BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Boys 2023 - 7th Grade Fall 2017/Summer 2018

The problem is that there is no enforcement because there is not incentive for that enforcement. If USL would not allow players on the national teams or such if they played in tournaments or leagues that are non-sanctioned and there was a desire to play on these teams, then there could be enforcement. They could require cards with birth year and current grade, backed up with transcript, or just move it to birth year teams like hockey and soccer.[/quote]

I may be wrong but the sports that have age requirements as mentioned in the original post are typically run by non-profit organizations with a board of directors and policies for which they adhere to. Other than PAL which, for most towns, is not super competitive, lacrosse is a for profit sport and the Directors are not a board and little to no governance. Don't get me wrong, the directors are smart business men who saw an opportunity and capitalized on it. Begrudge them all you want but the rules will not change until serious injuries take place and are well publicized. I don't think anyone really wants that.

And still.... no one cares.

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As to liability issues, assumption of risk is part of the analysis. At present, parents are putting their kids on the field while having no idea how old (or young) their opponents are. So it would be hard to defend these claims with an assumption of the risk defense. There is never any disclosure as to the age of the opponents or those participating in an event. Moreover, as has already been mentioned, no one in travel lacrosse - not clubs, not tournaments - requests verification of grade or age. This appears to be negligent in and of itself. No one exchanges rosters. There are no game sheets. Youth lacrosse tournaments are completely lawless and quite seriously unlike any other youth sporting event I have ever known.

Moreover, the toxic environments on sidelines negatively affects parent's prospective of the legitimacy and transparency of the competition. Everyone just assumes that a big, fast and skilled kid must be years older, when sometimes he really isn't.

Something is wrong with a sport when teams are supposed to be at the same level, grade-wise, but almost to a man one team is bigger than the other. This NEVER happens in age based sports. You can travel up and down the east coast with your kid playing soccer, hockey and baseball, and teams from every state will have basically the same average size as every other team. Some teams will have some freakishly big kids, but its balanced out by the small kids on the team. And everyone is fine with the freakishly big kid because they know his birth certificate is on file with the national (or state) organization, his name is on the roster submitted to same, and it would be easy to determine if cheating were involved.

Youth sports certainly has a win-at-all-costs side to it, but you would be surprised at how little cheating really occurs when everyone has confidence that the rules are being followed by everyone and that there are controls in place making it likely that cheaters will be caught. Stated differently, coaches and parents that cheat in youth sports in issues of eligibility really don't want to do it. They just think they have to in order to balance out cheating done by others. Left confident that no one else cheats, coaches and parents rarely do.[/quote]

Yawn...... no one cares.
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The problem is that there is no enforcement because there is not incentive for that enforcement. If USL would not allow players on the national teams or such if they played in tournaments or leagues that are non-sanctioned and there was a desire to play on these teams, then there could be enforcement. They could require cards with birth year and current grade, backed up with transcript, or just move it to birth year teams like hockey and soccer.[/quote]

I may be wrong but the sports that have age requirements as mentioned in the original post are typically run by non-profit organizations with a board of directors and policies for which they adhere to. Other than PAL which, for most towns, is not super competitive, lacrosse is a for profit sport and the Directors are not a board and little to no governance. Don't get me wrong, the directors are smart business men who saw an opportunity and capitalized on it. Begrudge them all you want but the rules will not change until serious injuries take place and are well publicized. I don't think anyone really wants that.

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USL is the proximate equal to USAH - club lacrosse uses USL as a governing body, possibly not looking to buck that because USL is a comparatively weak governing body. Were it that USL decided to be a better overseer of their sport, as is USAH, then you might see club teams move away from them, but a complete lack of a governing body would be worse than where are today. USAH is comprised of largely the same for profit types of clubs as lacrosse, and at this has a similar number of members.

No way dude, twix got to be in top 5

Twix has too many holdbacks and doesn’t qualify for the top. They are a has been for awhile now. They are an A candy wanna be who play with the B candies just to get a championship wrapper. Sorry man.

Baby Ruth ain't goin to Denver!!!!!!!!!!

Because they are a daddy ball team. Still calling them baby Ruth’s, Daddy Ruth needs to give it up already. Almond joy out crunches them every time they meet.

That was one of the best thought out posts . And your response is yawn and no one cares?? Please stop with the ignorance!!

It's true, no one cares. Injuries? The reason why wavers are signed and clubs require you to provide health insurance and agree to health wavers during registration process. Remember, no one has a gun to your hear compelling your child to participate. During play, If You think you child's safety is at stake, a reasonable parent will pull their child off the field, so the onus reverts back to the parent(s). But unfortunately many parents sit back and complain but will do nothing to challenge the system.

Meh - Waivers are frequently tossed out in civil actions. they dissuade some from bringing action, but not all.

No it wasn’t. It was copied and pasted from the 2025 forum, you lemming.

Maybe its the same guy who wrote it, YOU LEMMING.....

