BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM 2028 Girls - Mid Atlantic B

Did you look at TLC, they don't seem to have a large roster

Don’t most clubs have policy if equal PT in HS age?

Where are you? Maybe try TLC, Limelight, Legends

Curious about this too. Anyone have older daughters playing lacrosse? Any clubs better at playing girls equally in HS?

Capital is the only one with an equal time policy but they don’t follow it. Most teams will play their bench during sophomore year but starters will always play more, as it should be.

I get Club Lacrosse is about being seen but I don’t understand this belief that equal PT is required. Don’t we want our kids to value hard work and earning PT? Find a team without parent coaching and let the kids learn the importance of earning something and let’s stop the belief of entitlement. Just find the right level of play for our daughters to succeed.

Some club directors feel like parents are paying for a service, one of which is to be seen so they are owed to get the kids out there equally.

My 24 went to NJ, Hershey PA, and TX two times between 10th & 11th grade to the tune of at least @$2,000 spent on travel and hotels. Plus many more tournaments around MD and Philly that still required traveling. We live in MD so our travel is minimal but other teams at all the same tournaments are coming from as far as California. No one wants to travel and spend money for their kid not to play. These clubs need to take girls that can actually play on the team they're placed on and not full roster spots for money. And while I agree that it used to be being the best earned playing time club sports and showcases have changed the dynamics

There is big difference between equal PT and not playing the bench.

With the exception of playoff games, I'd say most teams play starters 80% of time and backups 20-30%. Usually starters play first 10 minutes of game and last 10 minutes of game if competitive and the backups get PT in the minutes in between. Goalies typically split time except for playoff games.

That usually works and keeps most folks happy. Exceptions are often made in playoff games or in the last pool play game if a win is needed to advance to playoffs.

If the club doesn’t think the player is good enough to be on the field, they should not take them on the team. At this level, there shouldn’t be a huge discrepancy in talent from top to bottom.

This right here. DDs team has everyone play every game; however, it is not equal because it is clear who the best players are. If the game is not close, those that don't play as much get more time (even in a bad loss because at that point, starters aren't winning the game you may as well try the others)

You’d be surprised at number of families that beg to be on a top team and then become unhappy when their daughter doesn’t play half of every game even when coach has laid it out for them or their daughter isn’t producing. Then when they get cut or moved down the next year they [Censored] the whole organization.
Idea for club directors. Limit teams to 21 players.
2 goalies. 6 defenders , 6 attackers , 6 midfielders. 1 girl that can help a couple spots. Increases play time and players should be getting developed more.

That's a good mix. The challenge even with that mix is that the backup middies are usually better than some or even most of the starting defenders and attackers (especially defenders at the middle school level). Almost invariably, the worst players on the team are the 6th attacker and the 4th, 5th and 6th defenders.

On my daughter's team, all 6 middies start. 3 at middle, 2 at defense and 1 at attacker. When starting middle line gets tired, usually 1 goes to attack, 1 goes to defense and the 3 middies starting at other positions go to middie and a a couple defenders and one attack get rotated in.

On average, I'd say the 6 middies and best attacker probably play on average 90% of the game in competitive games and the rest of the playing time for the other 4 field positions is shared across 10 or 11 players.

You'd be surprised at the number of people who think this is actually true or the norm, but its not. Most coaches can't give constructive feedback or provide coaching to girls that either "aren't producing" or not playing. They simply play the starters and thats it with little to no real coaching feedback. This is what really occurs. Often times, players that start and get 80% or more playing time are not better than some on the bench but have been there longer, or parent coaching.

To be fair, how often do girls themselves (not the parents) reach out to coaches for feedback? Very rarely in my experience. Should coaches be proactive in providing feedback, yet. But ultimately, it is on the player themselves to reach out for feedback. In my family's experience, it is very rare for a club coach not to give construction feedback when directly asked by player.

This is good! I have heard this lots but the top kids seem to play more on every team they are on make the all star teams as well while the parent who’s daughter is buried behind the coaches kid always struggles more. Often times!!! That’s funny.

IMO, kids under the age of 14, really have a tough time communicating with a coach, especially about their own performance. End of day, the parents are the decision makers and should be aware of all feedback. No different than a child performance at school. If there are academic or behavioral issues, the parents should be informed.

You'd also be surprised how many behavioral issues at practices/games relate directly to playing time and how that child is viewed as an asset or not to the team.

Maybe so, but it's a skill kids need to learn. Most clubs have policies around this. All worded differently, but pretty much say that any communicated to coaches needs to be done through the player.

The really good teams don’t play all mids because they have really good defenders and attack players. This way they can rotate the mid lines to keep them fresh and wear down the opposing team. I find the better teams place their fastest players on defense and some of these defenders could easily play mid. Too many people think their kids are mids but can’t play good D and true mids have to be able to play both good D and offense.

I agree with that at high school, but not at 7th grade.

Maybe on the B teams. On the A teams they all have dedicated defenders. Their kids don’t rotate to attack or defense to keep them fresh.

Know a girl that quit a top team because midfielders were put on attack in bigger games. Their top kids were midfielders. Not defending the kid but it did happen somewhere.

Lots of top teams do this including Coppermine and M and D. Maybe not as described above but definitely part of your rotation. Actually top teams do it more since they are more likely to use attacking/defensive middies or have an attacker take the draw which also impacts position definitions.

Ask yourself this— who is a better defender, your 4th Middie or your 4th attacker? Who is a better offensive player, your 4th Middie or your 4th attacker?

For almost any top team, the 4th Middie is better in both instances.

The best coaches will usually have their 11 best field players on the field at crunch time. This usually means at least one of your backup middies.

Ask yourself this... why am in here reading this

What B teams look best this year since m&D red is an A team now?

How did the B teams look yesterday? I guess M&D Red is still the team to beat?

I wonder why M&D Red played in the easier bracket…especially if they’re planning on playing in the A division this year. Maybe they lost some girls to M&D West because the location worked better? Either way, the performance by the newly formed M&D West was impressive. It will be interesting to see if they play in A or B this year.

Who is 3d Maryland and MD United North, are these old club teams with a new name?

3d MD is the old Renegades with a few others. MDU North came out of the HoCo debacle. HoCo black and pink girls scattered around with some ending up at M&D Red and West, some at Coppermine and some at MDU.

I’m not sure about 3D MD but MDU North is a new team formed partly from the True Coast team that dissolved. Basically MDU’s third C team.

The HoCo girls are mostly with M&D West, not MDU North. These team names are getting confusing so it’s easy to get them mixed up!

So you are now qualified to evaluate a coaches skill at coaching and evaluating their team. I assume you are a parent and your kid isn’t a starter and you learned the game from watching your sports.

M&D red is not an A team. They would not do well there. They will stay in B so the parents win and can say they are awesome without ever having to prove it.

Did this girls daddy tell you that the top 6 middies all went to top schools and his daughter had nothing then ? That’s the reason she likely quit!

They have to be in A for NGLL in the spring but I agree they will enter tournaments in mid-B brackets that they know they can win.

There are coaches on the sideline (who played the game) watching lesser qualified coaches attempting to coach their kids on these top club teams. All while these top club coaches play daddy ball, make poor talent assessments and really are average coaches on a good day.

Wow you sound bitter about something!

I thought if you won the B division you were required to move up to A?

Why aren’t you coaching then?

No although most do. There have been teams that won the B division in back-to-back years before.