BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Long Island Top Guns Lacrosse

WOW, keep your dandruff down. The only thing that’s getting old is the Yellow Jacket Organization. May be it’s a wakeup call for them and on how they draw out an unwanted aggressive behavior out of there members. It seems that there are a lot of unhappy players and family members and if given a chance they would go to another club but the question is where? Until now there was no place to go. Watch I think you will see more and more girls and their families looking elsewhere.

PS. The only Crazy talk is you.

Sorry no wake up call as a college coach I am looking for the aggressive style of play. Someone who can go to battle for every ground ball and draw.. Love those yellow jackets and their style of play!!
Keep up the good work!!

I would like to add one point to this discussion. It’s Quality not Quantity that matters.

Are you saying that the YJ's don't have quality teams? That is absurd! So what if there are 4 teams in an age group! Should the kids who love the game and want to play be denied that chance because they are new to the game or not as talented? Some kids need more time to develop. I think that is one of the best aspects of the YJ's. Kids from the same town , who are at different levels can still travel together and root each other on while they can play at the appropriate competition level.

Some observations on the discussion over the last several days.Changes in the rules were not made in response to anything the Yellow Jackets (or any single franchise) might be doing on the field. In a game where contact is part of the game play environment (soccer, lacrosse, basketball on the girl's side to name three), better teams will occasionally be called more tightly as they will tend to run over softer squads. One reason for this is that the team itself can be used to playing at a more physical level in other events. Now, good game play and increasing ability can counter some of this fouling, however no team regardless of sport is actually stepping onto the field with the goal of a high foul count.

Absolutely true - what you are highlighting is that choice is being created which the market seems to be demanding. Overall the number of girls looking to play lacrosse is increasing dramatically which is creating the additional demand for premier level coaching, training and game play experiences.

The number of teams per age group is as expected. The Yellow Jackets (and other classic competitors like the Liberty) have been longer established; hence, they get the lionshare of players. Meanwhile, new players onto the scene, like Top Guns, will help to push the envelope for consumers and players alike. Longer term, expect more teams to emerge at this top level of play. This trend was seen in girl's soccer on Long Island over the last decade and we are now seeing the early stages of the same here in lacrosse.

Not all teams are competative. My kid plays on a team that has a goalie so bad they might as well play with none. The team will not be competative this summer, just a big waste of time for the girls and parents. A money maker for the Yellow jackets. if the organization cared they would make every team competative.

Just piping in as a parent of a player(s) here. I have three very athletic kids who are all very involved in several sports. All three play lax (2 daughters). It's crazy all the politics that go along with which kids are getting on which team, with what coach etc... The yellow jackets are a great club and produce great players. Top Guns are a brand new club, and will undoubtable produce very competitive teams and players. I'm not trying to sell other LI clubs short here, I'm just saying I have seen many other LI clubs struggle for years and years to attract the high level players needed to be competitive. I will have to say for whatever reason, Top Guns have seemed to be able to step in this competitive market and instantly draw intrest from extremely talented players as an alternative to YJ's. I went to the NCAA finals last weekend and watched basically what amounts to the Top Gun coaching core win the division I National Championship, women's lacrosse at it's very highest level. There was a massive group and family atmosphere of Top Gun support there. The feeling and energy of being a part of the Top Gun organization was just electric. If your a parent of a YJ girl, rest assurred your in good hands with a club that can develope her into a great player. Competition is good, and it's about time YJ had some. Bottom line- I'm quite happy with my daughters playing for Top-Guns and am quite confident this club will quickly be very nationally competitive across the board.

Electric college lax is great but the players
Are not around enough to truly care and practice with the team. My daughter is on a top gun team and waiting for the college players to finish there season is ridiculous!!

Well then maybe Top Guns isn't for you. And didn't you know that when you signed up that the coaches where away? Seems to me you didn't do your hw! My girls are on Top Guns and get great instruction from all the coaches!

Please remember, that even you the Parents are members of the Top Guns team and we need to be supportive of all to Win.

You get what you pay for....if you want real coaching got to YJ

??????????? thats your crazy opinion which is why you belong on YJ thanks

I think good competition for the YJ's would be a good thing. Problem with the other "major" clubs on LI isn't that the coaching is bad or anything else; it's that they are more confined to smaller regions of LI. Long Island Express, Liberty, and Top Guns focus more on a few towns rather than the whole island. That doesn't effect the coaching but by the laws of statistics means that YJ's "A" team is going to almost always be better than that of any other of the LI clubs. If your child has friends in the club and it works for them and you, then have fun. This is America and strong competition lifts up everybody. Good luck to everyone this summer and lets hope it's a safe one.

You must like throwing your money away. The coaches on the Yellow Jackets are the fathers of the players. All they know is Boys Lacrosse. I guess that's why there girl are so wild with their sticks.

Are you refferring to guys like Defilese,Mitchell and Carro? If so, I will take my chances with those "boys" coaches. Three of the best in the business!!

Blood is thicker than water. They’re only doing it for their daughters and no one else. If you’ve been reading this blog we have been talking about favoritism and how much one has to pay to have their daughter be recognized in the YJ organization. If that’s what you want than by all means stay with the Yellow Jackets.

I agree Fathers should not be able to coach their own kids!

