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

You are one of the chosen few or you are not. There have been multiple B team players in recent years who ended up D1 whereas the A teams were packed with some kids not playing at all in college. These clubs are all pretty much the same. It is all about the A team. FLG used to be great when they had 1 team per grade. Then they tried to conquer
Long Island. To me, Express and 91 are just two versions of the same broken model: (1) everyone subsidizes the A team, (2) the A team gets very advantage with practice time , top tournaments et, and (3) nobody cares about getting your kid recruited unless they are a starter on the A team. And that would all be fine, except year in and year out they miss kids....in a big time way. So if you think your kid can really play, support him. Find someone outside Express who knows the game to give you an honest assessment. If you have a 2022-2023 kid on the B team (or not playing on A) then gas up the car and open up the wallet because you are going to have to drive him all over to prospect days, and individual showcases if you want him recruited. Good luck (I'm glad this BS is now behind our family).

No offense to any B kids or parents, but there is enough of a selection of offerings.... DO NOT do a B team. You get pooped on. Go to a lower tier club where your kid will get killed every week, but will at least play.

For the 2021 class Igloo, 91 and Express B teams have no D1 commits. Clubs such as Legacy and Rebels have a bunch of D1 Commits. So what you are saying appears true. One other thing that you missed, if Your kid plays on 91, Express or Igloo B teams and goes to a prospect camp and a college coach calls the club director about your kid, the odds are that the club director will tell the college coach that there are players on the top team who are much better. So your kid goes to a prospect camp and gets noticed and your club director is promoting an uncommitted kid on the A team. So what you are saying is true. Stay away from these big club B teams. College commits for all divisions are much better at some of the other clubs that are not the big three. I do disagree with you about FLG. I think the are good for recruiting and do have success given the talent they have to work with.

If you’re a B team parent the problem is coaches at team showcases are more likely watching the better teams. Or, and I have seen this, they see that the team uncompetitive and they’ll pick their up and find another game. You’re only hope is your sons B team develops like a 91 Ambush or United. But B team success is spotty as best,

I think the point people are trying to make is even if the B team develops into a decent team colleges don’t take them seriously. 91 Ambush is a perfect example. They are a decent B team and have no D1 commits. I have seen them play and they have one or two kids that can play D1 but probably won’t get the chance. Take that same team with the same players and put them on another club where they are the top team and those two D1 players they do have would get more looks and offers and maybe some more would get D1 offers too. The history of the 91 and Express B teams shows us very few D 1 commits and most go to schools people never heard of.

Sometimes, if not most, kids stack playing lacrosse over the career field. To me, it makes no sense gong to a top D1(unless you come from wealth) school only to play lacrosse and afterwards worry about what you will do to put food on the table.

Its unfortunate the there are no college coaches at the tournaments.

^^^^100% agree^^^^
This model is broken.....

Most D1 lacrosse programs are very good on the academic side. Graduates do very well. There is no evidence that D1 players worry about putting food on the table more than a D2 or D3 player. In fact most D2 academics are not great. D3 academics range from top schools to terrible schools. For many D1 lacrosse gets these kids into much better schools than they would be able to get into without lacrosse. It is not uncommon to talk to a parent who has a kid that plays D2 or D3 and the first words they say are " My kid could play D1 but he does not to because....." People make choices for many reasons. Its fine. No need to explain why someone chose D2 or D3. Playing D1 lacrosse does not make the person. Nothing wrong with not playing D1 lacrosse. Many do choose not to. But it is misinformation to say that D1 graduates worry about putting food on the table so D1 is not a good choice. Going back to the topic on Express and 91 B teams - I doubt all of them choose D2 or D3 as part of a career decision. You should expect at least some to pick a D1 school if offered. Problem is these kids don't get that offer. Not saying they are not good enough. Just pointing out they are better off on another club A team if they do want a D1 opportunity or even a top academic school. Take a look at 2021 91 B (Ambush), Express B and Igloo B commits and compare them to legacy, Rebels and FLG commits and see which kids are going to better academic and lacrosse schools. It is not even close. You can find the information on each club web site, Inside lacrosse, Back of the cage commit section, Sports recruits or conneclax.

Is LI Express still hosting the Lax Clash/Tristar tournament on August 22nd-23rd??

When are tryouts?

Cancelled

35 kids on the roster at blatant.. Classic MC . Even during a pandemic you are a thief

at blatant? try that's been happening for the whole season...

What age group ?

Is this a for real # or overstated? We were surprised to find a top local team carrying 26 kids.

We were told it’s canceled per Express (I’m an Express parent)

35+ kids at blatant, Long Ireland and Forsberg

It’s the parents. They are fully aware, if they are not, then they deserve it. Haven’t you all realized how irrational lacrosse parents are?

We’re all irrational on some level but lacrosse is nothing. Ever spend time with swim, tennis or dance parents? First hand experience tells me Lacrosse parents are quite sane.

I'm guessing 2024 based on the schedule

I think Express needs to stop trying to put out 2 teams at the 2022 age. You have one team that is very good and one team that is VERY bad! I understand its all about $$$$. Its crazy that people actually pay to be on the 2nd team because they are really bad. I saw them play yesterday in Glen Head it was embarrassing.

New player evals are free. Thx

My kid plays 2023 and every tournament there seems to be at least 2 different expresss teams and none of them are ever any good. How many express teams are there? there is express north,south,east, west,Dominican Republic,Siberia , pomp’s stomps etc. I think it would be better to invest in express lacrosse than amazon or google stock they way they are rolling out 3k dollar bills every tournament to get destroyed

Your kid can't be too good if he is only competing against the weaker teams.

So what’s yours point? You don’t like the club...or you just decided to be negative...okay...great. Everyone has a choice.

Team is terrible. Half the team never attends any practices. Same half still can’t throw or catch. At least the money is green. Total joke....

Phenomenal business model. They figured out years ago you take every kid who shows up to tryouts. Brand marketing machine which allows for Easy start up in new markets. Plenty of ex players or coaches looking for extra money. Literally costs almost nothing to start another team or enter a new market. If you have access to fields anyone could do it. They have the play book.

They constantly bashed on here but they don’t care. They are laughing all the way to the bank.

I guess this warrants a repeat of " you have choices ".....last time I checked there were many lacrosse clubs on long island . Why don't you use them instead of bashing clubs . Find one that you like . Does nobody any good to hear you mansplaining . And just for the record....if your son is on a bad team the writing is on the wall . Stop spending time and money on lacrosse perhaps hes better at something else . Or again..find a club that you like. Tired of hearing pathetic parents complain about certain clubs. The parents are the ones that fees the beast....you have choices

Its not a charity, it's a business. Represents what is great about this country. Hustle, smarts can lead to millions of $s. Just like any other consumer facing business, you do the least possible to protect margins. As long as its working why change? I give those guys a lot of credit.

Definitely a “hustle”, pathetic its done with children!

Express has a lot to do with what town you live in and the depth of your pockets.
Anyone can get their kid on the “AA” but most kids get zero playing time.
The best play, the rest, including good players languish on the bottom of the “AA” or play for their terrible “B” team.

Again , you have options....Leave and go somewhere else, pretty simple.

So how many teams does express Long Island have at 2026?
What would be the actual number of players for their AA team this year?

3 teams
AA & A maybe 40 between the 2 teams and the players switch between teams based on coaches decisions. B teams about 23 kids.

so the B team is really the C team

Call it what you want. It's the 3rd team...

AA = The A Team
A= The B Team
B= The C Team

Or in reality, one very good team that gets all the attention, coaching and all year training for the same price as the 2 money generating teams which are just not good teams. The Express Way!