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

Ahhhhh the promise of moving players up and down as Coach Chan needs them. Never happens, he only plays the best 18 players. All these years and I still can't figure out if its better to be on the bottom half of the AA or playing on the A (really a B/B- team). And then the dreaded 3rd team where you get a different coach every 3 weeks....lax heck for sure.

Also a parent...all they did was give us the fall schedule and which ones the kids were playing...25 on the top team, 26 on the second team, I'm looking at the file. 41 kids total on the roster. No one is calling it AA btw, except of course the manipulative parents that think they can control the team and like the way Coach C's butt tastes.

I don’t understand what the big deal is. It’s two teams practicing together and everyone knows who is on each team. The movement will be likely minimal, but it’s a very good A team and really good B team, the way things should be. And it’s not 4K for Express this year.

Then what is it?

Have your son tryout and make a team.

If you have the money, he will make a team, regardless of his skills

$3995.00

the correct answer is 3k for second team 4k for top team

Plus $120 because they charge you back the credit card fee!!!!!! With no other option to pay.

Truth

Buyer beware......If your kid is going to Chaminade, playing Express is like being in the mafia. Once you are in you cannot get out.....

Clueless.

Don't know about it being clueless. It is certainly the perception out there.

From my experience, Chammy cut a bunch of Express players at tryouts. Not sure if the Express helmet really helps or not. Coaches seem to play the best players at each position, regardless of club teams.

If a player is just above the cut line, maybe Express helps. Especially if the coach has coached the player in club. Maybe?

Maybe they give the nod to Express player to start over another but only if 2 players are of equal talents. Maybe?

If a non-express parent's kid does not start or play, certainly they may think their son is getting screwed.

Perception. Is the not the reality. Clueless

Said the guy with no kid at Chaminade......Why don't you try it and then report back?

the 2025's had a good scrimmage against empire over the weekend

Good as in everyone got in and they won by 10?

A lot of B team detest on some of these threads. If a kid is brand new to travel and gets placed on a B team at 9 years old, that's a waste of money? A and B pay same amount and B team seems to be good coaching so far.

Curious as to what the general consensus is on when it becomes a waste. Immediately? If kid doesn't move up to A in a year or 2? Do most good B players need to move teams for a shot at A or do you see them moved up often?

Will express offer goalie training again this winter? if so any information to sign up? thanks.

Wrong, like said clueless.

Ok, I give up, Have it your way,

If they made money at it last year, they will for sure do it again.

Winter training (extra $$$$ of course) maybe their best program Express operates.

You have used up your quota of the word 'clueless'for the season plus we know you think you can do better than a simple compound word.

Sounds like your son is young. From our experience, not too many players move up. It does happen though and more likely the older they get, 8th grade and up.

B teams at Express is definitely a garbage shoot. Some great coaching some years, non-existent coaching other years. Unfortunately, most years they just don't keep the same coaching staff for the same B team. No continuity at all.

Don't accept a B team slot if Coach Chan says he will be the coach, total disaster. He does not have the patience to coach emerging players. He is all about his A teams. Eventually he will leave the B team high and dry.

As a B team family at Express, you need to be OK that the A team practices year round and gets indoor time over the winter for the same price as you pay. B teams rarely get extra practices, some years, you don't even get the tourneys you were promised.

The other issue with B teams at Express (and other clubs, I'm sure) is the team itself. Tryouts are a joke and no one gets cut. So it turns out that the bottom half of that B team has players that can't catch or throw the ball. The parents are just happy to be on the team and have no real interest in having their child improve. These families miss half of the practices but kids still play in tourneys. Disastrous during tourneys. Very frustrating for families that want the team and players to improve. I'm not saying win at all costs, I'm praying not to go 0-6 after a 5 hour drive to MD where the team goal differential is -50+. Rarely does Express put B teams in the proper tourneys so then there is a scramble to find less competitive tourneys for the team. Some years, it was week to week where we were going attend.

I will say that my son has had some great coaching and has improved greatly over the years at Express. His improvement is mostly due to a hand full of Express coaches and his work ethic with his stick skills.

Moving teams to find an A team is also very difficult.

4 kids now at West Point playing lacrosse were all on the B team together on Express in 7th grade. Things change keep working hard.

