BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums PENNSYLVANIA LACROSSE PENNSYLVANIA FORUM Main Forum Philadelphia & Vicinity

Every football coach I know does not allow their football players to play another sport during the season at the high school level. This will definitely change in the spring/summer.

Agreed, they have a several experienced seniors and a handful of juniors that will be called on to step into bigger roles, but talent isn't a question. They are talented. I think Haverford's offense is more questionable going into the new year considering the amount of seniors they lost and the projected lack of depth.

Let’s play a game, which club program am I describing below?


What we’re now seeing in youth club lacrosse is the entire model revolving around enormous amounts of tournament competition & minimal practice time.

‘Elite’ clubs scoop up early bloomers that have resources & they go win a bunch of tournament games.

This selection bias gives the false impression that the club is providing player development when in fact they don’t spend enough time in training to make a meaningful difference.

This selection bias then amplifies the parent confirmation bias that to become ‘elite’ you must join an ‘elite’ program that has ‘elite coaching.’

And then, over time, some kids are getting more efficient development opportunities outside of their club, while others are not so fortunate.

The more fortunate kids stick while others wash out or are pushed out later by new kids who received better development elsewhere.

Survivorship bias then creates the feedback loop for parents to push their 3rd grader onto an ‘elite’ travel team.

Every club lacrosse program? 2 easy, next question?

I like this game! I was thinking either Team Ten or HHH, hhmmm…I guess HHH?

That would implay HHH and Team Ten go to too many tournaments. My guess would be the younger Dukes'. they are in every tournament and just continue to recruit over their own players after tryouts.

But really almost every club priortizes games over practice. In every sport.

HHH has one elite team within the program. Just so happens to be the coach’s son team. The rest of the teams are average at best. So certainly doesn’t describe the current HHH lineup .

Most of the coaching is now done in private lessons. Club teams are for game. Period. Help yourself.

Don’t let the Dukes Dads hear that

Dukes practice twice a week, even through the winter, so not them.
That said, I think the more games/tournaments kids play, the better. I want my kid with a stick in his hand battling other programs as much as possible. Are you suggesting practice is better than games?

Games and practice are both crucial. However, could argue the younger your kid is the more important practice is because practice is where he’ll learn key fundamentals and concepts that will give him the ability to play and compete in games effectively. You could argue this for older players as well. Players should be learning continually

Don't be surprised in the next 3-4 years that there won't be anymore club teams with 17+ D1 commits per team. Roster cuts are coming to D1 programs. No more 60+ rosters, 48 spots per team is what the norm will be. Theres a ton of talent all throughout the country. Exciting stuff.

My son just started playing (Young high schooler), so we look for development and ways to increase his lacrosse IQ. He is a better athlete then almost every kid he steps on the field against so he has that advantage. I guess it depends on what you are looking for in a program. I need a coach/club that will take some time to teach and drill. Many of you are looking for pathways to get your son to college and you have to pay for that because your son may not be as athletically gifted like my son.

At the youth level…Yes, yes I am.

Makes no sense - then just have him train, why join a club?
You can practice all you want but means nothing if it doesn’t translate to the game. I’ve seen a lot of kids succeed/excel in practice but panic/overthink in game situations.
Yes practice is important, but you want the boy playing as many games as possible. To suggest otherwise is absurd

Interac predictions for this spring?

Haverford
Malvern
Episcopal
SCH
PC


GA

I think SCH passes Episcopal this year…
Resch has PC on the right path, they’ll be vastly improved l, but they are ways away. GA supposedly spending money to recruit, doubt it, but we shall see.
At the top, I’ll take the Vern over Fords

SCH passed Episcopal last year. This year will be close again between those too.
GA brought in a new director of lacrosse. Used to be the head coach at William and Mary. I suspect that they will start to recruit on the boys side now not just the girls side but right now that is being done at the 2030/2031 age group.

EA picked up some really nice 29s, SCH money has dried up, MP has a very nice class coming in. GA is throwing around some money for the first time so we will have to see if it pays off. HS should be #1 this year, but may struggle after that.

Not interac but LS could be in some trouble as it’s a football school now

LS?

Haverford and Malvern will be competing for the top spot and Episcopal and SCH will be competing for the third spot. Too early to tell who will win each of those match ups.

Had an interesting holiday conversation with someone who knew all about the BPG lacrosse program lately—sounds like they’re making big moves and reshaping the landscape. Below are the key takeaways

Dukes:
It’s no secret they’re extremely profitable. They’ve got AA and A teams at almost every level, including high school. What’s fool is they don’t pay most of their coaches—almost all are parent coaches, except for one or two and they get paid next to nothing because they make money through trainings or their real lacrosse job.

Dukes has always been seen as a middle school program, but it looks like they’re trying to expand into the high school space. Meanwhile, Brotherly Love, traditionally a high school program, is making moves to build out their middle school side. Interesting dynamic there.

Leadership:
RF and JF have almost no involvement with Dukes anymore. The program is mostly run by their brother-in-law, who coaches two of their most successful teams and has kids in the program.

RF took a college job so he has limitations on his involvement and JF has a time consuming coaching job, but it doesn’t matter because they have such strong enrollment numbers down to 3rd Grade.

National:
BPG is excited about this. They’ve hired Michael Sowers (yes, that Michael Sowers) to work in real estate, and now they’re using him to help build out a national lacrosse program. They apparently considered buying RedHots for the national team but settled on a strong working relationship instead. They like the idea of owning all teams their players play for though. They want to create a model similar to NXT with 3Step, but with more vertical integration—they want to own the fields, the teams, and the events and they currently have two out of three.

The real kicker is how they see the Dukes model as the blueprint for success. By bringing in parent coaches early, they create relationships that make it tough for kids to leave for other programs. It’s a smart play, even if it’s a little unconventional. They say the Philly area is unique because of early township lacrosse gives them parent coaches with a built in recruitment vehicle. Almost all of their parent coaches start as township coaches and recruit kids that way.

Big picture: BPG looks like they’re positioning themselves to dominate on a national level, and Dukes is already one of the most successful and profitable programs out there. Will be interesting to see how this shakes out and if they can expand the model also interesting to see how other programs respond.