GRLC Championship Seeding

[RGDickerson]

Talk to a high school and make a big event out of it like the SELC does with Northview HS. That's the school's main fundraiser of the year and it's a pretty cool event. They essentially handle everything and all you have to do is show up and play.

Totally agree...don't really know the semantics of all of this but the SELC championship is AWESOME to go to. Lots of booths and things going on in between games.

I know we had playoffs in high school at CBC.. and it was an awesome facility. Not saying we should do it there as I'm sure they would probably say no but I'm sure there is a high school somewhere in STL willing. $5 dollar admission I think it was at the SELC championship and the place was packed.

Just some ideas for the next tournament "coordinator."

[Chris Larson]

The challenge as I see it is to convince a high school booster group to take on this event in the middle of their season. I'd be interested to see how groups have attacked that variable.

We're looking at it for the UMLL as well, but given the facility demand the shortness of their season creates, I'll be intereted to see what kind of interest we generate. For example, this season, because winter is only now leaving us, most HS teams are playing 3-5 games a week to make up for weather cancellations.

[norway]

Here's a theory. I bet if MSU guys spent more time on the field practicing, then they might make it to playoffs to enjoy the tourney. I would not criticize the people that work their butts off to insure that your team and all the other teams are able to enjoy and play a full season. It's funny that nowadays people always want to point fingers instead of doing something productive and helping out.

[scooter]

Here's a theory. I bet if MSU guys spent more time on the field practicing, then they might make it to playoffs to enjoy the tourney. I would not criticize the people that work their butts off to insure that your team and all the other teams are able to enjoy and play a full season. It's funny that nowadays people always want to point fingers instead of doing something productive and helping out.

Amen! Bonus points for you good sir

[Beta]

The challenge as I see it is to convince a high school booster group to take on this event in the middle of their season. I'd be interested to see how groups have attacked that variable.

We're looking at it for the UMLL as well, but given the facility demand the shortness of their season creates, I'll be intereted to see what kind of interest we generate. For example, this season, because winter is only now leaving us, most HS teams are playing 3-5 games a week to make up for weather cancellations.

I am not sure how things are run with 3-5 games a week in the HS programs up there (gah!). But with the SELC tourney there are 2 B quarterfinal games played at a seperate high school and 2 A quarterfinal games played at Northview HS back to back. Then on Saturday there are 2 morning B games and 2 night A games. You can throw in 2-3 high-profile high school rivalry matchups in there if you wish (increase ticket sales). Then on Sunday you have the 2 championship games. Down here, teams cannot play on Sundays. So essentially if a school has Friday night off, they can let the colleges use the fields that night, then the next day have a couple of big games that bring in a lot of students, families, etc. Then the weekend tourney passes are heavily discounted to get more people to ALL of the games.

And of course, it helps to have the tourney in an area where there are a lot of fans for the majority of the teams in it (SELC = UGA, GT, Auburn, etc).

Word.

[beckner11]

Some little facts for you since you clearly know nothing:
1) MSU practices 5 days a week
2) This is the first season since the founding of the MSU team in 2002 that they failed to make the playoffs.
3) I personally have tried to take steps to be productive which have been turned down (i.e. trying to get on the board to have more active say in what goes on, volunteering to help at the conference tourny).

I'd suggest you be very careful in calling out a TEAM until you know the facts. Now I ask YOU, what have you done to be productive?

[norway]

Becky:
I actually volunteered to the work the tourney. By the way, I have kept up w/ MSU's track record. Just b/c a team practices 5 days a week doesn't necessarily mean they are practicing hard. Not necessarily trying to criticize your alma mater, but they do seem to have more players on here than the other teams do. And they do criticize others an awful lot considering their performance this year. I am not trying to offend, but they are not showing any respect to the ones that make their season possible.

*Just as a side note: I know their were some circumstances during the fall meeting that would have led to some change, but for some reason neither you (BECKNER) nor any MSU members took that time to let your balls drop and voice your concerns in public. Kind of easy on here to do it. But you might be the passive aggressive type.

[Troy Hood]

Gentlemen:

At the risk of stepping on Benson's toes, I ask that the "flaming" on this thread, and other places on the GRLC forum, come to an end. Sharing your criticisms of each other privately may be a better way to solve your disagreements without airing them in public.

As an outgoing member of the GRLC Executive Board (and one that has been involved with conference leadership since the league's inception in 2003), I am very concerned with the perception of our organization on a national level. I am also very concerned with the fact that we should be working together to make our conference better instead of pointing fingers at each other.

Let's put our best foot forward in discussing critical issues such as this one without calling each other out on topics that do not concern the issue being discussed. I ask this not only to improve our collective public personae, but also, to develop productive dialog that can used by the conference leadership to, in turn, develop policy that serves all members of the conference.

Thanks to all member teams of the GRLC for a fantastic 2008 season. I look forward to an even better 2009.

[norway]

You're right Troy. Thanks for stepping in. By the way, you have done a great job. I really appreciate the hard work you have done.

[bste_lax]

At the risk of stepping on Benson's toes, I ask that the "flaming" on this thread, and other places on the GRLC forum, come to an end.

1) What he said.
2) Someone has to do it before noon.

[DRich17]

what I said earlier about not needing an official application was strongly influenced by what I have heard from souces on the GRLC's EB. I had an hour long conv. with Mosher actually about a lot of things. I was very impressed with our conf leader's professionalism.