The whole AA, A, B thing is garbage. I've seen kids that were B players work hard switch teams and get on the A teams. Same for the the A player that doesn't work hard and get picked to go to B team. I think as parents we all place too much value on letters! My son was a B player and now plays A ball at a high level. Typically the coaching on the B teams is not even close to that of the A team. I know with Express who had 4 teams had 3 below average coaches and Chan team. I think they changed for the better putting on 2 teams out with high level talent and very good coaching!

Reality is you can find much better B teams outside the big organizations.
Better going to an organisation with only one team per age group whose team happens to be st B level. They end up more competitive and you pay much less.
Another problem with Express especially if CoachC is coaching the A team, they take double the amount of players for the A team from tryouts. Thus limiting any ability for the B team to field a decent team.
And if someone doesnt accept the B team slot, CoachC is more than willing to let you pay to go on the A team and practice but not actually play.
End result look for a good coach, but dont stay on the big organizations B teams. You are wasting your kids time. Let him enjoy playing lacrosse on a team where he has a chance to be competitive.

That seems to be the new model now, focus on talent and not money. If you notice there are a lot less teams than there were a few years ago. Meaning each organization had 3 teams per age group not the case anymore.

Not true. Express and the others are still doing it. Express just overloads there teams. And pretends they will split it.

I know your kid does not play for Express! This year that is not the case. Chan team has 30 and CoachMor team has 28. As of now those are the numbers, not sure how it will look at the end of the season.

First of all 28 and 30 is also way too many for one team.
2nd we are not just talking about one age bracket. Look at the other age brackets. Some have 40 to 50 kids on a team. And yes they say they will split them.

I think once HS comes around, Chan has no choice but to thin out the crowd, the jig is up and he can't keep collecting the $$$$$ when all parents are asking about recruiting and playing time at showcases.

After spending $3000 per year for years, some kids are getting cut from high school teams. He has run out of excuses to tell parents. And still some players are not consistent at catching and throwing. Blame him 1st, parents 2nd and then the player.

Can we all stfu re the $ aspect of this? everything costs money.... people spend it as they see fit.

The problem is Express doesn't support their B teams. Only the A teams go to the very top events. They aren't recommending B team players for Showtime, etc.

It is important for parents of younger players to understand that if your kid is good, they need to be seen early and often. A lot of the recruiting lists and rankings are born out of evaluators seeing the same kids over and over from an early age. Those kids get written up, buzz is created and looks are given. But you have to be where the best teams are because that is where the college coaches go. It is not impossible from a B team, but it is really hard to go from there to being recruited by a top D1. Many go lesser DI, DII of DIII. If I could do it all over again, I would have gotten my kid off a B team and onto an A team earlier. It worked out for him in the end, but not before we watched lesser A team players get recruited first. College coaches were trying to learn my son's name in HS as compared to them having watched similar kids for 3-4 years by that point.

Others may disagree, but my experience is that if you are on an Express B team it is an uphill battle to get recruited at a top D1. You better be prepared to hit a ton of individual showcases and prospect days on your own.

The '28 team needs a lot of work...

I have NO problem spending the money for my son, BUT its the value and experience you get for that money that is the issue at hand.

Don't charge B teams the same as A teams if you are not going to provide the same ( or even remotely close) coaching, indoor practices and experience.

Just give us what you said you would give us for the tuition we paid! Is that too much?

Some years, Express does not even bother to explain what you are actually getting for the money.

At Express, some years its worth the tuition and other years it was not worth the tryout fee.

Just our experience....

Express B teams have no business playing at the top events. They get destroyed. Hence the problem with Coach Chan. He would have his top team with 40-50 great to good players but only play 20. That would leave the B team with only a handful of good players and some OK players. A B team with no FOGO or big scorer. How are they going to compete at a top event?

For whatever reason, Express directors put very little effort into Express's B,C and D teams. The saving grace for these teams is if the coach of the team was good and stepped up for the boys.

At least at 91 or Igloo, they fostered B teams into good teams that at least had a chance.

I fully understand. and that is BS..but i also think its failry well known that express is going to focus on teams that promote their brand. The A experience is the advertising money maker. I think this is all Buyer beware.

but to the people breaking down every try out..cost of helmet...travel... i mean....enough

With the upcoming season possibly being washed out, Express will announce their tryouts for the 2020-2021 season very soon.

after or before they refund the hard working families something back . Do the right thing.