My son is in the 5th grade, we are in a northern Westchester "hot bed" for lacrosse. I've been told by 3 or 4 different parents that my son "has to play for XYZ summer club or he'll never play in HS because the Varsity coach runs the club". I have refused to be pressured into registering him for the team in spite of being invited by the program director. He plays for a summer program that has no connection to our HS program and everyone knows this HS associated club is far inferior to the one he plays on now.
What is a parent to do? My son loves playing for this other club, has many friends on the team and is being coached by a few highly qualified coaches.
If your good you play.....period.
Not true at all at our HS. The girls coach has been playing games for years. There have been countless times when she does not play the best or even the good players. It has nothing to do with a conflict with a Club. It is a combination of nepotism, incompetence and who knows what.
I know it's extremely frustrating. I find myself many times just standing alone watching my son play, I refuse to get involved in idle chit chat with many of the parents. It's sad, but, it is what it is. Many of us don't know what occurs behind the scenes between some parents, coaches, teachers and administrators. I've overheard parents talking to certain teachers who are friends with the lacrosse coach to send a message for their son's regarding playing time. Being that my son plays on one of the top travel teams, often times some parents will walk over, try to pin me down, questioning me about travel lacrosse and everything my son does outside of school. Just as that happens, I pull my cell phone out and say "excuse me, have to take this call." You never know, the parent you think is okay will cut your head off just for their kid to play more than yours.
