BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) New to LI travel lax Looking For Advice

Thanks in advance for any good advice.....

My 13 year has played lax for several years but never really took it that seriously. Now all of a sudden he wants to play travel lax. Looking for advice on which teams a new travel player might actually have a chance of making. So a program with B/C/really crappy A team. He is raw in lax but a great athlete in other sports. If he wasnt an athlete I wouldn’t waste my time or money.

Basically I realize the best lax players are on LI so I am looking to stay away from the top programs and couldn’t care less about tournaments. Looking for tryouts where the team isn’t already picked and there may actually be a chance for a new kid to make a roster. A club that will take a n athlete with lower level/mid level lax skills compared to most travel players and turn him to a lax player.

Not looking for team bashing, just honest advice.

PS We went to 1 tryout for a “new” team and the coaches seemed to already know a lot of the kids by name already. Safe to assume the roster is already picked?

Also, for these tryouts do they ever scrimmage full field? By doing everything in an area around 30% of a lax field it almost seems like picking a basketball team by playing 3on3. Or does it go back to what I have heard that most teams are already picked so the tryouts don’t really matter, they want money.

F L G they have an all year round training program that will develop your sons skills, there tuition is high but very well worth it with what they offer. The team is a B+ team and all the players see the field.

There are so many travel lax teams out there at the B level. It really depends where you live.
When you go to tryouts for a team that existed the prior year of course the coach is going to know by name the kids on the team.
And coaches are not looking to change their roster over completely every year. There decisions will be based on how many kids they know may not be coming back, and the talent of the new kid trying out.

You are stating that your kid is interested in travel lax but is mid to low on skills. But expresses an interest in travel.
Low skills wont stand out at tryouts.
Honestly, im of the belief if your kid is not outside seeking by his own choice to consistantly play then your wasting your money on travel lax. Just let him enjoy PAL lax.
Or give it a year, and tell your kid he needs to earn the right to play travel by showing he is putting in that time practicing outside, and doing wall workouts so he improves enough and shows the dedication for you to spend significant money on travel.
That is just being honest.
There are lots of teams out there, because yes this is a side business for coaches. And will your kid make a team? If you keep trying out, he will make some team. You will even see after the season starts teams scrounging to find players for certain positions.
Will he play much, will depend on his ability and level of other kids on his team. At the B level, of course it depends on the coach, you should be seeing though a real attempt to give playing time to all the kids.
If you really want to still pursue it this year then stay close to where you live. Dont travel far when your just wetting your feet in this arena. You want to find out how much you and your kid really like it. You as well because it monopolizes a lot of time and weekends doing this.

You may want to consider looking at east coast lacrosse. Thats a team through Dynamic lacrosse management which is being formed because the Fighting Ducks coaches broke away and formed there own team. Most of those Ducks players will follow the coaches, so there will be plenty of slots to fill.
And the new organization is saying tournaments will all be on long island, so that may work better for you,
http://eastcoastelitelacrosse.com

Where are you located approximately on Long Island? Nassau, Suffolk? East, West, North, South?

What teams do his friends play on? I've heard good thing about Empire's 2023 2nd team. Any team you choose will have it's strong points and weak points. Do you self a favor, maybe get him a couple of lessons, pay close attention to the drills during the lessons, then the both of you go to the park and practice together. You don't have to spend a ton of money to bring his skills up to speed, just practice. And don't get caught up in former players resumes, the person may have been a phenomenal H.S./collegiate player, but isn't mature enough to work with kids.

Hey-

Been in this game for a few years. Here are my points

- Dont concentrate on teams so much. The coach and the practice locations are the most important things

- If a club doesn't respond to your questions, look for another club

- Another option to consider is to go on the B team of some of the bigger clubs. Just be ready for a very hefty price tag if you go that route.

- Be wary of any "promises" made. Most of the clubs don't keep them.

- There are so many clubs out there you will not have problem finding a team for your son (emphasizing Coach and practice locations)

- For me having a few of my sons friends on the team is very important. Many people will disagree with this. We each rotate who takes the kids to practice and its very helpful (I have 4 kids).

Best of luck

Tough spot for your child.

As for tryouts, typically the last day of tryouts will be scrimmage format.

Right now, pick a inexpensive travel team with local tourneys.

With the money saved, spend it on private/semi private lessons geared t his position. Also..... wall ball, wall ball, wall ball.

Good luck!

There are a lot of lacrosse programs out there for 13 years olds. More so now than ever before. You say he is a good athletic ? Then keep the stick in his hand and search for a program that fits him now. Look on this site there there are plenty of options out there. Consider location of team practices, is you son comfortable with coaches and other kids and also cost. is you son at the level of this team. Don't listen to other team parents so much, go with what you are comfortable with. Good luck to you guys

We are Western Suffolk so looking for teams that are near that area.

Thanks everyone for the advice so far!!! We are in Western Suffolk so what are the "inexpensive" teams in that area?

