BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Conflicts! When HS Coaches Incorporate Summer Tournament Teams in Town

This trend has reached a new level in Ward Melville. For years, the youth program has said if you play outside of our 3 village program you can’t play on the town travel team. That was fine and everyone understood their options. Some families stayed with the town program, but some also left for select teams like express, 91 team LI...The families that left generally have either really good players that wanted more competition than town team tournaments, or players that weren’t as strong that weren’t getting playing time on the town team. It was sad that the teams lost players and the boys lost the opportunity to practice and play with their friends, but generally it worked out ok for all.

Now, at the HS travel level they have two teams-Green and Gold (JV and Varsity) being coached by HS coaches. At the recent try-outs, there were approximately 100 boys for roughly 50 spots. There were several boys trying out that had previously played on select teams (all whom are now very strong players). Having talked to some of those families I learned that they were trying out to make sure the HS coaches knew their kid existed…

At the end of the try-out, the coaches thanked all for the boys for trying out and were pretty open about their expectations. They don’t want any Ward Melville boys playing outside of their reams. The threat is clear, play elsewhere and you have no shot at playing on the Varsity team ever. Now, for most of the boys, the threat is really nonsense as the HS varsity team rarely plays more than 12 or 13 boys during any game (except for last Q in a blowout, starters don’t leave the field). So unless you have a real shot to be one of those 12 or 13, you should tell the coach to jump off the local bridge. However, if you have a shot to be one of those, then you are in a ridiculous bind. The coaches want the boys together because they say it makes the HS team stronger and it is a fair point. But all the boys want the chance to play. So if you are one of the 12 or 13 you get looked at by colleges and have a shot to get recruited, but if your are not and only play at junk time, no one ever sees you.

The summer team plays 5 tournaments and so unless you are on of the 12 or 13, you need to get really lucky to get an opportunity for a college coach to see you do anything…It is left to each kid to figure out how to get himself recruited.

The net result in WM is that at any given time there are 10 kids that won’t see the field that would get a starting job at most other HS programs. They are giving up their shot to play and get looked at by colleges (remember D II and D III are really great options for most kids) –all to make the HS program stronger???

In my humble opinion this is a completely inappropriate use of power by a HS coach, by a school district and a complete shame. I have heard a rumor that Smithtown is making a similar threat and as a result I suspect Turtles team will also be impacted as some will choose HS team over Turtle team.

My son will be fortunate to play within a H.S. program that plays together in the summer. That program has put well over a hundred kids (probably closer to 200) into college programs in the last decade. Many of these kids didn't get much playing time during school season but do see time in the summer program. D2&3 coaches know they come from a quality program with great coaching and reputation. The kids and parents buy into this system because it has produced a nationally ranked power with numerous state, LI, and county titles. Many of the younger kids also play on travel teams. However, when they get to H.S., the school summer program comes first. My fear is this may change in the not too distant future because some of these younger kids are playing for the top club teams and may feel as many of you do that they should play with the best players. This H.S. has kids who have played at A.C.C, Big Ten, Ivy schools so it is not like the coaches don't recruit them. I don't believe the coaches at this program are in it for the money because the costs are fairly low and if they started their own club program , I think they would do very well due to their results and reputations. They simply want the kids to play together because that teamwork wins championships. The town program isn't perfect as you see the same nonsense you see everywhere else, but the H.S. program has been great and I hope it stays that way. Just look at the towns that have won multiple county championships, LI and state titles since 2000. They all have something in common.

You mean like Garden City?