BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NEW JERSEY LACROSSE NEW JERSEY FORUM Top NJ Girl's Club Teams

Who are the top NJ Girl's Club Teams? Use this thread to debate and share your opinions.

Yawn...

why yawn? Is your daughter not on a NJ team or does she play on a team we all never heard of?

STEPS and then everyone else, at least starting at freshman year. Fact, look at college commitment list vs. other clubs and record vs. other clubs.

Facts!

I have been seeing SJ Shamrocks being recruited lately. I would consider them a top tier program for both the boys and girls.

Steps has been at the tope of the list for some time now. After that, Maybe BBL

Do you mean South Jersey Select ? SJS ? what about T3, they have a large program.

BBL? I hope you are kidding. Okay, BBL mom, when was the last time they played in a "top tier" tournament?
How can you mention them before SJS and T3, when they seem to avoid the "bigger" tournaments.

Dewlax is doing good things too, esp at younger ages.

I'm seeing more and more of Dewlax at tournaments. Out of curiosity since they are in the same areas - what would make Dewlax more appealing than Steps or T3? As a parent, I'm asking.

I'm not sure its fair to say one program is more appealing than another. It comes down to the coaches and teammates. Ultimately, its mostly the same tournaments and I'm sure the coaching changes from team to team. Girls are happy in all those programs from the feedback I receive.

Steps is at the top of the pecking order and will usually have close to 100 girls at their tryouts. They were one of the first clubs in the northern part of NJ and have a good reputation with recruiting. That being said, there are politics at Steps as well as most of the other bigger name clubs. Some of these teams are a bit watered down and have 4 to 5 teams spread through out parts of NJ. It makes it feel like a money grab but i guess that is par for the course.

^^^ T3 is the biggest money grab going. Especially the satellite teams (not North) which haven't had the calibre of commitments that other clubs have. Not even close - no comparison to STEPS. T3 is turning into a mill and the coaching and quality/level of player is suffering for it.

Yea and what is with the Team United/T3 Merger?

Nice uniforms and cool tents! From a L.I. Parent. Dewlax teams seem to put a good product on the field and are competitive in my daughter's age groups.

I agree. They are in a great location able to pull players from several hotbeds.

Dewlax does not have the years of recruiting experience that the more established clubs have. They are doing great things but if your daughter wants to play in college, you have to take a leap of faith. Parents and players are very happy and loyal, with less backbiting of other clubs.

Dewlax is a newer program but girls lacrosse is different than the guys. As long as they go to the right tournaments which I know they do, the college coaches will see them play where if this was a boys team, I would say good luck on getting recruited by a d1 school because they are attending the invite-only events but like I said, girls and boys club lax is not the same. With that said, if you play for the Yellow Jackets, coaches will be more inclined to watch them over any other program but b/c the coaches all go to the same events, they will make their rounds to watch a large majority of teams in attendance.

Dewlax seems to draw the kids who can't make STEPS of BBL. They seem to be following the T3 route and opening programs everywhere in NJ. Not sure about the HS teams but I haven't seen them at any of the bigger tournaments.

That's certainly not accurate anymore, at least with respect to BBL.

I think Steps is at the top of the pecking order too but there is a lot of parity now. Tristate, Garden State Elite, SJ Select, BBL, T3, SJ Shamrocks, NJ Thunder, Dewlax & Celtics are probably the next in line in that order but all produce competitive teams.
Thoughts?

Look at the recruiting statistics.

not that it matters, but recruiting statistics only tell us where programs have been, not where they currently are... probably better to look at how these programs are doing at tournaments, where they are being flighted and how they are doing head to head...

T3 and Dewlax are both expanding the brand in NJ with multiple teams. North NJ is over saturated at this point.

Any thoughts on MadDog

Boys side has been a mess since Billy left. Girls look different today but might follow the same path as the boys. Buyer

Does anyone know if Tri-State and Mad Dog Lacrosse merge on the women's side?

Seems like a pretty unlikely union

Mad Dog poached Tri-States people and now they are leaving Mad Dog. Grass only green in CA!

Seems to be a lot of dysfunction with Mad Dog NJ program...

My daughter will be trying out this year for some club teams. She is in 6th grade. What can we expect at the tryouts? What are the coaches looking for? What would be the best advice to give her about the tryouts?

It really depends on your daughter's skill level and goals (developmentally). If she is going to try out for a more competitive club, the tryouts will be more rigorous and the club will be more focused on filling a specific position. Other clubs may play a less competitive schedule and focus more on general player development. Its probably best to attend several tryouts in order to see where your daughter fits skill wise, plus its just good experience. If she is at a tryout that is way over her head, or vice versa, you will know it pretty quickly.

Thank you for your response. Yes she is trying out for a more competitive club. She plays defense. How long are the tryouts usually and what drills or skills evaluation are they looking at? What does the schedule of a tryout usually look like?

Some clubs have multiple tryouts, some with callbacks. They will usually run basic skill drills, perhaps then separate positions and run some offensive/defensive drills and perhaps run half field game situations. As I stated earlier, it will be pretty clear if you are in the right place once the drills start and you can compare the talent level. I think that the most important thing is to be realistic with your expectations. If you daughter is well suited to the team that she is trying out for, then great, but if it seems as though she is not close to the same caliber as the other girls, perhaps another club would be better. The travel schedule can be time consuming and expensive, you do not want to end up travelling all over the place in the summer if your daughter will get little or no playing time. Also, you are not married to the club forever, your daughter is young, you have plenty of time to feel things out.

So. Does anyone know what happened to T3? I'm told they folded. How can that be?

Heard the same but was only their shore teams

Thank god there North team (Triple Threat Lacrosse?) is still around. Not a lot of other teams in that area - Steps, BBL, Dewlax and CLC. Steps tryouts have 90+ girls there, it's ridiculous. BBL doesn't really coach the girls at the youth level. Dewlax is a dumpster fire (definitely buyer beware). That leaves CLC and T3 that actually coach and develop the girls.

Why do you say DEWLAX is a dumpster fire?

Its all about the money. Taking as many girls as possible onto teams many of which can't throw or catch, creating teams without goalies, "one team one family" = moving girls around from team to team across age groups to win games. No real player development of game IQ, they focus more on how someone throws a ball. "Connective Coaching" - if your daughter responds to getting yelled at and doing pushups constantly. Coaches value having girls run through as many people as possible rather than passing the ball and getting the open shot, incentives for scoring instead of getting the assist. There's more but you get the point. Go somewhere that will develop your daughter.