US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Boys 2028-8th Grade Fall 2023/Summer 2024

At least Surge played in the A bracket, unlike express

Bringing lumberjax and venom kids vs b teams was about as low class as we’ve seen in this age group.

Atleast kids got to see what team they are on now, I feel sorry for the kids that’s thought they were going to play aa teams and played frost, true blue and dune dawgs

I’m almost certain many think they’ll still be on the black team, they got bamboozled

Given venom and the lumberjacks were at a different field location I find this quite absurd.

Lumberjacks got beat soundly by Chain Bridge All Stars, whoever they are. Venom then beat Chain Bridge in the finals. They were very good, just couldn’t outlast 91.

That’s not an observation Pal

Legacy gave Venom a good game today!

They had kids who played for those teams last year playing in a b tournament, utterly destroying teams

Legacy didn’t play 91 for the championship, the championship was chain vs 91

I think the last guy meant that express A picked up some players from venom and legacy and are now playing against B teams. I’m sure he was saying that that [Censored] for kids who used to play on Venom and are now playing the Dunedogs and Frost. Got sold a bill of goods…

They didn’t play. Tourney Machine is wrong. Chain Bridge beat Legacy 5-2, and Chain Bridge played Venom in Finals

Those express parents were pissed that they were asked to play in the B bracket. I spoke to one last night who threatened to leave if that happens again to them. I told him you knew what you were getting yourself into with express. Legacy/venom parents were fuming but they have to earn their stripes

Legacy can only dream of losing to Venom 4-2

So legacy had 1 win yesterday?

As a parent on Dune I was there and saw those express parents losing their minds. I'm surprised they didn't pull their sons and leave the tournament they were that upset. With 40 something on the roster, someone has to play with the less skilled players

Shame on you Express - with these tournaments, combo teams and national teams lax has become a total joke.
All driven by the greedy directors.

Complete BS! They had 15 kids on the roster yesterday and asked the kids that were first year Express players to play to see how they played in games. Get over it people, it's the Fall. I never saw parents care so much about a championship t-shirt. Learn from your kids, they can care less, it's the parents like you who are the problem.

They were in the wrong bracket. The team knew who they were playing and they all still showed up and played in a "B bracket". So yeah, they should have pulled their kids, but they should have done it before the tournament.

Couple observations from yesterday.

Venom looked good and didn’t lose a game. Picked up where they left off last year. Any person who comes on here and bashes them is ridiculous. They are the most consistent team on the island. good athletes and well coached. Stop with the venom detest. If you’re bashing them, you either have a personal vendetta or are jealous your son can’t make it. Get over it.

3 teams tied for second place. Chain, PT, and legacy were all 1-1-1. When this is the case, head to head goes out the window and it’s either goal differential or goals against that goes into deciding the second place team. Rumor has it, there was a mistake. Don’t matter, I don’t think anyone was gonna beat venom yesterday.

Chain was a mix of madlax and other teams from the DC area. Most likely older players but this is the norm so whatever at this point.

Surge deserves a ton of credit for playing in the brackets that they do. They are in a unique situation being much better than most B teams choosing to face tougher competition.

Rush tied both Chain and surge. Yet Chain beat legacy and legacy beat surge by a good margin. Welcome to fall ball. Inconsistency at its best.

I have no idea what happened with express and unless a parent of one of the new kids comes on here and spills the beans, we are just making assumptions.

Parent of Chain Bridge kids. We had a 9 kids from DC Express, 2 from Madlax, and 4-5 from Next Level. The kids are all buddies from school, it was a father-son trip up to Long Island, and the kids have never played or practiced together. Kind of a Club Lacrosse Detox adventure for fun.

Played Venom twice. They are a fantastic team, both player-wise and coaching. Just a very well oiled machine. And their 2 goalies are fantastic. Made every save they’re supposed to, and then some. The #3 is a very clever player. Can do it all. We definitely ran out of gas with only 17 players, but had a blast competing with that team. And no— we are not a bunch of older players. I know Venom’s goalie is a recent reclass from 2027 Machine, but whatever. Kid is phenomenal. Fun to play against him.

A breathe of fresh air - school teamates / friends on a road trip, playing together to have fun. Novel concept. Club lax has become a cesspool. Hope you all enjoyed the trip up.