Why change it?! Maybe the system has been 'successful' DESPITE it being the [ChillLaxin] show that it is, IE, there is a ton of room for improvement; IE, youth lacrosse is about 10 - 20 years behind where every other major youth sport has gotten to. Maybe that's why!

That's for sure. I think most of their pride is compacted in the large round bowl of jelly just above their belt line.

Before you say “it’s going to take a serious injury before the system changes”, keep in mind, I’ve been hearing that since my eldest played youth lax a decade ago. The only thing that gets hurt is the pride of the fathers who think their kid is a dwarf god.

In total agreement, got to laugh about the serious injury argument to changing the age rules. My son has been playing football, lacrosse, and soccer for the past 6-7 yrs, the number of injuries his now 7th grade football team incurs in one or two games is more than the other two sports combined have incurred over all the yrs he's played. Not saying you can't sustain an injury in lax, but nowadays if an opposing player looks at you the wrong way a flag is flown, forget throwing a full body check!! Many parents on sideline have commented on how the sport is becoming more and more non- contact. Changes should be implemented but please drop the injury argument to support your cause.

Love the Baby Ruth ranking. Im gonna move 100 grand in at #3 and knock the Almond Hershey out. Where do m&m's fall in there...... though I do believe Peanut M's are playing a year down.

Not sure how we got from changing rules to "kid is a dwarf god". My guess is the guy just wanted to say something witty and picked any post. You don't need an injury to know it makes more sense to have kids play sports on age. Other sports have strong enough governance to support it. Lacrosse doesn't. Once the kids get to HS then all bets are off. JV or Varsity, the kids have to learn to play with older boys.

Pretty sure all of our kids are in 7th grade. They will be playing with and against older kids from now on. Your argument is officially outdated.

Not sure where you are but my kids play on-grade until HS - separate 7th & 8th grade MS teams. So, "no" until they are actually in HS, that isn't true for everyone. But, please - continue to think you and your world are the center of the universe.

Thank you for recognizing the importance of my existence... and my kid will be playing JV next year. I guess yours won’t.

JV at Roslyn HS isn't saying much, [ChillLaxin].

MSers playing up = weak program. Good luck with that! Even if given the choice, which would NEVER happen in our program due to the level of play/talent, I'd opt for my son to get the reps on his MS team where he can develop, along with playing with his classmates, of whom 7 all play on the same travel team together.

What does everyone think about Box Lacrosse? Doesn’t seem like too many LI teams participate.

That must be one terrible travel team.

I love it. There is no better way to develop stick skills and field vision/decision making. The speed of the game requires quick, tight passing and tons of off ball movement. The smaller “field” requires players to keep their heads up and constantly look for the open teammate. The 30 second shot clock requires them to make those decisions quickly. No stalling or holding the ball.

Field lacrosse dominates LI, and therefore = no Box. The most Box is done in PA, CT, NJ, CO, and west coast. My son plays on 91 and I think that's the biggest Box program around.here.

I think Box Lacrosse is up and coming on LI. Won’t be long before we see more of it here I think. More teams traveling to play, then LI hosted tournaments after that.

Nice advertisement pitch for their organization.

Not so sure. 91 put a big push on it last year. It obviously had dissappointing results, as far as participation goes. This year, no push at all from the 91 organization. Some teams are doing it on their own, but practice time is very limited and so are the tourneys this year.

Totally agree with this. Really does sharpen their skills and you can see the difference come spring.

My kids team practices once a week all winter. That is enough. Its basketball season. He focuses most of hi time there for the winter.

A level team @ their age, but keep trying...

Wow, your kid sounds like little Michael Jordan. Stick with basketball, it's his thing.

You must be really proud of little Micheal. So busy!

Way to burn your kids out - they'll be luck if they're still playing lax in a couple years!

I am burning my kid out because he has 1 lax practice a week? This post was asking if the kids play box in the winter. My kid goes to his once a week practice because it is a requirement for his team (that he choose) He plays other sports because he likes them. What's the problem? This board makes no sense. In onr breath people are putting down the organizations that don't practice enough. Then they put down the ones that practice too much. As for playing other sports, I think that is a good thing.

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Totally agree with this. Really does sharpen their skills and you can see the difference come spring.
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My kids team practices once a week all winter. That is enough. Its basketball season. He focuses most of hi time there for the winter.[/quote]
Wow, your kid sounds like little Michael Jordan. Stick with basketball, it's his thing. [/quote]

Way to burn your kids out - they'll be luck if they're still playing lax in a couple years![/quote]

I am burning my kid out because he has 1 lax practice a week? This post was asking if the kids play box in the winter. My kid goes to his once a week practice because it is a requirement for his team (that he choose) He plays other sports because he likes them. What's the problem? This board makes no sense. In onr breath people are putting down the organizations that don't practice enough. Then they put down the ones that practice too much. As for playing other sports, I think that is a good thing.[/quote]

No - the guys who criticized you for not having your kid hoops and box. Keep up, will you?!

F$G runs a great box lacrosse, it's the second year my son is doing it, very well run.

It's awesome when you want to wake up at 6am on a Saturday. Have fun, I'll be enjoying my sleep.