Finding a high school to host the conf tourny will work if we sell them on it (ie we have to make it sweet for them). For example, telling a local HS team that we will bring in all the fans and their team gets to keep the admission money ($5 a pop) is a good start.

Just because you don't see someone who is posting on these boards send out the dozens of emails, talk to players, coaches and officials, and privately message others does not mean that person is not doing something (proverb?). I have certainly been one to take a negative tone on these boards, and my sarcasm could use a check, but it is clear that calling someone out (like I have done) or spending time to tell someone else off (me again) is not the best way to get something positive done, Troy you are right. And although I have thoughts about a lot of people on here, If I am as concerned with improving the GRLC (as I claim to be), I may want to rethink my approach.

I do think voicing opinion is one of the best and most essential things to do in order to improve, and I do not believe you must be qualified (or your team) in any way.

Having said all that, I think there are a lot of teams that would love to host the tourny, if that is the case we should start researching what would be involed in it. I would love for us to be able to host it, however locking our stadium (that we used for all our home games this year) may not be possible.

A neutral site in STL may work the best.

[beckner11]

After reading some of the LSA discussion on playoff locations I have a couple thoughts:

1) The players and coaches were thanking their administration for how smoothly everything is run after some of them read this thread. So maybe WE ALL should just take a deep breath and relax when reading each others posts and keep in mind that we all are working for the same common goal when it comes to discussions such as the playoff location, etc. (I know I'm guilty of getting a little wound up in the discussion too)

2) A big thing that was pointed out several times in their discussion is the importance of fan support at their conference tournament. I think this is a big area of opportunity for the GRLC. It seems that the past couple years it's only been the other teams and players parents in the stands. There is a surplus of high school lacrosse teams in the St. Louis area and it seems that none of them even know when the tournament is in town. I would be willing to, or someone else can, but I think that as long as the tournament is in STL every team, or at least an attempt to reach every team, should be given fliers about the event. We can even use this as a means to direct them to the GRLC website if they have questions (assuming it can be kept up to date) about times and locations. Having those kids out to see what the next level of competition can look for a lot of them would be great exposure of the sport, GRLC, and the MCLA as a whole.

[Michael Martin]

Come on Troy, this has been great reading for the LSA. It has served to make others feel a lot better about themselves after reading this thread.

Just some random thoughts regarding our tournament:
We are very limited in site location due to availability of quality officials. There are many sites to which they simply will not travel (sorry Nebraska). The further from St Louis and Chicago, the more we play in travel and lodging for those willing to attend.

Dollars - Last fall, teams were not willing to raise dues. Much of what has been suggested would require additional funding.

Neutral site - remember the LSA and SELC have the advantage of starting their seasons much earlier than the GRLC, due to weather. I would guess the concern of squeezing in required games at the MCLA or HS (MSLA) level is not as great. Look at the UMLL which truncated their playoffs so not to impact the HS schedules. It may be hard to find that local HS which wants to tie up their facility this late in their season.

Many fields have been suggested, some are not acceptable due to light "curfews". If we had scheduled AB Soccer Park, we would still be waiting to play as their turf is rolled up due to the early flooding. Would CBC reschedule their annual 2 day Freshmen tournament?

St Louis has not been a MCLA/USLIA hot bed over the years. All the years that the National Championships were held here, there was not a great deal of local support. I remember Kyle Hawkins bemoaning the lack of interest from some of the high schools, because they downplayed it as "club" lacrosse. One has to remember MSLA teams and the St Louis USLacrosse chapter sponsor the Fall Faceoff as their big fund raising event, featuring NCAA teams and top MCLA teams (Lindenwood-Illinois). It's hard to compete with Syracuse and Princeton.

We need flexibility in scheduling, as this year the time for DII championship game was not determined until early Saturday afternoon. We had games Saturday starting at 11 am and ending just before midnight. This may make adding a "local" HS game difficult, unless they are willing to also be flexible.

Attendance - outside of Illinois and Lindenwood games, how many games had significant attendance?

Volunteers - do not turn down offers (Beckner and Norway), Corbin admitted his mistake. Hopefully we will see more offers next year. Remember. outside of the commissioner, every member of the Executive Board was involved in coaching that weekend.

Perhaps with more volunteers, the coaching staffs of Creighton and Missouri S&T would not have been preparing their field just prior to the game. No Beckner, the MCLA website was not wrong in listing the game with M S&T, we were a last minute replacement for SLU, which had an eligibility problem. Luckily, there was no outcry regarding new seedings, with Wheaton and DePaul apparently content to have their "regional" game.

Other Thoughts:
Over the weekend, we had 10 games played at 3 sites in 2 states and were able to determine conference champions without the Executive Board having to "declare" representatives to the Nationals.

T-shirts for the champions at least give each team member a small momento of their accomplishment.

The competition level in DII is getting much closer; semis and finals were all interesting games with no runaway winners.

Still a bit of difference in competition in DI between competitive (most of IAA), playoff (Missouri, MSU, and ISU) and national (LU and Illinois) level teams. Again a very exciting final between Lindenwood and Illinois.

Some very interesting ideas put forward in this thread, let's see how much interest and help there will be for 2009 to make some of these things a reality.

Best of luck to Troy and Mark with their teams in Texas.