Another Chain parent here. It was a good tournament. Facilities are very nice. As noted above, the CBAllstars is just for fun, which should have been obvious given the boys have nicknames on the back of their jerseys. We have done local box leagues and Sixers inconsistently over the past couple of years. All depends on the boys schedules. But it was great to play LI teams who our clubs really only see at the big tournaments in summer/fall

I hope we do more tournaments in the future because the boys love it. There's no pressure on the boys and it's considerably less expensive for the parents (tournament fee only divided by # of players). Maybe it's a new club model!!

If express wanted to test the kids out why join the b bracket? Most aa kids can score at will vs b teams, and from their picture there was 19/48 on that team Monday, I’m sure a few kids were away, but those new hopeful express parents need to see the reality that everyone else is seeing. The express bait and switch for 5k.

I’m sure btb, rebels, rush or Surge wouldn’t mind some of those kids that will be delegated to the orange squad

In my mind if they were transparent from the start it would be a lot more palatable. I know some kids that made the chucks team that initially really confused me, but it all makes more sense now

They’re going with the laxachussetts model, you can move up or down from black/orange, but the painful truth is most of the black spots are set in stone.

Anyone having buyers remorse fee out other teams now before it’s too late

Long Island parents that are living through their kids should learn from your parents and sons. Great Job!`

Love this! This is how it all started. I hope the pendulum swings to a mode where the money drives national teams and the local club teams operate more like regional rec teams at lower cost and intensity. Player development is dead at the local club level.

It’s all about the recruiting and not the development. Kids should be the focus but winning drives these businesses so money always wins over the kids.

Recruiting, scholarships and reclassing is the 91 way.

Express Dad here-not saying it’s right/wrong, but from what I understand, (and my son did not play Monday), the Columbus Day tourney roster was compiled of B team plus new kids who made the team, several of whom are considered A players. Clearly not the bracket they should’ve been in. I believe, and don’t quote me, is that the coaches wanted to see the new kids play in something other than practice.

Lacrosse on the island (and other sports/places) was always the best because it was focused on playing for your local club/town and high school. All sports are better when the communities are involved and the players and families aspire to play for and give back to those communities. Club lacrosse is not aligned with what makes sports great. Hope the smart folks figure this out.

And when your kid doesn’t get asked to play with buddies you’ll be complaining

Buddies that have never played together? Sus

Nope keep them and their parents

Not all of the new express players played orange so how do you explain that?

Have the dC Express kids played together? Sure. The 4 NL kids play together? Sure. But the group of 16 kids had never played together once. Never practiced. No plays. No coaches. The dad who coached gave one order— no Hero Ball. It was a father son trip. Kids called their own numbers on the field, Some kids played out of position. Would like to have had more chemistry, but whatever.

The Express "B" team isn't a B team. If they wanted to see how their players compete, then they should have been in the other bracket.

Based on all the posting over the last couple days, sounds like there’s an opportunity for some parents to get their kids together from different teams in different schools and do what the Chainbridge kids from Virginia did. Club lacrosse has grown to be pretty toxic around here, we played that team and those kids were having a blast and the Dad’s were too. The players on that team were all elite level, but they were not getting screamed at. They were definitely confused at times and lacked some cohesiveness, but they gave us all we wanted and appeared to have fun doing it. I’m guessing each player got a little better from it, too. Kudos to those dads for putting it together. I’m jealous!

Would be great to see pickup games put together for all kids that want to play at this age and not hand picked kids based on talent.

I've seen it all from slime ball PAL directors ripping apart club teams, town travel teams and destroying friendships.... Just so they can keep their kids in a certain program --- to Parents who will flat out lie to you and stiff the coaches with the bill just because they think their kid should play for free ..... Its sad and pathetic ...... All for a piece of 1/12 of a lax scholarship ......

Correct. The new legacy lumberjax kids were on orange and only one of the new rebels was on that orange team.
Coach wanted to see how they measured up against B teams.

I think the orange express team will be like Surge now.
Little better than B, but not quite as good as A
The question is, what A players will he keep using on that orange team to keep it at that level and will those players be happy?!

There are teams on Long Island, that are advertising themselves as valid teams, but really only have around 10 players. They then reach out to "hired hands" essentially, and show up and play in tournaments with MERC players. This is true for multiple teams including Express Orange (proven this weekend), and from what everyone is hearing, Legacy East and GSB Blue. If you play these teams, you are only playing around 10 players that are actually on these teams. The remainder are either players from other teams/ages in their club, players from the higher class team for their age, or straight ringers.