LI Legacy Lacrosse

Rebels is $2600. But honestly will be a strong team. It has some really good talent that showed at pretryout. May find it hard to get a place on that team. Plus will be set in western suffolk for practices.

Outlaws last year tuition was $2400. Its a really good option. They will have plenty of open spots, since many will leave to try to go to Rebels. But also practicing in western suffolk.

Keep away from Express and 91 B teams. Those are money grabs. They dont invest in those teams at all.

You may want to look at True Blue out of Massapequa. Not sure of tuition. But I do think they have a stronger team then your son may be ready for.

fl$ would have been a good option. But they have a lawsuit pending, so not sure you want to be in the middle of that.

If you'd "ratherbefishing" travel lax might not be for you. It typically requires full commitment from the whole family.

Give Legacy a shot. Tryouts are tomorrow and Tuesday. The team has a solid core of kids, and made huge strides as a team this past year. They played a bit above their level at times this past summer, but in the long run you want your kids playing against the best for the most part. No one gets better beating up on inferior teams all summer.

Avoid B Teams for the big organizations,as you’ll pay for an A team but not get A team experience. And you’ll be going to another tryout next year.

After that, the three things you’ll look for are:

1. The Head Coach
2. The Head Coach
3. The Head Coach

It doesn’t matter the organization. What matters is the guy who is running your team. If you don’t know who the coach will be.. Run!

Best of luck.

Legacy stinks low budget , get bare minimum gear , [ChillLaxin] tournment for example LI Lax fest biggest tournment around play somewhere else , they are 3k a year now. Bad product maybe 1 good team 2024 that’s about it .

Can anyone say anything about Mama Boyz club team ? I don’t see them at many tournaments but when I have looks like a good group of people , all in pink , clubs has tents and having fun . Seems like they do charity work for cancer . Guess that’s good for youth kid to play Lax and also do good things at a affordable rate. Any ex. Mama boyz feedback would be great . Thx

I would stay clear. Many of teams falling apart this year due to undue pressure by women who runs mamaz boys. Too much pressure on parents for nonstop fundraising events.

Isn’t volunteering/Fundraising a good thing ?

You are in Long Island.
You are a short drive to the best youth lacrosse programs in the country in terms of training (LIE, Legacy, 91).
If your son wants to play the game, have him join a legit program with a solid regimen (fall ball, box, summer ball) to improve.
Even if it is a "B" team of a good LI operation, your son will have access to great training.

Seems a waste to play LI LAX and not be in a legit program.

Stop. Most of the top organisations field good A teams, but not good B teams. At the B team level in those organisations, (91, express, legacy) you pay a lot for nothing.

You said your kid is mid to low skill level so far. If you really want to do travel, stay close to home where they only have one team in age bracket.
Look at BOTC tryout board. Then do some research on teams. Look in tourney at NY tournaments and see how teams have done, what brackets they played in. Look at teams websites. Call them. Good teams will talk to you.
In the end you need to put some time in to get a feel where your son fits.

Should I be worried if I bring my son to a tryout and there are only 17 kids there? Although my son said the coach's said there were 12 people missing which I assume means they were at one of the other many tryouts that were happening at the same time. Also nobody from the club came over to say anything to the parents. No introductions, this is our philosophy, this is what you get for your money etc. It was sign in, get your pinnie, send your kid over and leave. No interactions at all between anybody from the club and the parents.

Don't listen to this guy. My son is on a "B" team of 91 and has been there since the beginning. He has awesome coaches who put in a ton of time, played in great tournaments and showcases in front of really good college coaches, and had more fun than most kids do on a AA team or other teams B teams. It all comes down to the coaches and other players. Go out and try them all.

What lawsuit is that? We are tryed out for fl$

I wouldn't be interested in a team that didn't communicate at the tryout, and only had 29 kids total. The problem is at this age, not many players will move. This year is an aberration because of the breakup of the Outlaws. Many players want to get onto the AA teams, and with Bonn going over to Ambush joining a solid group of coaches and players, there will be above average interest there.

Not sure what the FL$ lawsuit is about, but they have some really good players going there, and will be a tough team to beat, along with Empire. LIE, Blaze and Black Ice are at another level, everyone else is pretty well balanced after them.

I’m not going to recommend any organization, but I’ll give you a little food for thought. You want your son to be on a team where he will get game time. I hate to say starting, but if he doesn’t look like he’s top 4 or 5 at the tryout, move on. The problem with the AA teams is that if your kid is not playing during the tournaments, he won’t get noticed by other organizations that would want him to play. It’s a paradox controlled by politics. My son played for a big name team and didn’t get much play time in tournaments due to coaches son playing his position. The next year, my son starts for a different team (lesser status, but significantly cheaper). He now came on the radar and I now had invites for him to come to their tryouts.

Look at:
igloo B
Express B the C team is terrible
S2S has a brand new B team so they have to be looking for new and better talent
The Rebels are new but there already seems to be lots of drama around them

Do you want to be off LI a lot. Some programs do 4 out of 5 away. That can stink and be pricey. Practice location is huge. Do they have a winter program. If he needs to improve you want a program that practices in the winter.

