BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Girls 2029-6th Grade Fall 2022/Summer 2023

If only grammar mistakes got added as points on IQ tests. You'd be miles ahead.

Most kids will play in the fall. In the summer season, seldom will more than 14 or 15 field players play in a competitive game. Bench players will usually play in blowouts. And YJ usually had a blowout or two in each tourney.

Most kids will play in most games sophomore year as recruiting takes priority.

At this age, if you aren't in the top 14 or 15 field players on the roster, playing on YJ can be a frustration experience. however, these are the kids who are usually cut/demoted the next season.

Some good insight, thank you! When you say "cut/demoted the next season" and you referring to this coming up tryout?

Same thing on every club bit just YJ. Go and see how many girls don't touch the field when team 91 plays YJ this weekend . You'll see girls that don't have ouch the field because winning against YJ Friedman is too important for them . So it's not just a YJ thing

My older daughter played YJ and I found that this is true, but her coach was equitable enough to put "second string" children on the field when there was easier competition with low required goal differential. It allowed everyone to play and it rested those "star" players. This is really a "coach" thing more than a "program" thing because I did hear about that "benching girls who drive to Maryland" thing. I have no idea how to current YJ (or any) coaching staff is with this right now.

Your daughter's position on a team holds no guarantee of remaining after the next tryout. Some coaches like to hold onto their girls so the team grows together. There's a lot of time, money, and energy invested in training these young ladies. But there's no guarantee...

My daughter will be playing in the tournament this Saturday for TG, but truthfully this is our last year of travel lacrosse. I'm finding it to be a complete waste of time. Instead of blowing 3K per year on travel lacrosse we're switching gears and I'm going to blow that money on SAT tutoring and pro college planning. She wants medicine, is carrying a 4.4 GPA, and I'm going to do everything I can to get her into an honors program with a combined MD/BS. We'll still play school ball but it's just for fun going forward. If anything, back of the cage has demonstrated how insane this all is. Enjoy the tournament.

Bravo, and I commend you for this post! The whole club/travel lacrosse stuff is exhausting and aggravating. My child is older and we did the whole thing.

Unfortunately or fortunately , the whole reason people go down the travel lacrosse rabbit hole is all the doors that can be opened to colleges that may not have otherwise? Even with the highest grades. We’ve seen it multiple times where a lacrosse player gets a door opened to the top schools and without lacrosse it would have NEVER happened!

It sounds like your daughter is very smart and you have your priorities straight. Good luck to you and her in realizing all her goals. I don’t blame you for exiting the club lacrosse world! It can be very bad for yours and her mental health! Best of Luck!

I don't wanna be that guy but with a few exemptions, Hamilton, Vassar, this is a list of safety schools. https://girls.team91lacrosse.com/long-island-girls/recruiting/college-commitments/

This is a bit of exaggeration on saying if you are not the top 15 kids then 10 or so kids will be cut/demoted. The the summer leading up to 7th and 8th grade will lead to the most movement in clubs as kids/parents at the smaller clubs start looking at the bigger clubs. The numbers of girls moving clubs will be higher his year as YJ has moved their tryouts from their traditional time of August to July.
Even with this the "A" teams will see an average turnover of 4-5 girls or less. It gets to be less by 9th grade and onward as teams are established and girls get comfortable where they are. There are many instances where girls will choose to stay on B than move up to A. This is why YJ "B" teams have been better than some "A" teams on Long Island.

Go to each club tryout and see where your daughter fits in skill wise.

This is 100% true for 91. The coaches have told the girls beforehand which games are "must-wins" and not to expect to play. So for this weekend, we know my daughter will not play against YJ Freidman, might play in the 2nd game depending if we win or lose the first, and will play against the other YJ team. As much as my daughter likes this team we are losing our patience with what is happening. We are glad that there will be other options to explore this summer.

Credit to the coach for actually being that forthcoming with the strategy. Much better than being left in the dark.ep

Credit to the coach for actually being that forthcoming with the strategy. Much better than being left in the dark.

So they take your money the same way they take the starters money but your kid isn’t allowed to play in the must win game. Why is it must win? It is must win so they can keep recruiting top talent rather than developing it. In this way they can replace your kid with someone else next season that they recruit because of this “big win”. Ridiculous. These games are ultimately meaningless. These clubs have forgotten the reason why people send their kids to travel. Learn the game and compete against great competition but because the business gets in the way many kids don’t get to play but their parents get to enrich the travel club owners.

Yes, credit to that coach for sure. That’s a local tournament and it won’t “sting” as much if kid doesn’t play. However, if asking these kids/parents to travel to MD knowing they will not be playing at all, that’s when a coach needs to be honest! That really stings, when that happens. If you are getting h aggravated , time to explore the other options. Just make sure to do your homework on the other clubs as well.

