacher? Are the kids who aren't paying to be tutored given worse grades/less class time attention, after school attention. Pay to play ... Pay to get a good grade etc. If you can't see the problem with it, you are dense.

That is precisely the issue. If the coach doesn't play these girls, the parents may feel like the training isn't working and stop. You know coach is counting on that training money and doesn't want the stream to end, especially when he'll have them for another 6 Varsity seasons. They will pay him. He will make sure they play to continue the flow of cash to his pocket.

wy does it all have to be inherently evil.

Why cant a teacher tutor a student to help them catch up or get ahead. Doesn't mean the test will be graded softer.

When it comes to a tutor you go with recommendations and qualifications. You go to those who your neighbors or friends have used before. Those who have helped dare I say on Standard tests before so you know what you are getting. You go to a proven teacher.

If that tutor just happens to be my childs teacher even better. If my kid gets more attention, I am good with that - like a bonus, are you that dense you wouldn't.

If you people are talking about the Sayville girls varsity coach, get a life. Kiss him on both cheeks and thank him for coaching your kid. He's an amazing coach. If he put someone ahead of your kid it's for a reason - they're better! Wish he was my daughters coach. Sayville even looks like it would be a nice place to live if you could get past all the fruity people.