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I took my daughter to the 2018 Top Gun tryout last month and when I got there I was impressed on how organized they were. Little did I know what I was in for. My daughter and just about her whole current team came down to tryout that day in the hopes of making one of the teams. Wouldn't you know that NOT ONE GIRL MADE ANY TEAM. Billy's response was that "They miss a few every now and then".
Granted, some of the girls just cant play at a high level and I get that, but Bill Smith missed the boat on several top players who just recently tried out for another top lacrosse program and made that Lacrosse clubs A and B teams. These girls are good athletic LAX players and Bill and Shannon let a college friendship control a tryout.
After looking into it, we the parents discovered that Shannon apparently played LAX at Northwestern with our coach. Was it a coincidence that not 1 player made any team?? They took 15 kids $35 per kid and had NO INTENTIONS OF ANY OF THOSE GIRLS TO MAKE ANY OF THE TEAMS. Its disgusting what they did to these girls.
Im so glad my daughter IS NOT PLAYING FOR TOP GUN. Talk about politics and who you know. The only ones here who get punished are the 13 year old girls. Shame on you Bill and Shannon..Shame..

Or maybe, just maybe, it's not a conspiracy and they are actually better evaluators of talent than mommies and daddies?

Oh yeah, he missed the boat. I'm sure they had good reasons. Good luck.

It’s no better on the YJ side. They have a Friends and Family package that guarantees you a spot on the Blue team regardless of your skill level. There are kids on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th teams that are better than the kids that play on the last string on the Blue team, but because they’re not a friend of the coach or have some kind of family connection to another coach, they don’t make the team. The only difference between TG and YJ is that CR keeps adding more teams each year, so if you tryout there, you’ll probably make a team. Good Luck

You are one of the blind ones, same club different colors . Shannon or should I say Bill have added more teams each year and will continue to do , go back and look.

My daughter has tried out for every major club team on L.I. Y.J. , T.G. 91 , Express, Suffolk All Stars and Liberty, and I can tell you that without a question only the last club runs a truly unbiased tryout. Many people will say that the director only pulls from her home school and is biased to those girls, but the truth is if you had a talent pool like that you would also pull from it at the same rate. I have seen the director drop girls to the second team and even cut girls from her home school, that is what the doubters from outside the club don't see and where there comments show there ignorance. With there tryout still to come in October I implore any parent that is tired of the T.G. Y.J. politics to attend there tryout, If you think your daughter is a good player she stands her best chance of making an "A" team at this club. I assure you that the director and coaches are as unbiased as possible. I have no monetary alliance to this club, I do not coach for this club, I do not live in that school district, I am just a very happy consumer of her product and would like to see her club progress with the best players from all over Long Island,.

Oh yeah, he missed the boat. I'm sure they had good reasons. Good luck.

It’s no better on the YJ side. They have a Friends and Family package that guarantees you a spot on the Blue team regardless of your skill level. There are kids on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th teams that are better than the kids that play on the last string on the Blue team, but because they’re not a friend of the coach or have some kind of family connection to another coach, they don’t make the team. The only difference between TG and YJ is that CR keeps adding more teams each year, so if you tryout there, you’ll probably make a team. Good Luck

It’s no better on the YJ side. They have a Friends and Family package that guarantees you a spot on the Blue team regardless of your skill level. There are kids on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th teams that are better than the kids that play on the last string on the Blue team, but because they’re not a friend of the coach or have some kind of family connection to another coach, they don’t make the team. The only difference between TG and YJ is that CR keeps adding more teams each year, so if you tryout there, you’ll probably make a team. Good Luck

Clueless in Top Gun world wrote:
"In your eyes those 15 kids were great. Most parents think all there kids are great. But reality is some kids really s...ck . I think this what we have here."
Did I ever say they were great? Again, the point is that NO ONE MADE IT. Something was rotten in Denmark. Pay attention. 3-5 of those girls are A/B players without question. And several of those 5 kids made the A team at a high level LAX program.
All we ask for is fairness. We weren't given that by the Smith's. Its the truth.
Again, its about the kids. Its ludicrous that those 5 kids didn't make not even the C team. All good kids with great parents. Ask Shannon's friend. She will confirm.

What town were these girls from? What club did they end up going too? When girls register for tryout they enter individually. Some degree of effort would be needed to sort these girls out for a mass rejection. Truth is that age group had three teams last year and were only looking to keep it at three for this year. A few girls left from last year from each team opening a handful of spots. You had 120 - 150 trying out. Better stated you had 50 to 75 girls filling a handful of spots. What would the reasoning be for SS to shun these girls? What is the college friend story here?

maybe they were good friends and she did not want to deplete her friends program...

Was it 120 or 150 girls trying out? Huge range. Your reliability is dropping

Darby St-Clair Barrie runs the Girls program at 91, She is friendly with Shannon and was a goalie at Northwestern, there is no bad blood as 91 is not that big a threat. If SS and BS wanted to they could have taken them all and had Black / Purple / White and 91,,,,,,at least they would have had new uniforms. ( c'mon, that was pretty funny)
91 tryouts are tomorrow, and of the smaller girls clubs this one is not that bad.
They don't show up at the same tournaments so whats the big deal.

Same deal happened last year in this age group. Nearly twice as many girls tried out as spots available on three teams. Last year many parents were offended, how could my daughter not make a team? Truth is there is some loyalty there to existing players. If they are borderline, paid their bills, they got the nod. Were some new players passed by for some borderline existing talent? Absolutely, but that is good to see.They wouldn't hurt themselves by passing up on stud players, but is that what we are talking about here? Just because some other club put them on their A team doesn't

really quantify the talent level here.

Darby St-Clair Barrie runs the Girls program at 91, She is friendly with Shannon and was a goalie at Northwestern, there is no bad blood as 91 is not that big a threat. If SS and BS wanted to they could have taken them all and had Black / Purple / White and 91,,,,,,at least they would have had new uniforms. ( c'mon, that was pretty funny)
91 tryouts are tomorrow, and of the smaller girls clubs this one is not that bad.
They don't show up at the same tournaments so whats the big deal.

Interesting weekend, heard there is a mass exiting from Suffolk All Stars, entire 2016 / 2017 / 2018 teams tried out for 91 and very many no shows at All Stars tryout.
These are three competitive age groups and there is a big shift in power to the new kid on the block. Apparently parents not happy with coaches and choice of Tournaments.
Wonder why All stars picked 91 ? Apparently this was in the works for weeks so I wonder why they did not pick TG's.
I would not be surprised if they struck a deal to keep entire teams intact, which would have been more of a YJ move. This will all create a little bit of a buzz,,,,,as life goes on.