Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know a single family that is expecting a scholarship. Everyone I speak to acknowledges that if you put the money we invest in Club Lacrosse into a 529 we would have paid for college 2 times over. The issue of leaving a poor team mid season is about getting value for the tremendous investment the family of these players are making.

What “value” do you think you are supposed to be getting? At this point a “good” club is only as good as how many Ws they can post, and that is dependent on how many good athletes the club can attract with their promises of whatever you want to hear. Nobody is developing players. If your kid hasn’t progressed your kid is either: not an excellent athlete or doesn’t grid hard enough ON HIS OWN TIME. It’s that simple.

If the club doesn’t develop its players, the club has no value.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know a single family that is expecting a scholarship. Everyone I speak to acknowledges that if you put the money we invest in Club Lacrosse into a 529 we would have paid for college 2 times over. The issue of leaving a poor team mid season is about getting value for the tremendous investment the family of these players are making.

What “value” do you think you are supposed to be getting? At this point a “good” club is only as good as how many Ws they can post, and that is dependent on how many good athletes the club can attract with their promises of whatever you want to hear. Nobody is developing players. If your kid hasn’t progressed your kid is either: not an excellent athlete or doesn’t grid hard enough ON HIS OWN TIME. It’s that simple.

These are facts.

I am losing track of what is even being debated. this discussion has devolved into people bragging "my son is great, what's wrong with yours." guess what, nobody cares.

bottom line is that if you are happy with the VLC 2028 team, that is great, and if you are unhappy, you are free to leave and that is great too. end of story.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know a single family that is expecting a scholarship. Everyone I speak to acknowledges that if you put the money we invest in Club Lacrosse into a 529 we would have paid for college 2 times over. The issue of leaving a poor team mid season is about getting value for the tremendous investment the family of these players are making.

What “value” do you think you are supposed to be getting? At this point a “good” club is only as good as how many Ws they can post, and that is dependent on how many good athletes the club can attract with their promises of whatever you want to hear. Nobody is developing players. If your kid hasn’t progressed your kid is either: not an excellent athlete or doesn’t grid hard enough ON HIS OWN TIME. It’s that simple.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really understand what the big deal is. My son played for a mediocre club team, but got on some showcase teams and got great exposure there, he got a few offered, but none of the schools aligned with his academic goals. He’s been accepted into a T10 school based in academic merit(with merit aid already coming in) and will play club if he wants. All of the recruiting communication went through his high school coach. His club experience was super positive and he had a ton of fun. IMO that has been a great club experience. I don’t understand what y’all’s end goal is here. If you all are so driven for glory in college why aren’t you just focused on getting on national teams? They have tryouts.

Because most on here have no clue that there are only 12 full scholarships that are spread over an entire DI lacrosse team of approximately 50 players. Most scholarships are quartered, and if you are a true stud halved to cover tuition. That's if a school fully funds all 12 scholarships. Some programs don't. Most think lax is like football or basketball in that there are scholarships for every kid playing. Nope.

My son really wasn’t going for scholarships, as we’ve saved for college already and that’s a sunk cost. He’s an excellent student and ultimately didn’t want lacrosse to dominate his academics, though he loves lacrosse and I’m sure will play club in college. Also by the end of 10th grade saw that he had a lot of academic options as long as he kept it up. Playground games started to take a back seat to his academic future. We do love the fact that merit money is coming in as it leaves more money in the pot for his sister and maybe grad school if that’s on the table.

I just don’t understand you VLC parents (et all) of little kids. I’m not sure what they expect out of a club. My son spent lots and lots of time hitting the wall and doing speed drills on his own in his free time. For club he came together for friendship and a good time with good families. Maybe because we were not in a “top club” we just had really chill nice families. When my son wanted to see what college options were available is when he started trying out for national teams. His “club” didn’t prepare him. No clubs do that. He’s #1 an athlete and can play any sport well and #2 spent his free time working on stick skills and footwork.

You all are really missing out on a positive experience for your sons by taking this all too seriously and letting your gigantic egos and dreams deferred get in the way of what playing a sport should be all about. I would bet money that all of your club hopping is parent driven and not at all child lead. It’s really sad to be honest.

I don’t know a single family that is expecting a scholarship. Everyone I speak to acknowledges that if you put the money we invest in Club Lacrosse into a 529 we would have paid for college 2 times over. The issue of leaving a poor team mid season is about getting value for the tremendous investment the family of these players are making.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really understand what the big deal is. My son played for a mediocre club team, but got on some showcase teams and got great exposure there, he got a few offered, but none of the schools aligned with his academic goals. He’s been accepted into a T10 school based in academic merit(with merit aid already coming in) and will play club if he wants. All of the recruiting communication went through his high school coach. His club experience was super positive and he had a ton of fun. IMO that has been a great club experience. I don’t understand what y’all’s end goal is here. If you all are so driven for glory in college why aren’t you just focused on getting on national teams? They have tryouts.

Because most on here have no clue that there are only 12 full scholarships that are spread over an entire DI lacrosse team of approximately 50 players. Most scholarships are quartered, and if you are a true stud halved to cover tuition. That's if a school fully funds all 12 scholarships. Some programs don't. Most think lax is like football or basketball in that there are scholarships for every kid playing. Nope.

Great post and what it’s all about

For those who think club lacrosse “develops” lax players. It does but not in the way you are thinking. If a player needs skill development they need to do that individually. Club is not going to be able to concentrate and give individuals the attention and skills development that the parents are asking for. To ignore the development that VLC does provide by giving access to top tier tournaments and putting together a great northern VA option just doesn’t make sense.

I don’t really understand what the big deal is. My son played for a mediocre club team, but got on some showcase teams and got great exposure there, he got a few offered, but none of the schools aligned with his academic goals. He’s been accepted into a T10 school based in academic merit(with merit aid already coming in) and will play club if he wants. All of the recruiting communication went through his high school coach. His club experience was super positive and he had a ton of fun. IMO that has been a great club experience. I don’t understand what y’all’s end goal is here. If you all are so driven for glory in college why aren’t you just focused on getting on national teams? They have tryouts.

That was the story for the entire summer and fall

Anonymous wrote:Losing games where the play looks worse from tournament to tournament is not a sign of developing lax skills

When did they start practicing for the spring? How many tournaments are you talking about?

Losing games where the play looks worse from tournament to tournament is not a sign of developing lax skills

Anonymous wrote:So the only right thing to do is to watch your kid lose a year of development and possibly get turned off from the sport? Your responsibility to the team overrides your responsibility to your son?

I never said that. Losing games doesn’t mean losing development.

So the only right thing to do is to watch your kid lose a year of development and possibly get turned off from the sport? Your responsibility to the team overrides your responsibility to your son?

Anonymous wrote:no dog in the hunt myself, and I am curious why you are so passionate that families were wrong to leave this team. they had their reasons, that is their choice. are you a parent or coach on the 2028 team, or are you just adamant that players generally should not leave teams mid year?

Just believe that barring exceptional circumstance players shouldn’t leave mid season.
Leaving mid season isn’t fair to the kids. To claim parents don’t see a path to improvement as an excuse right before a spring season is a cop out.