BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2022

everyone wins...seriously...so delusional...holding back is taking advantage anyway you slice it...stealing a spot on a team from a kid thats doing it right...put the pipe down and play your kid on age and see if he stands out

Api/Crabs was a good game

Keep the pipe in your hand and have little johnny play in any one of the many leagues that fits him. Sorry it isn't where you want him to be and its making you feel the way you do . Im sure johnny is just fine where he is and happy. Maybe, just maybe when he gets to High School he can play against kids exactly his own age every year he plays. Heck since the pipe is being passed around maybe that is what the High School and College levels should do.

Stop

It was a really good and competitive game. Crabs first game in league, while API 3rd game in league and second game in 3 days. They were the more "prepared" team with a somewhat greater confidence at first. They rolled out the zone and slowed the game down. They controlled faceoffs. Good goal defense kept things close, and as game wore on, Crabs seem to gain confidence and play more loosely.

Also watched RR versus Team 91. Also a very evenly matched and competitive game. RR was up 3-1 but lost 4-3. The RR defense was awesome throughout, but offense was small and overmatched also by a ferocious 91 defense. Neither team has a "dodger" of great ability (sorry Mark) and goals were scored in mostly unsettled situations. #15 on RR defense had three separate breakaways that he failed to score on, and had he been successful even once, I am pretty sure that would have changed momentum. Anyway, two great games. Agree that Hawks/Bethesda are presently at the top of the pyramid with Next Level, FCA at the bottom. Everyone else seems to have the capacity to win any game it plays.

No great dodgers! Thats gonna hurt!!

Dodging is hard when the defense is a packed in zone that is very quick to slide. Until these kids start feeding better once the slide comes, the defenses will continue to play this way and no one will look like a great dodger.

What you notice this year is that the teams that have hold backs that are bigger kids are able to break APi/Diamondbacks zone denfense down because the players are smaller . The bigger kid just wears or breaks through the zone .The offense of API is strong but defense is small and can't handle the bigger kids or stronger .I also notice a lot of other club teams are playing zone this year.

But that is the thing -- in both the Friday night API game I watched against Next Level, and the Sunday API game I watched against Crabs, it wasn't holdback/bigger kids that were doing the scoring against them with very rare exception, but rather teams were scoring in unsettled situation, or where the extra pass was being made. They appear to be a gritty bunch (not an API parent) and were very well coached in the zone being deployed. When a bigger kid came down from top, the zone very effectively collapsed. Scoring from up top occurred twice in the games I observed -- once in the case of Next Level and once in the case of Crabs where the shot came from a severe angle on the run on the right hand side. Where a larger kid had an advantage (?) was in the velocity of the shot as the API goalie did see some heat from those two middies.

Got to give a lot of credit to API defensive coaching regardless of the size of the defenders as that was not an issue in my humble opinion. The scheme made up for 99% of any size differential.

I wasn't referring to "no great dodgers" in the API/Crabs game. Rather the comment was associated with the RR/91 game in which neither team deployed a zone defense. Both team offenses in that game included a lot of offensive "standing around" and back and forth movement at the "x". 91 had one really good top down cutter at the 3-2 mark which was a thing of beauty, but that was the highlight of offensive play in that game. Hope that clears things up. Completely agree with your point about a zone defense collapsing on a dodger -- very evident in the API/Crabs game -- and the collapsing also eliminated a lot of space to make the pass at the slide as well. I just thought it was a great scheme that evened the skill level of the teams involved, and slowed down the game.

Playing a zone defense at this age in any sport is solely about winning

Travel and club teams are compelled to play to win.

The nerve of those guys wanting to win...How dare they...What are we teaching them?

Great know there is sideline reporting for 2022 games. Great job and look forward to your comentery next week.

Wanting to win is fine. But the previous poster is correct in saying that playing zone in youth is more about getting a schematic advantage rather than teaching the skills of playing defense. The coaches at API/Diamondbacks know that their opponents rarely if ever have a zone offense to counter. They played zone against my sons u11 rec team at beach lax. They only other time I saw a primary zone was with my older 2020 kid playing Diamondbacks. Maybe that's how that club rolls. But I'd rather have my kid be taught how defend one on one and team defensive slide/recover principals. His HS coaches can teach zone when they are playing/practicing 5 days a week

There shouldn't be sports, because Hillary lost, and our kids shouldn't have to ever lose.

Those slow feet that they developed learning to play zone will serve them well.

Someone is hung up on Zone Defense. ALL teams should have a zone defense. Its part of the game and a strategy to deploy. No different than locking off a player.

