BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Conflicts! When HS Coaches Incorporate Summer Tournament Teams in Town

I feel compelled to respond, which I never have at this site, I just read and laugh. You must not be from Syosset, every year a 7th Grader is moved up, some years 5 or more.

The kids who get moved up to JV-A all atteneded the camp at some point.
Of course the Summer Team has a seperate fee, and it's a check made out to the Head Coach's business not the booster club or Sylax, check other towns and you'll see it is run quite different.
Don't defend it, just accept it like everyone else does...

Funny you should say Under Armour, isn't true that one of the Express founders is in charge of picking who's on the team. And really, beside this past year, what percentage of the players selected did not attend a catholic school. It's amazing to me how you all respond Anonymously, what's there to hide.

Well, I'm sorry you feel that those who have been moved up at some point attended the camp. But face the facts, no one is forcing you to attend and if your kid is that good, he needs not to attend the camp. Get over it! And PS tell me what HS coach doesn't make money off their HS summer team.

In response to you, college coaches do look at clips and yes you're right, you must attend big recruiting tournaments, and camps. However, how else are they going to know who you are if you don't send them a clip of yourself and tell them what camps you are attending? As far as the Under Armour team goes, isn't it true that one of the founders of the Express is in charge of picking the team? Besides this year, what percentage of kids that are selected for the Under Armour team plays for the Express or attends Charminade or St. Anthonys? And how come no one is complaining about how much money the heads for the Express are making. Aren't they HS coaches in some capacity?

All I am saying is let's look at some of the HS teams that have played together over the summer...West Islip, Shoreham Wading River, Ward Melville, Smithtown West and Syosset. All these teams have made the County Playoffs. I believe Garden City doesn't have a HS team in the summer, but they do stay together on a travel team. You tell me what works??

You want to have the travel team experience then go to recruiting camps at the middle school high school level. At least there you are coached by College coaches. My experience with travel teams is that Coaches (organizations) want to win! I have seen organizations add players just to win so they can post it on their website. What does this do to the younger player's self-esteem? And just to let you know, if you play for a D-1 program it is a job! One that your kids will be working 12 hour days. Can your kid handle it?

It doesn't matter what travel team your kid plays on, college coaches are looking for kids entering HS. College coaches aren't stupid. They know all the BS that goes on with all summer teams. Ask any top 20 D-1 college coach what they are looking for in a player and they will all have different opinions. Why...because they all have different needs. We should all encourage our kids to do their best and hope that a college they are interested in has a need for them. For all players, go to recruiting camps and send a game tape to all colleges you are interested in. Please let me know how you make out!

Dont be fooled, playing sports on any level is like a job d1, 2 or 3!

There you go!!! It's a job wherever you go!

I think there are major conflicts of interest on both sides of the fence:
1. HS Coaches coaching travel teams
2. HS Coaches coaching "town" teams

1. Our HS coaches "recruit" kids for their travel programs. They make it abundantly clear that if you play for their club it will help you. Imagine if you were a HS teacher who ran a tutoring business on the side and said - "if you get tutored by me, you will have a much better chance of improving your grades in my class." It's such a conflict of interest and puts the kids and the families in a no win situation. Much more prevalent on the girls side.

2. Our HS has a rule about coaches not be ing able to use our HS facilities for training or coaching their own student athletes. This rule is broken on a daily basis by coaches who are training their own athletes in the off season. First of all, I thought it was a rule that summer teams were not allowed to be coached by existing coaches. This is happening at our school. Much more prevalent on the boys side.

Coercion ( /koʊˈɜrʃən/) is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way. Coercion may involve the actual infliction of physical pain/injury or psychological harm in order to enhance the credibility of a threat. The threat of further harm may lead to the cooperation or obedience of the person being coerced

Last I read this is a felony and punishable by imprisonment maybe the AD should get involved or school board.

Unfortunately the AD is involved and has been made aware of the situation on both the girls and boys side. He has done nothing and neither has the Superintendent of Schools. My fear is that the coaches who are also teachers are all part of the union and are "untouchable." This issue has effected both of my sons and my daughter.