So So true. Find a team where the kid will play. Stand clear of daddy coaches, many times it's not only the coaches son, but the one or two friends of the coaches son. Sometimes it takes a couple of teams to find the right place to be.

I would never pay for my kid to play on a team with Daddy coaches. The best part of travel is getting away from that!

Need a mix pros and cons to both had a high school varsity coach and really wasn’t to committed and practice close to him even though no one live close to there. Wasn’t good.

A lot of people are on vac

What has been everyones experience in terms of coaching, more specifically having young kids just out of college being the coaches vs older person who has maybe been a high school coach for many years.

No one said it's a bad thing. Fund raising tournaments, etc that fine, but if the main focus is other than what you went to the organization it isn't for that person.

Most of the time with daddy ball, the cons out weigh the pros. I would never do it again.

I ran a program for several years and had recent college grads coaching. They are great when it comes to relating to the kids but they don't have the experience to run effective practices and to discipline the kids when they get out of control. They are more interested in bonding with the kids instead of taking on a leadership role. If I had to do it again I would rather have someone with a few more years experience under their belt with coaching. Just because you played doesn't mean you will be a good coach but I would take the person who has 10 years out of school before I take a recent college grad.

I know of one coach who actually had drinks with one of his players when they went to a tournament. Not the best example for the kids.

Talk to the perspective coach before taking your spot on their team - plenty of parent coaches and recent grads doing a great job. Decide what's important to you and your child = learning / development or winning tournaments. There's plenty of state championship winning HS and successful college coaches losing to recent grads and daddy/mommy coaches in big tournaments every summer- just go look at Tourney Machine and review the championship scores in the biggest events of the summer.

What is this Express East now ? Why is cheaper tryout ?

Wow, unheard of! Oh yea, Lax players, coaches, and mommy and daddies don't drink! C'mon, how do you think we put up with all this nonsense? And if you think the parents and kids drink a lot now, just wait till they get to college!!

the kid he was drinking with was 16, and you think that is ok?

sure parents and coaches drink at tournaments, but that does not give the coach the right to drink with a teenager. I understand underage kids drink, it just should not be with the coach at an away tournament or anytime.

Think you may be over exaggerating a bit. Worry about the lacrosse!

The majority of the begin cracking one open before 10AM on my son's team at tournaments. By 2PM I've heard the same stories told at least 5 times over. Pathetic!

This topic is about li lax looking for advice enough with the coach thx

over exaggerating? worry about lacrosse? how about worry about the safety of your children and make sure they have adults who are good role models.

I will worry about the safety of my kids over lacrosse EVERY day.

I guess you are the dad who wants to be cool and lets his kid have a beer at a family function.

Sounds like your son should stay at home and play Fortnite . If your worried so much about safety, you're in the wrong sport! Relax a little, It's the weekend, and almost time for a beer!

What do they say "apple doesn't fall too far from the tree." Just my opinion, I feel a youth coach should not be drinking in front of the kids, let alone with the parents. I don't see the benefit of this.

If you have dad’s who have teaching and HS experience I think that is the best. Since their kids are on the team they put in more than many paid coaches would be willing to do. Having one recent grad is great because they relate to the boys and the boys also look up to them. But the recent grads for the most part aren’t organized enough to run a team.

Baseball and golf good option I can be a nasty sport not sure if your ready or will u be the crazy parent that knows nothing screaming at the poor ref , u will !!

Beats being the parent that can barely form a sentence. I'd rather be wrong than be an stunad. I can learn from being wrong. You'll never learn anything by being an stunad.

Stay away from rebels. They have dad coaches that only look out for their own kids. Especially A little guy with a big mouth. He coaches the 2025 team

Move off LI would be my advice.

Advice #1 whatever someone tells you on BOTC, do the opposite
They really don’t know anything but surely act like they do.

A bit of an oxymoron there. If you take the advice it goes against the advice. What to do?
Def reclass your kid!

If you see a parent from Yellow Jackets with a cast on his leg he’s a boob. Oh, the cast is probably gone. 🤔. Oh well you’ll figure it out, he knows everything about lacrosse. Him and the other YJ 2025 parents will school you.

This Janelli stuff never gets old 🥾

Recon is a great option for the price point. Some good teams and core values.

Forget lacrosse and buy your kid a dirt bike!

Ask the following questions of the program? Cost? How many coaches and experience? How many players per position do they keep on the roster? How many tournaments and how many are off the Island?

What I liked to hear. (At least two coaches, preferably one that had some experience, the other being a young kid who the kids can have fun with). (Each Roster should have no more then (2 Goalies, 5 Attack and Defense and 8-9 middies)/you want playing time.
Most tournaments can be played on the Island... but get at least two off the Island. It's a great time to bond with your son.

Don't worry about the SWAG !