BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Boys 2032-4th Grade Fall 2023/Summer 2024

My older son has played a “national team” and had a great experience. We didn’t take it too seriously, he met some great kids from other regions and we had a good time with the parents. Yes, there was a cost to it but overall the experience itself was actually pretty good. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

In my opinion, regional/national teams are a head scratcher. Look at the 2026 teams that are committing to college now, half are from out state anyway. And all those kids are on ONE club team, I would venture to guess. These national/regional teams are sold as “super teams”…and none of them would ever beat the top Express and 91 teams by time the HS years come. Just find a team from a reputable club that has dedicated coaches, and all will be well. And make sure there is time to play other sports. Your son is not missing out of anything in the lax world. Long Island by playing on 2nd team. It is already so saturated in club that the next revenue stream is creating national and regional teams because clubs can’t expand further east anymore. Remember this is a business. And the key measure of success amongst the clubs, again, in my opinion, is wins vs losses and college commitments. Go on each club page and look at each clubs commitment list and see who develops the best talent.

Sounds like poster above is correct. You wouldn’t hesitate to do it again, but what about your son? Did he get better at lacrosse or did you pay for him to have friends? Have a look at 90 % of the scores from all age group's and tell me how that’s good lacrosse.

It’s not. The Red Hots and Nationals LC are good for Instagram. They basically play rec level teams at most of the tournaments and have double digit wins. But hey, those behind the back passes and goals are great for Instagram.

We had a meh national experience. Should have trusted our gut instinct. After lots of salesmanship from the director to try out, we realized very quickly at the first tourney that the team was just a money grab that slapped a "national" label on a PA/DE club team. Comparing scores against common opponents and development, our regular club team was much better than the national team we played for.

So for extra runs, I guess it was ok. For development, or winning, it was not good. And certainly not for the price tag they put on it. Most of which was mandatory gear purchase. So we got a few bad tourneys and a nice shiny gold helmet that we'll never wear again!

Poaching is such a funny term. A players parent is offered a better opportunity on a more prestigious club and they accept it on behalf of the son. That’s called travel sports. If this is your first time through travel lax, this is the way. This age group will start to be ranked individually by grade on US club next year.

https://www.USCL.com/club-rankings/boys?year=2023

It’s fool to see how many of the Circuit teams have 30 kids on the sideline. RH 32 coach - think from upstate - was insane. Yelling at everyone except his own kid, while 20 kids are on the bench waiting in the wings.

Yea, wait till championship weekend when the roster grows to 40 for 1 or 2 competitive teams. There will be 10 new 31’s taking up your sons time on your dime!!

The Legacy/Igloo combo aka Yeti/Wolves handled the field easy today it appears. Moose and Jesters decent results. Express has a little work to do.

You clearly didn’t watch the games, Igloo/Yeti have a lot of work to do. They escaped the Jester game in the last minute and Moose played them tough. Going to be hard to deal with 9 coaches and a large roster of mostly B level kids. Going to be a long year for them

Yeti still the team to beat, mostly the Igloo kids doing the heavy lifting, depth still an issue. MooseLax and Jesters showed well early in the tourney season. Not sure how Shore to Shore, Express and 91 look this year, likely a new rankings for this age

I watched both games. Igloo started the Jester game with their bench guys because they were already guaranteed a playoff spot with two big wins over express teams. Moose was down 8 to 2 early on. Game was over by the half.

What are you talking about? They went 4-0 and no other team did. Good teams win all types of games. Especially 1 goal games and win games they should lose. They definitely have less work to do than the other teams they played. I think that is clear

Didn't know that they were guaranteed spot in final. Thought if they lost tie breaker (Jesters and Yeti would have been 2-1) would have been head to head. Making it a Moose and a Jester final. Moot they won the game and cruised in final. IMO Yeti is the team until dethroned. Kudos to them.

What happened with the Towermen this tournament? They were a tough team last year.

moose played weak expres teams and that’s the truth

Yetis / jester game was the real
final game

Older Dad here, national teams are a way to separate you from your money. Older ages do a tournament in Florida around new years. Flights and hotels are super expensive. You can play quality teams within a short drive of your house. It’s a waste of money. When your kids get older teams like Red Hots fly kids in from all over to play. Doesn’t help you get recruited. Spend your money on speed and agility training and find a quality lax trainer outside your club team. More development happens in these places. Unfortunately hat you will see is when you start traveling more for games that your kid will start playing kids 1-2 and sometime 3 years older. The holdback situation is out of hand. It’s here on Long Island too.

Didn't yeti lose some key players this summer? Not a fan of that club but have to admit it's impressive they keep winning. How different is the core of the team from the past few years?

Towermen showed up with an actual 2032 team is what happened.

Moose beat Jesters in the first game and it wasn’t close.

But jesters lost to mooselax so at least make sense when you make a comment. Jesters plays 3 middies entire game can’t win long term like that

Some kids didn’t play it looked like. I remember some others that were good. Did they leave?

Hahahahhaahaha…….say you’re a hater without saying you’re a hater. Clown

Older dad here (2028) and every word said here is true from my viewpoint. We started speed and agility about a year later than we should have. Found that fortunately my son has enjoyed it and committed to the grind and it probably so far has made the biggest impact for him personally than anything to date. He is not on a national team but we know plenty that are. If you have the extra funds and are looking for a fun weekend have at it, but in my view that’s all it is.