Look at the coaches, not the players. If your players haven't been coached to play the right way (regardless of talent or athleticism), bad habits blissfully allowed to perpetuate uncorrected (buddy ball, kids trying to run through 3 kids to score or clear the ball). Kids leaving the Cavs (not going to other travel teams) need lots of correction to undo bad habits, filling in gaps for individual skills and team play.

Anonymous wrote:"Start a team, advertise a tryout, and see how many players show up..."

If only it were that easy.

Actually, there are some lax rec teams in the area that just do that - get players and coach them to play the game right. On the travel side, there's no lack of demand for soccer and hockey travel teams.

Anonymous wrote:It seems you are not a fan of the coaches at Cav's but you cannot have it both ways. Critics claim and I feel this is true, many of the top kids leave for what they perceive are better programs. Mostly this is VLC and one or two to Blackwolf. If the coaches that developed them were so horrible how did those players make these teams? Do the VLC and BW guy get to then take credit?

My son played on Cavs for two years, then left for VLC. One answer I would give is, he is a good player because he spends a lot of time on the wall, and because I pay for a private coach. Obviously, Cavs don't get credit for that. He was definitely better, after playing for the Cavs, than when he just played rec, so Cavs do get credit for that. And perhaps some credit should go to the teams the Cavs played, which were tougher than the rec opponents, and forced my son to get better.

The problem at the Cavs was that the coaching, as such, had pretty much reached its limit after two years, and I could see that he wasn't going to get any better if he stayed there. The team was running the same limited repertoire of plays, and doing the same things - with maybe incremental improvement - every time. He tells me that the coaching is much better at VLC. He is getting more personal attention, more feedback on what to do better, is running more relevant and useful drills, is getting better at what he already knows, and is learning new things. I am not the only parent who felt his son had "topped out" at Cavs, because at least four other boys left the team for VLC, MadLax, and other clubs.

What you are sort of asking is, "if my kid gets into Harvard, who gets credit, his grade school teacher or his high school teacher?" Cavs are grade school, VLC is high school. Both sets of teachers need to be good, but the kid needs teaching beyond the grade school level in order to get into Harvard.

You can be a great player, receive terrible coaching from your current team, and then leave for a better one. Happens all the time.

The alarming thing is rhe best players would leave Cavs for VLC in HS years. But now it's happening at the youth level.

"Start a team, advertise a tryout, and see how many players show up..."

If only it were that easy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's good to have options where kids have to more opportunity to develop as lax players and gain experience. The "money grab" perspective is when players aren't developing despite lots of time and money invested. I'm not saying every player will be a D1/D3 prospect but basic skills and lax knowledge are lacking with these teams but it's entirely in their power to change that if they care enough

Cav coaches are well skilled in the game and know how to teach basic skills and lax IQ the problem is that too many kids want to play travel and it is all relative. Not every kids is going to be a D1/D3 player but Cav's were criticized for playing in tournaments that are too easy. They stepped up and did not win as much and some kids seek greener pastures. The kids who replace them or stay may not be as strong. If a team does not win that does not make it a money grab. Lacrosse stick skills are something a player should develop on their own if they love the game. Hard to blame the coaches if kids do not have the basics. Many of the kids should stick with NVYLL. The number of clubs>the number of skilled players.

I don't think the coaches effectively teach basic skills and lax IQ and beyond that poor habits aren't corrected and the team stagnates - that's why kids leave. There's about 7K youth players in NVYLL - there's no lack of players to develop talent, just a lack of teams and good teams that develop kids to play good lacrosse.

