But the questions also rolls over to high school and the high school coaches. I agree that if a player wants to improve and compete at a higher level they should play club ball, but what happens during the summer when the high school coaches put together school teams to compete in tournaments and your child can't committ to being there 100 percent of the time because of conflicts in tournaments. Our experience has been that the child that plays for a team outside of the school venue is "punished" for doing so. Their playing time with the high school team is reduced even though their skills are clearly more advanced they play second string. What should a player do? This type of behavior makes the player and the parent feel horrible. As a parent you watch all of their hardwork, the time and committment go down the tubes because the player sits on the sidelines because he chooses to play for a travel team during the summer.
I don't know about boys lacrosse, but in girls lacrosse ( and I'm sure it's the same ) It almost does not matter what happens in the spring. Almost without exception, every college coach is trying to win there own games to worry about High School games, and M.S. games count even less. Being in the middle of the recruiting experience this year I can say without question school ball mattes very little unless you are in G.C. Manhasset, St. Anthony, Chaminade, W.I. , or Sacred Hart.
In my opinion to the original question, why would you not want your kid on the field as often as possible. Even if you kid has to "play down" ( by the way that sounds really elitist, what is your kid to good for everyone els) what he/she is showing is school/team spirit, and every coach on earth wants to see that.
In the summer If your son /daughter wants to play club over H.S. team ball then let them, despite any repercussions from the coach. In the end remember, colleges are not looking to recruit until summer, so if you kid plays second string not first, who cares the only one getting hurt is the H.S. coach, he looks foolish and petty for sitting talented players.