Or mothers. My daughter was on a team last year. The coach was great, but she brought along her daughter who was not one, but two, years younger than the rest of the team. Her daughter started, her daughter tried to direct the field, goal-hung, ugh. The daughter is a good player -- in her own age group. Not two years up. I know of one really good player who left the organization because of this, and I was making sure I didn't encounter the same situation this year myself. Loved the coach, didn't care for her baggage.

there are girls teams coached by dads too, some with no real coaching experience and no business being there

I am sure if you asked any of the parents who are actually being coached by these guys their opinion, you would get nothing but raves. So if they are there"only for their daughters" and my daughter gets the benefit of great coaching and extra practices, i am more than fine with that!I don't know why people feel the need to be negative and make assumptions about people they don't know. It is sad. If you like your organization then God bless you. There is no need to put down a coach just because he has a daughter on the team and proclaim that these guys teach the kids to "swing their sticks". It couldn't be further from the truth and anyone would be lucky to have these guys. Take some time and ask the kids and parents from those teams with the coaches who only know "the boys" game!

Must be the reason why Newsday just did a big article about helmets for the girls, Lack of stick control.

Yes I read it, but I didn't read anything about the "boys" Yellow Jacket promoting stick swinging!

I think the point trying to be said is that if a girls’ team is coached by men that played Men’s Lacrosse, there skills and trait would be leaned by the girls, i.e. stick slapping and going to the cage regardless of obstruction. The point is that these coaches never played the sport they are coaching and will never understand the differences. That’s why there is such a big push for helmets which I believe do not belong in girl’s lacrosse.

To add to this point, this is why I think and a few HS coaches for girls’ lacrosse that I have talk to over the past two years feel it’s not a helmet issue. It’s the stick skills of the girls they need to improve. When the girls get to HS they need to be re-trained. Their coaches in the youth organization really don’t know the rules or skills of the game. I’m not talking about the coaches from the clubs but I do think that’s why there is the appeal towards the Top Guns and there coaches. These girls play the game and know the rules.

Not really. It is not appealing to have lazy college
Kids with no sense of responsibility running a team.

don't have a child in either of the two programs being discussed here , but will say that daughter did attend a top guns camp and the girls in question were anything but lazy. In fact all the college girls were super.daughter learned many new techniques and the girls did not stop training all day. So might be a bit unfair to call these girls lazy.

Not too many "lazy college kids with no sense of responsibility" that I know of who have won several National Championships, the Tewaaraton and Honda Award.

YJ's are in a catch22 here. They can take credit for having helped these lazy college kids aspire as the most successful girl's lacrosse players to ever come off of Long Island. But in doing so they are also admitting that another club has special talent, and that's not good for business. All of you who are bashing these girls should be ashamed of yourselves. Grow up, wish them luck and move on.

Again, the best way to put the matter to rest is by winning. Lets see how the top gun teams do this summer as compared to YJ or Express or 91 Lacrosse. If they win a championship at every event they can shut everyone up

Well here some proof most of the Top Gun teams won at the All American Showcase. Can't knock success

Calling them lazy is rediculous. These girls didn't become great players by being lazy! The biggest issue with having college players as the primary coaches the way Top Gun does is AVAILABILITY. They can't be coaching the team until June, While most of the top YJ teams are practicing all winter and spring as a team. I also think even though the giirls are great players and can teach much of the skill portion, they probably have much to learn about game coaching. It takes a lot of experience to be an all around great coach. Either way good luck to all the girls, no matter what club they play for.

I believe the 9th grade team lost in the semi finals

Guess they have to get some more out of state players for their team

Overall results for the Top Guns at the All American Showcase.

The 2013 Black went 1W-2L-0T in group play in the SR-A Open Elite bracket.

The 2014 Black went 3W-0L-0T in the SR-B Elite group and lost in the semifinals 13-4.

The 2014 Purple team was 3W-0L-0T in the SR-B Platinum grouping and lost the final match 9-3.

The 2015 Black was 3W-0L-0T in the SR-B Select group winning the semifinal 9-3 and the finals 9-7.

The 2016 team won their three group play games (18-3, 12-8, 13-9) and then lost in the semifinals to BBL Elite Widcats (10-1).

The 2017 Black went 2W-0L-1T in group play in the MS Elite group. This group won their semifinal match and appear to have lost in the finals.

Watching several games at the All American Showcase I was impressed on how well the girls for the Top Guns played as a team. Sure there were one or two girls that stood out but they did not rely on them to win. It was a team effort that won. All the girls on the Top Guns teams had equal skills and could play the game. No, their coaches are not “Lazy” This pasted weekend shows there is some valor to the Top Guns Organization and the person who blog that statement should retract it. It was notIntelligent on his/her part to print that. As far as the availability of the coaches I don’t think any of the parents or players seem to mind. They all know that an education come first and there was always a qualified coach in the winter and early spring.

Now for the 9th grade team statement, the Top Guns have two 9th grade 2015 teams and one of them won the championship. Your statement shows the immaturity you bring to the game. Grow up it seems your kids are more mature than you.

also missing from the results list was the 2018 team who were playing up and won thier division.

2015 = 8th grade.

I also think the 2016 won their division. If you go to the All American Showcase web site they have the game numbers wrong in the Girls MS Champions. I think the Top Guns won via Brave Hart. Does anyone know for sure?

So thats like 4 out 8 teams not bad.