Most colleges are running a zone defense.

Actually in college, teams play both man and zone and often switch between them as a strategy depending on the personnel and game situation. 100% zone in youth lacrosse is a joke. And what's almost as ridiculous is how offenses/coaches don't understand how to play against a zone. It's done with ball movement and rotation, not static isolation or dodging.

HS T

HS too

My sons HS team has seen a zone at some point in every game this year.

3-3 or 1-3-2

yes we know HS and colleges run zone. They also have 4 to 6 practices for every game played. Youth is closer to 1 maybe 2 practices for every game. 7th graders are still learning how to play man to man defense well. Guarantee teams that run lots of zone have practices where the coach spends a lot of time talking.

Zone defense gave up 18 goals is it really that good.

It's more then just goals during that game vs the Hawks . The Hawks won flat out And they are a strong team.The Hawks won all the face offs but 3 also they had the ball 36 mins of the game . Api turned the ball over 13 times but ApI shout goal 9 times but scored 7 . The defense got beat up and tried. So it was more then a zone defense issue.

The ship is sinking

So in other words you go to a youth club lacrosse game, not to watch and enjoy the game but to keep stats on the Hawks team? You are definitely a Hawks dad and a pathetic one at that. "Had the ball 36minutes of the game". OMG give me a break, that is just pathetic. You even keep stats on the other team. "Api turned the ball over 13 times:. Total jerk and butthead. You must be a real joy to have a conversation with about youth club lacrosse. Please just go away.

That's my job .Im the assistant coach dip [lacrosse] ... all teams keep stats

API assistant coach?

Well dipsh*t, seems like you are not much of an assistant coach. A good, effective and focused assistant coach is coaching the players during a game, not doing clerical duties like you are doing. A good team has someone else (a volunteer dad or mother) do that kind of stuff during a game, not the assistant coach. It is very obvious that the head coach has no faith in your abilities to coach the players and has you doing the "clerical" tasks. What else do you do, wash all the lax balls after practice,
Go watch other teams and see what the assistant coach(s) do during a game. It is not what you are doing. They still get all the stats they need but someone else on the team is doing that task.
What next, a power point presentation for the head coach.
Wonders never end.

All got to start some where

OUCH!!!

Pretty easy to keep stats. All teams should track them. You learn alot about team from them.

If you've never coached a team, you should stay in your place. The stands.

You are the [lacrosse].

Every coach has a role. Too many voices on the sideline on game day is not a good thing.

Stay in you lane parent.

Some great games today.

Zone Defense gave up 18 and 13 goals is it really working????

Sorry pecker breath, I have coached lacrosse for over 10 years and very successfully I might add. True, too many voices on the sideline on game day can be distracting, but every team has an offensive and defensive coach and the respective players know that coaches voice. There is no way I would have an assistant coach taking stats on game day, I would and have others do it for our team. They are important but not as important as having the two top coaches coaching the game, not doing clerical tasks.

Seems like you are the parent that needs to stay in the stands and watch the game and just STFU, as you have clearly demonstrated you have no clue.

Sorry pecker breath, I have coached lacrosse for over 10 years and very successfully I might add. True, too many voices on the sideline on game day can be distracting, but every team has an offensive and defensive coach and the respective players know that coaches voice. There is no way I would have an assistant coach taking stats on game day, I would and have others do it for our team. They are important but not as important as having the two top coaches coaching the game, not doing clerical tasks.

Seems like you are the parent that needs to stay in the stands and watch the game and just STFU, as you have clearly demonstrated you have no clue.


Same goes for you dipsh*t. I have coached lacrosse for over 10 years and very successfully I might add. True, too many voices on the sideline on game day can be distracting, but every team has an offensive and defensive coach and the respective players know that coaches voice. There is no way I would have an assistant coach taking stats on game day, I would and have others do it for our team. They are important but not as important as having the two top coaches coaching the game, not doing clerical tasks.

Seems like you are the parent that needs to stay in the stands and watch the game and just STFU, as you have clearly demonstrated you have no clue

Are you referring to the vaunted API zone?

Why are you keeping stats? Some think that's dumb.

How many teams are making the playoffs this year?
Last year, 5 teams made it, but there were 11 teams in the league.
This year there are only 9 teams, so does that mean only 4 make the playoffs.
If only 4 make it, the teams that are in now are Hawks, Bethesda, Madlax and T9-1MD.
Crabs, Roughriders, Diamondbacks, FCA, and Next Level would be out.

Sure you have. Coaching from the bleachers doesn't make you a successful coach. [lacrosse].