Interesting, and would love to see this be true, but it is not showing up at the U13, U11 or U9 level yet. Breakout has done very poorly in the Bethesda league the past few years and does not even have a team that is competitive enough to be in the NYPLL at any level. They have been at the bottom in that new Fall elite League that plays at Tilden, too. I hope you are right, and they are working on ball skills and game skills but, in my experience with a child who played for Breakout for several sesons, the coaches they hire do not know how to teach the whole game with skills and strategies. Heck, in the youngest age groups the coaches dont even always teach the kids the rules of the game.

Anonymous wrote:i don't think I need to expand. All you have to do is read the posts from folks describing Club Blue, Bethesda, Next Level and Breakout and you'll see the differences between the philosophies of the various teams. I disagree about breakout's success on the field, but maybe my sons just ended up on good teams.

I think what your sons experienced is fast becoming the norm at Breakout. A number of families started leaving Breakout for other leagues in MD and VA in part because the teams were getting soundly beaten. Breakout apparently took notice. While they still have the "have fun" philosophy, and as coaches are generally not screamers or overbearing (the norm for other teams as far as I can tell), a year or so ago there seemed to be an emphasis on strategy, playing the better players more often, and, well, winning, than before. As a result, my observation is that the Breakout teams have become much more competitive with each passing season.

i don't think I need to expand. All you have to do is read the posts from folks describing Club Blue, Bethesda, Next Level and Breakout and you'll see the differences between the philosophies of the various teams. I disagree about breakout's success on the field, but maybe my sons just ended up on good teams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Breakout is great, relaxed. Bethesda is more intense and higher pressure but not necessarily higher quality coaching. Next Level is frustrating for kids not associated with Landon.

Please expand on what you mean re: Next Level and Landon, particularly as a subsequent post seems intent on debunking this statement.

I'd like that poster to expand on the comment too. Travel lacrosse is not that "segregated" by schools these days. During annual tryouts every year some kids try out for all the teams and a few always move among the 4/5 teams, espcially between Bethesda, Club Blue and NL. These boys all know each other and are pretty chatty and social when playing against each other and when they see each other around. Many of them play togther on other sports teams and see each other at other activities.

NP here. We don't have any connection to Landon and my DS played at Next Level a couple of years ago and I never picked up on anything frustrating for boys that didn't attend Landon. I'm sure there were a few Landon boys, but there were also many boys from a variety of schools. My younger son will play at N.L. when he is old enough because we have had a very positive experience.

Anonymous wrote:Breakout is great, relaxed. Bethesda is more intense and higher pressure but not necessarily higher quality coaching. Next Level is frustrating for kids not associated with Landon.

Please expand on what you mean re: Next Level and Landon, particularly as a subsequent post seems intent on debunking this statement.

Anonymous wrote:Next Level and Club Blue are the best youth programs in the area.

Breakout has always been towards the bottom.

Bethesda is run by a bunch of fathers who desire to coach their sons.

All 4 programs mentioned above have some great players but the stronger players historically have gravitated towards CB and NL.

This is by far the most accurate explanation of the above posts. There are some inaccuracies but maybe some folks' info is just a little stale.

Club Blue is also coached by dads (Altimus?) so you do get some nepotisim and croynism there too. Club Blue is also almost excluively boys from Catholic schools. Bethesda Travel (should be noted as Bethesda alone also has rec teams) does have the most nepotism and croynism as its always current dads coaching and many of those dads play in old-man lax leagues together themselves. Obviously they have a vested interest in seeing their sons excel together and, if the kids are fairly equal to start, playing time can make a big difference. Bethesda does have some great teams though, they compete pretty equally with Club Blue anmd Next Level in several age groups.

Breakout is the outlier, their teams are not nearly as successful as the other three. Breakout does have a great philosophy though and is a well run organization. They just dont win as much and they dont have the depth and breadth of travel teams. I don't think it is what they are "about" as it were. Also, Breakout teams are usually walk-on rather than true tryouts with cuts, at least in the younger years and the girls teams. There is more than enough room and need for their more relaxed style.

Both Next Level and Breakout are for-profit and run by "professional" coaches - not parents. Both have year round clinics (Bethesda has seasonal clinics as part fo the rec league). The biggest inaccuracy is that Next Level is not "just for Landon" boys, if it ever was. The owner's sons did attend Landon but the program has grown well beyond that. They get players from everywhere. These days the boys teams are quite a mix with kids from public schools as far out as Olney, St Albans, some Catholic schools like Blessed Sacrament and Little Flower, Landon, other privates such as Norwood and St Patricks. Second, they have a thriving girl travel program now too. Next Level's advantage is that they alone own an indoor facility where their teams can train year-round. Another advantage is that lots of kids are introduced to lacrosse at Next Level's year-round clinics.

The organization that is missing in this conversation is Madlax. It is based in McLean but has started recruiting much more from DC and MD. The owner lives in DC and seems to be trying to move into the greater DC market. Considering how many kids have been at the annoual travel team tryouts (held in August) there are definetly enough kids who want to play on teams to go around.

Next Level and Club Blue are the best youth programs in the area.

Breakout has always been towards the bottom.

Bethesda is run by a bunch of fathers who desire to coach their sons.

All 4 programs mentioned above have some great players but the stronger players historically have gravitated towards CB and NL.

Breakout is very competitive with Next Level and Bethesda. I don't want to disparage Bethesda or Next Level - my sons have also played for those programs but I like the style of Breakout. They are good, skills oriented coaches. Their teams win just as much as other teams but without as much negativity. Again, this is my perception, maybe not universally held.

Anonymous wrote:Breakout is great, relaxed. Bethesda is more intense and higher pressure but not necessarily higher quality coaching. Next Level is frustrating for kids not associated with Landon.

When you say Breakout is relaxed, does that mean that they are not competitive?

Breakout is great, relaxed. Bethesda is more intense and higher pressure but not necessarily higher quality coaching. Next Level is frustrating for kids not associated with Landon.

Breakout v. Bethesda v. Next Level

How do they compare/contrast?

LACROSSE is a french slang for selfy selfy! : P

I do believe you are right about specialization and sports but the genie is out of the bottle.

http://www.ihoops.com/training-room/parents/how-young-is-too-young-in-recruiting.htm

youth specialization in a single sport is a disease that needs to be stamped out by thoughtful parents. Repeatedly using the same muscles and joints in the same manner throughout the year is the foundation for chronic injuries.