^^^^^ That! At this age it still should be about developing all the players. If they are not good enough to play on your team , don’t take their money!!!

Exactly.....but unfortunately then the parents egos get in the way too. They want their kid to play on an "A" team even if they don't play . It's ridiculous. Don't even get me started about kids in the B and C teams . It's not for the live if the game , give me a break. Spend your money elsewhere and enjoy your spring/summer rather than driving up and don't the east coast and spending thousands . Oh...and as far as getting into a school? If your grades aren't great because your spending hours upon hours for lacrosse and not even playing that's a double whammy . Good luck being mediocre with both and trying to get into a school .

Ouch. This didn’t age well at all.

I guess we can put this one to bed. 11-6 Roar.

Top Gun beat yj friedman 12-7. Looks like YJ should have held off on the posts and waited to see how good they actually were.

91 wins QoI for 3rd year in a row, oh and btw, friedman 0-4 v 91 last 3 years

You have bragging rights for today, but watered it down with misinformation. 91 and YJ have been neck and neck for a few years. 91 isn’t 4-0 against them. Tourney stats show a few ties and one-game victories swinging in each direction. 91 also is not the Q of Li victor for three sequential years. They didn’t even attend in fall of 2022- when Freidman won it. “Today we beat the best” would be a stronger argument then “we’ve always been the best.” The latter isn’t really all that accurate overall.

Team 91 Roar “Spring” Queen of the Island 3 years in a row.

Past three year record against YJ A
2021 2-0
2022 1-0-1
2023 1-0

“Playing to win” honest answers all you top team parents- does your club play to win? Name your club. They all do it. Why are girls playing on teams where they watch the games side lined. How will they get better? Is it all about getting on that “top team” is it all even close to worth it?

I have seen bench players stay and win the war of attrition when “top” players leave for greener pastures. Grass is rarely greener for those kids but the kids who stay, benefit.

Top three long island teams should look like this
1. 91 Roar
2. Too Guns Black
3. GC Tradition
Too bad GC got squeezed out of playing YJ A

YJ beat Top Guns and Tradition in Fall on a full sized field.
The season is young boys!

A lot of lacrosse left to play this summer. It’s not about how you starts , it’s about how you finish. Let’s see where things stand in July.

Until 91 starts playing in the premier tournaments in Maryland (live love lax etc ) they can’t really talk. They will continue to win my crappy lacrosse tournaments. Nobody cares.

A roster spot is an invitation to earn playing time. Nothing more, nothing less. Not many coaches out there who won't play the best kids. If you want your kid to play more, then tell them to play better in practice.

Now if they don't get any reps in practice, then that's another discussion.

Parents need to be honest about their kid's talent if they take a spot on any of the top A teams on Long Island (Or Maryland or Philly or even California).

You are right but you have to start before you Finnish and yesterday obviously was not a very good start.
It's 6 th grade and you are "starting" to destroy their love for the game

Huh? sounds like a team who lost a lot early in the season.

Wait ....so the queen of LI wasn't on full sized fields ? So are we talking about speed lacrosse? What you're saying is 91 is boasting about winning tournaments on shorter speed lacrosse type fields . Oh wow ....a new low for them.

I would have to agree with the above poster ...get back to us at the end of the summer after you go to Maryland and play on full sized fields . Until then you're nothing more than a speed lacrosse small field champ

Team 91 is a quality team no matter what tourneys they play in and no-one can take that away.

However, unless they start playing in top events soon (LFTC, LLL, Summer Genesis, G8) they will have trouble retaining top players. All of those tourneys have huge waitlists so if you don't get in by 7th grade, you won't get in by recruiting time.

The turf field used at Queen of the Island is a full sized field. 91 beat YJ and Tradition on this field.

Is your daughter improving as a player? Is she having fun? If yes….stay where you are. If no, it’s time to move on. They’re in 6th grade…those are the two most important things.

As they get older and know they actually want to go on and play competitive lacrosse in college AND they are a good player, the better teams will find them. Trust me, if your kid is actually good and you put feelers out there when they are in 8th/9th grade, the good teams will find a spot for them. Until then, focus on improving your skills and having fun.

So it wasn't 7v7 ?

Full size turf field, 11 v 11 & goalie.

I envy your position! My daughter is a straight A's student and on a top club team. We had no expectations that she will get any lacrosse scholarships (good solid player but not star) and we are fully prepared to pay full ride for any college she picks. But if she really loves lacrosse and wants to get better, it's hard to pull her back and say just play school ball because school ball is very competitive too. By not being in one of these top club teams, she is not going to be pushed as hard... So as parents, we are still driving her up and down I95 for June and July.... at least for now and try to enjoy it...

I’m curious as to how the fields were assigned. Some teams never left the turf and others in the same bracket never got on it.