THEY MADE A MOVIE ABOUT THIS ITS CALLED BAD TEACHER WITH CAMERON DIAZ!!! PAY FOR TUTORING which will go for her cosmetic surgery and then you will pass the class.... she guarentees it! Sounds like LI Lacrosse

As a travel coach I have made it a point to "stay out of the way" of HS or middle school "time", meaning all practices during the spring season were either late in the day or on Sundays and ALWAYS encouraged my players, when their was a conflict, to attend the school events...with that being said, the summer is OURS and while the athletes can/should/may play both, I would hope the HS coaches provide the same encouragement to their players who continuously get better playing with the elite teams and whose opportunities for recruitment exponentially increase DURING the summer when college coaches actually have time to visit these events.

Come on, the reality of being on two teams leads to undo pressure, the players at these ages are so torn as to which to do (when there is no right team to pick).

In some cass it hurts the player's development, for others they thrive.

You need to know which one your child is. God knows they have enough to deal with entering puberty.

Dear Judy bloom which team practcie shoudl I attend@@@.

At least when it is a school coach certain conflicts are taken out of the equation.

I have two Northport sons who play for Team Tiger. Our school summer tournament team is sooooo competitive that in UMass they took the championships in almost every age group including our Varsity team. In the Noreaster tournament our only team competing took the championship against some of the best select teams there are. It's funny that with twenty minutes into the game, one of our boys scored a hat strick (3 goals) against Express. We have a great program THAT WORKS and it's extremely competitive, local and virtually free!!! What could be better than that! LET'S GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!

The school coaches have the kids almost all year. Can't the summer be the time they play with the other players from the select team?

There is clearly a conflict of interest and it should not be allowed.

Club Team Vs Town Team is a separate debate. The decision of what team to play for should be made by the players and their parents. The best interest of the child should be the driving force in the decision process and there should be no pressure from a high school coach.

I would hope that HS coaches would support the player knowing that he/she is committed to being the best they can be. Our HS team is priority, their practices and tournaments take precedence, but if a player has the opportunity to advance their level of play with a program that will allow them to do so, they should be able to do this without any ill feelings from coaches and HS team mates. Hard work and dedication is what should be recognized, as this is what builds character! The player obviously wants to learn and advance, trust me, they do not believe they are better than anyone else!

It is wrong for a high school coach to coerce a child to play for a high school / town team during the summer.

Restricting a players development is wrong.

Are you people saying that these H.S. coaches believe they can force a player to be on a summer team and then charge large sums of money for a mediocre lacrosse experience. These guys need to be exposed !

Does it work? When was the last time NP won a county championship? Are boys being recruited in mass to attend div I programs? I think this is the exact issue, town teams enter (with all due respect) weak tournaments finish strong in their brackets and are convinced that its working. Do your sons teams play the top express, 91, outlaws, etc teams in their age bracket? How does the program measure success?

It's rare when a town team can compete with the top tier travel teams. However that's not to say there isn't a place for the town programs. But if your son or daughter is fortunate enough to compete at a high level, then the town program is not for you. As far as HS coaches being paid to coach a town team, all it takes is one lawsuit and it will stop. That goes for the coach run camps as well.

No 7th grade Syo player was moved up this year

I hate to tell you but you don't have to play for a big select team to be recognized as a top lacrosse player and if you have a stand-out athlete he will shine on any field he is on. You could pay and pay but it your child doesn't have it, it doesn't matter. Let's face it, recruiting for a college is on an individual basis. You got it, you're invited, end of story.

