BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) U15 Championship Disney

I have nothing to do with the Crabs, but that obsession Long Island parents have with kids who repeat is ridiculous. Yes, the Crabs have a lot of MIAA kids, and some of those kids repeat a grade. It's not a lot of kids, nor is it something unique to Baltimore. The Crabs could easily field a team with just U15 age-eligible kids, so get over yourself.

If you can going to condemn the Crabs (or any team) who has kid who has repeated 8th, how about a tournament where you have to have a 2015 team to be competitive in a U15 tournament? U15 teams are supposed to be filled almost exclusively with Rising Freshman. Sending a team filled with Rising Sophomores to a U15 team is an absolute joke.

do you not see the irony in your own statement. Of course the kids from Baltimore are rising frosh because they are held back, but the same age. And how many of the Crabs play for FCA?

Really? Really? Repeating 8th grade a common practice? If I were you, I wouldn't be bragging about this practice.

They do have an age cut off and u15 is much better then rising 9th grade, why reward the people who have held their kids back for an unfair advantage. Age based tournaments are the best way to go with states having different age cutlets for school.

Most U15's are rising sophmores??. Crabs u15 this past season will be the incoming 2016 team (those who make it). Great program, great coaching. Have been very fortunate the past two seasons to have had my son on the team (March 98 dob FYI).

Stop crying about it. It's age based. If your players make the cut off, send a team. If not be quiet. Sure Crabs and West Coast Starz beat express, because the kids are older. That's why you won't go to the tourney.
Look, this happens all the time. One of my kids is on a 2018 team. Played at Tri-state. West Coast starz and Looneys both sent a U-13 team to play in the 2018 AA bracket. Do you think we don't know what these teams do???

The LI kids are soft ad can't compete head to head. They need an advantage. That's why half of the parents forge their kids birth certificates.

My son plays for the U15 team that seems to be generating a lot of bad press here. He saw steady minutes and really enjoyed his teammates so there is no sour grapes here or any reason to be anything but truthful. Objectively speaking here is the good,the bad & the ugly. First the good. Hard to argue with a trip to the U15 Nationals in sunny FL. Great experience. The team was legitimately and objectively picked based on tryout performance and not pre-determined like many other big name clubs. It didn't matter who you knew or thought you knew which is the way it is supposed to be. Rich is a gentleman whose intentions are good but he did NOT nor does he coach the U15 team and only did so for the Nationals. The cost of the program is "cheap"($1150) relatively speaking when compared to some of the other "big name" clubs while still being able to deliver just enough lax swag (bag, shooter etc..) to keep them competitive. Jesters are one of the bigger clubs on LI but still manages to employ a family type atmosphere, plus the kids really love the uniforms. The bad. Communication was poor to say the least. Practices when held were routinely canceled the day of. There were instances when practice was canceled within an hour of its intended start time which resulted in parents rushing to the field only to find out the hard way it was canceled late. Minimal practices with little teaching and rudimentary drills, not what you would expect for a U15 AA Nationals contender.
The ugly. Roster size of 25 sometimes 26 was way too many kids. As a result playing time was erratic for many which created some unnecessary drama. If you are going to take 25/26 you had better make sure everyone sees the field because in theory you are saying they were your best 25/26 at tryouts. Coaches were disinterested and approached it as a job and not a teaching experience. There was ZERO effort to connect with the kids let alone the parents. Coaches were not involved with the team in any capacity until a week before the first tournament. Outside of Maryland and FL tournaments(which were additional cost add-ons) tournaments were mostly 2nd tier(JDRF, Summer Slam & UMass-Neylat). The only real high level tournament that was included in original cost was Hofstra and even that had issues as the team played in JV division rather than varsity. Had the team attended the Mid Summer Classic Recruiting Showcase at Umass as originally communicated and posted rather than Umass-Neylat this would not have been an issue. Unfortunately this gave the appearance of the old "bait and switch" which I truly do NOT believe was the case to intentionally deceive but happened none the less. One of the previous posts was spot on regarding the Nationals where the roster was expanded even further to the ridiculous number of 27 players. Many players watched for long stretches from sideline while their teammates melted in the Fl sun. How could you possibly justify not having one practice prior to the Nationals especially given the influx of newly added players(5) and 2 new coaches? It was a recipe for disaster which wound up costing them in the end in FL.
While the Jesters are not perfect they could be considered the lesser of 2 evils when compared to some of the other big name programs because of cost and a director with good intentions. In the end you will find out they all have warts just to varying degrees. Hope this helps!

Overall it was a good year so i do not want to speak badly about the entire jesters organization. My son had a good time all sesson. He got his fair share of playing time. Great group of kids and terriffic parents. Rich is a good guy and im sure he had the kids best interest at heart. I just dont know why they needed to bring down extra kids that had not played together nor practiced together
. The coaches at disney changed everything and the kids were a little lost. My son also saw very little playing time . I am not so fast to condemn an entire program because of 1
tornament. Next year if they take their 2016 team down there they should bring their regular coaching staff to avoid all the confusion on and off the field. If their regular coach had gone this thread would not exist. I mean no disrespect to rich or jim but if they planned on coaching in florida they should have had more involvment with the team during the season.


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Jester's U15 played fl$ in 3D the week before LarryMiller with about 14 kids and I think the same coaches that went to LarryMiller coached at fl$ in 3D, seems like that should have been a good tune up for LarryMiller if all the new players went to Baltimore with the new coaches and regular players, so anybody complaining about new coaches and new players but didn't go to Balt. need to dial it back.

I have the same question regarding the Baltimore , Annapolis area. I know that Crabs are the top but what other programs in this area competes at the top tournaments and gets the "looks"?

No need to dial it back as we are done with them. Future players should look elsewhere. fl$ 3d and disney were a complete waste of money and time. If the attack defense and coaching staff all changed for those last two tourneys you tell me where the ptoblem lies. If that is the planned coaching for the summer 2013aa rising juniors everyone save your money.