It seems you are not a fan of the coaches at Cav's but you cannot have it both ways. Critics claim and I feel this is true, many of the top kids leave for what they perceive are better programs. Mostly this is VLC and one or two to Blackwolf. If the coaches that developed them were so horrible how did those players make these teams? Do the VLC and BW guy get to then take credit? How does that make sense? Are you really stating there should be more teams? Start a team, advertise a tryout, and see how many players show up? Let me know if you still think there is enough quality players to fill these teams and be competitive at the top levels.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's good to have options where kids have to more opportunity to develop as lax players and gain experience. The "money grab" perspective is when players aren't developing despite lots of time and money invested. I'm not saying every player will be a D1/D3 prospect but basic skills and lax knowledge are lacking with these teams but it's entirely in their power to change that if they care enough

Cav coaches are well skilled in the game and know how to teach basic skills and lax IQ the problem is that too many kids want to play travel and it is all relative. Not every kids is going to be a D1/D3 player but Cav's were criticized for playing in tournaments that are too easy. They stepped up and did not win as much and some kids seek greener pastures. The kids who replace them or stay may not be as strong. If a team does not win that does not make it a money grab. Lacrosse stick skills are something a player should develop on their own if they love the game. Hard to blame the coaches if kids do not have the basics. Many of the kids should stick with NVYLL. The number of clubs>the number of skilled players.

I don't think the coaches effectively teach basic skills and lax IQ and beyond that poor habits aren't corrected and the team stagnates - that's why kids leave. There's about 7K youth players in NVYLL - there's no lack of players to develop talent, just a lack of teams and good teams that develop kids to play good lacrosse.

The number of clubs>the number of skilled players.

Nail on the head.

Besides taking money and entering terrible tournamentz, Cavs has tons of dad coaches. That is a terrible philosophy for any travel club.

Anonymous wrote:It's good to have options where kids have to more opportunity to develop as lax players and gain experience. The "money grab" perspective is when players aren't developing despite lots of time and money invested. I'm not saying every player will be a D1/D3 prospect but basic skills and lax knowledge are lacking with these teams but it's entirely in their power to change that if they care enough

Cav coaches are well skilled in the game and know how to teach basic skills and lax IQ the problem is that too many kids want to play travel and it is all relative. Not every kids is going to be a D1/D3 player but Cav's were criticized for playing in tournaments that are too easy. They stepped up and did not win as much and some kids seek greener pastures. The kids who replace them or stay may not be as strong. If a team does not win that does not make it a money grab. Lacrosse stick skills are something a player should develop on their own if they love the game. Hard to blame the coaches if kids do not have the basics. Many of the kids should stick with NVYLL. The number of clubs>the number of skilled players.

It's good to have options where kids have to more opportunity to develop as lax players and gain experience. The "money grab" perspective is when players aren't developing despite lots of time and money invested. I'm not saying every player will be a D1/D3 prospect but basic skills and lax knowledge are lacking with these teams but it's entirely in their power to change that if they care enough

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The coaches don't make a lot, but the owner does. That's why the Cavs owner quit coaching HS lacrosse and is just sitting back and taking money from Cavs family.

Really? tell me genius, how much was he making coaching HS lacrosse? Maybe $2500? Besides he stepped back and new people run the club. This is not Madlax

Coaching HS lacrosse is peanuts. Ask the people running the day to day operations for Cavs and they will tell you how much the Cavs owner is making. That is why he doesn't care that they play in B tournaments.

Anonymous wrote:The coaches don't make a lot, but the owner does. That's why the Cavs owner quit coaching HS lacrosse and is just sitting back and taking money from Cavs family.

Really? tell me genius, how much was he making coaching HS lacrosse? Maybe $2500? Besides he stepped back and new people run the club. This is not Madlax

The coaches don't make a lot, but the owner does. That's why the Cavs owner quit coaching HS lacrosse and is just sitting back and taking money from Cavs family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After the 3d director left, they have only 3 teams. They were terrible to begin with. Doubt they can resurrect themselves.

Only Madlax and VLC can consistently field strong teams and have recruiting success. 3d, Evergreen, Cavs and TC are just there for the leftovers and make money.

I don't know who you think is "making money" at those clubs, but those coaches put in a hell of a lot of time and I am skeptical that they're getting paid a lot - especially if you calculate it on a per hour basis.

I agree with this. Clubs often get blames with "money grab" labels. If you figure the average club is about 2K per year with 22 kids per team = 44K per year take away 10K for tournament fees, field rental, another 2K for uniforms these is a minimum wage job at best. Coaches have jobs and still do this because they love the game