HooDat wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2023 10:28 am
MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2023 8:59 am
the impact of club vs rec depleting the overall growth and strength of lacrosse.
MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2023 8:59 am
this 'club' stuff with pay to play and emphasis on just the very 'best'...
I could see this cancer forming 15 years ago. Of course the counter-argument is look at the increased parity of college lacrosse, more talent is being developed in more places. To that I would say, yes - but think about how much
more talent could have developed if the late bloomers weren't shoved to the side and denied access to equal training.
I understood the need for travel club teams in the non hotbed regions - in fact I helped facilitate travel for boys and girls from Texas so that they could see for themselves the quality of play that their peers were capable of - with the message that nothing was keeping them from doing the same but their own expectations.
I never understood clubs taking priority over high school. I really never understood the need for club in Baltimore or on LI. I also became very discouraged at the Texas (and I assume other non traditional areas) club teams started pushing for commitments that allowed for nothing other than high school play - coaches pilfering talent from competing programs to make theirs "the best" ~ in middle school! Sure your super-team is great, but you just lost 20 kids in that age bracket from the game - but you got yours $$$
....
.... sorry for the rant, I am sure this
something to to with Duke UVA?
You and I see this much the same way.
My son was lucky to be early enough in this change that he and his buddies went through the rec process, then got tabbed to join a summer tourney club that was newly forming. Numerous future top D1 players in that group. But he was not remotely considered a star, certainly not amidst that bunch...that came much later. But would he have been as successful in todays' era just a decade later?
He was never the top player on any of the rec teams, wasn't the kid getting chosen for All-Star status, was typically picked among the last for the travel teams etc, yet persisted, wasn't discouraged, always felt he was contributing. Each season, he'd start out as a back-up, but by mid-season would be a starter... Great stick, great head, but slow afoot, big paws. When he got in the goal in 8th grade and continued to develop physically, he was still not highly acclaimed. Fresh Soph as a freshman in HS (10 older tenders in school), JV as sophomore...captain of those teams (with another future IVY starter), but not on anyone's top lists...managed to get into a couple of showcases, then Blue Chip, but back-up to a senior his junior year. Heck, at one point, the kid the year below him was moved into first back-up (very avid parents, father Chair of BD, brothers excellent players; high expectations)...but then my son managed to earn it on the merits and kept improving...All-Ivy. The kid above him and the kid the year below him played some DIII ball, but never really blossomed. Good players, good kids.
When talking with his college guidance counselor and the #2 administrator as a rising junior, they said my son shouldn't bother do off-site speed training in addition to squash and lax, as "only the best athletes get recruited"...he ignored that and managed to become a coach/trainer of other players, initially younger, then older as well so as to earn his own time working out.
Would he have gotten discouraged in today's era?
Maybe, maybe not...he loved being on the teams and contributing any way he could.
And when he had a chance to be the difference maker under pressure, he repeatedly did so, outperforming expectations again and again.
But obviously a lot of kids get told that they're never going to make it to college ball...
Last night with the group of older folks who kids have all been through the ringer, playing lax, running track, etc at top D1 and DIII programs, the discussion was about the challenges of kids making it to the colleges of their dreams (and their parents dreams!); my son is still involved with this process for a few international students from his former company...crazy competitive. One of the moms was talking about a good friend's kid who had been rejected by all her top choices, or waitlisted...the friend was distraught, she told her to toughen up, be upset privately ok, but as a parent her job was to model resilience not whining...A comment was made about "everyone gets a ribbon"; my son remarked that kids need to "get in the goal...get some goals scored on them"...realize you don't make every save, next shot...a little failure makes you stronger...the track coach mom who helps in college guidance too said that she makes a point of asking super successful people whether they were "rejected" at some point in their lives (often the first such is college admissions) and had found almost everyone cited some major rejections along the way...which she uses in guiding her students. Expect some losses, some "goals scored", and battle to the other side...
Matched your rant...