I concur. We are going through the recruiting process right now (2015). My son is considered very good at his position and plays for the top team at a high profile club. That said the recruiting process is still "every man for himself" even with the support of his club and school coaches. To find a combination of academics, location, coach, lax conferenoce, school size etc is a very personal and individualistic process. The worst mistake is to have your son give in to coordinating with and following his high school or club buddies to every prospect day. That is a recipe for making a huge mistake and a kid not discovering a fit that really works for him individually with the hope of continuing playing with his hs friends in college. He will be passing up great opportunities while trying to follow his friends and will regret it too late. Best advice I have to set your kid up for success is to be realistic about where your kid is academically and start from there. You dont want your kid to fail out of an ivy or NESCAC and in the process ruin his lax experience. Follow your own path and think differently from the herd and your kid will have a much easier process and a better end result.

My son plays on a 3 year old travel team coached by the dad of a teammate, he is a phys ed guy at a neighboring district and once in a while the varsity coach makes an appearance. The problem is we have over 25 boys and pay $750 for 4 local tournament and 1 away (NJ). The coach and his annoying chatterbox whiny wife are connstantly claiming they dont make any money from this when clearly they do. They also allow anyone on the team-two kids still cant run and catch. You get what you get and you dont get upset...

Did anyone else misread this statement at 1st:

"My son plays on a 3 year old travel team"

I got that the team was started three years ago

I didn't get it until I re-read it. I first thought it was a team of 3yos, and assumed it was another spoof of lacrosse parents.

yet you stayed for the 2nd and 3rd year - this may sound like a silly idea but consider finding another team, and good luck finding that $750 5 tournament team. Is your son having fun? making friends? getting better at lacrosse? those things seem a little more important then how much PE coach is pulling in off the $750 he is charging.

It is wrong and it should not be allowed. No player should be coerced into playing for a particular team.

I guess I look at this slightly different , I think it's great when the local coach puts in the effort to make the team better. It's a significant amount of work and for 750 , there's not much in making money there. Yeah maybe the coaches are getting paid, but they're not getting rich. Probably 1-2k for the whole season per coach. 2 practices a week and 4 weekend tournaments, probably getting 20 an hr.

Now these 25 kids, some who will never make another travel team get to play together. It's much better for the school program then the top 2 kids playing with a travel team with kids from 10 different towns.

What will be a bigger accomplishment , Li championship with all your high school buddies or winning the tristate with 20 different families ?

They both serve a purpose, playing with and improving your HS team is very important but also playing with the same kids for 10 months a year and hearing the same coaches yelling for 3-4 years as well as playing against the same kids who may not be as good as your kid may not improve a "Better" player as much as playing with a summer select team with outstanding competition in both practices and games. The best scenario for these players would be to try and do both and balance it as best you can. if you can make it work

I agree, both teams serve their purpose. Not necessarily a bad thing when the coach tries to keep the town together and offers a travel team to all level of players.

If only we could all make this work.

How about this, since there is limited field space. Practice for town teams on certain days and travel on others. Play travel games on the 1st and 3rd weekend of a month and town on ONE of the other weekends. (or visa versa).

Play with your town friends and play with new boys. What a concept.

Here is the true reality. More lacrosse is GOOD for all players. If your coach is preventing your child from playing with other teams, it is time to find a new team.

Do you mean find a new high school? That's the issue here, school coaches leveraging their position to cash in on summer travel teams, camps etc. - it's called pay to play, whether it's CGI baseball and St. Anthony's school team or Northport HS and Yellow Jackets lax, it's everywhere and it puts unfair pressure (both financial and emotional)on far too many people and frighteningly enough it starts at 10 years old in some cases

Agreed , but is there a FREE option ! No matter where you play or who your child plays for, there is a cost involved. However if the H.S. Coach is running the program perhaps there might be some cost control. The coach may not be able to fleece your pocketbook in fear of being spoken about to the school district.

Hello. Both of my boys play Northport and we love it. The cost is 1/3 of the traditional travel teams. The are playing very competitively and my sons are growing as players by leaps and bounds. Sometimes the grass is not greener on the other side. Also, there is a wonderful feeling of community which cannot be surpassed. Both of my boys have made in the past the best travel "A" teams there are so I think as long as it is a positive experience and your sons are up to their fullest potential -- then you're a winner.