I have some questions about this......?

[FlockOfSeagulls]

what on earth does the president have to do with anything on this thread? (except for lack of talent and committment.... zing!)
also, 99.9% of everyone playing lacrosse worldwide have no intention, whatsoever of making money off of lacrosse.

[benji]

Hey LSA, the rest of the USLIA seemed to all have lost faith in us. Let's step it up already, and not lose faith in ourselves. Im getting really tired of hearing blah blah blah about how the LSA can't "bring it" this year and what not. It's time we crank it up a notch and show em' "how we roll."

good luck with that.

... hater.

[uzisuicide]

I would agree that coaching & commitment from players is a big issue as well. It is one that is so obvious that you almost forget about it. But I do think talent is an issue. Everyone on this thread is talking about kids going to D1 programs, '& well only so many are going to D1 programs & blah blah blah.' Lets not forget there are 2 other divisions people. I know that a truck load of kids take off to mediocre D3 or D2 schools just so they can say they played NCAA. Not everyone is shooting D1. & about eh money issue, most of the best players in the high school league are from private school and they have the money to send their kids abroad regardless of scholarships. The best 'consistently good over the past 5, or 6 years, public school teams in the TX league are Austin High, Lamar Houston, Highland Park, and probably Plano. & Yes more and more kids are coming in with high school experience, & they can pass and catch, and run without the ball falling out of their stick. But does that mean they can shoot from outside, dodge to the cage, beat a double team, take the ball away from their attackman, or stop a shot at point blank range? It's is great that more guys cna come in passing catching and do your fundementals, but unless you just plan to pass the ball around the entire game, what good is that. The issue is playmakers, vs role players. role players are only good if they have play makers to bank off of. I would agree though that there is potential to develop these non-playmakers, that do have experience into good players. But a big problem is that these type of guys have not been there long enough for coahcing to make an impact, or the coaching isn't there some places. As for commitment it is tough when lots of teams in the LSA do not have the same within team competition as NCAA or top USLIA teams have. If some guy is threating to take your spot it makes you play better to keep it. Now I don't know if it is coaches not pushing enough or if drop off after starting lines is that big. I think it's a combination of both. Plus I would agree that there are several distractions that are more easily given into, and harder to regulate against when you are a club team from some of these large Universities. When I say distractions, I refer to drugs, and alcohol. & I especially refer to them in the context of use during the season. Now I am no saint, but I know that most NCAA programs will suspend you from play or punish you, w/ running or somthing of that nature, if you are caught drinking even 48 hours prior to the scheduled contest. & that is just drinking, lets not even get into drugs. I'm not saying that kids at NCAA schools do not do this stuff, but there is more of a real consequence if they do, hence after a while they fall in line. There is just not the reasources or man power to maintain this kind of undertaking in clubs programs in the LSA. That type of stuff falls under lots of catagories, money, coaching, player commitment, moral standards, expectations, and the list goes on and on. So in that regards in addition to what I do forsee as a talent problem in this league it is also a problem of do the players from your team want to be contenders or do they want to join a club to make friends, and drink beer with. & if the coaches wnat to be competitive, will their players meet them half way? Just think about the cancelled games from Baylor, where they only had like 9 guys even ready to travel. Is that a team or just some social club? They need to make up their mind. & I don't think that it is happening to that severity everywhere but it could be possibly happening to various degrees in most programs in of the LSA.

[Rice University Coach]

Good points throughout your post. Commitment is a major issue with Club Lacrosse. The majority of my boys at UH are committed to the program and attend all practices and games. They work hard and take their Lacrosse seriously. As far as alcohol and drugs are concerned, thats a touchy subject. If we think that it's not going on, we're only fooling ourselves. My guys at UH like to have fun as much as any team in the league. We have a pretty good Student Rec department at UH and the standards and expectations of a club sport team at UH are pretty well spelled out. All players have to sign a form listing the standards as far as behavior and alcohol and drugs.
Yet you know that boys will be boys. I am not an employee of the University, but I am their coach. I ask my guys to stay out of trouble and to remember that they are representatives of the University of Houston. We have a good group of officers that monitor the team while on the road. They generally all eat together, and go out together as a group. They police themselves, and are mature about "doing the right thing".

[SMULaxHC]

As mentioned several times before, promotion is gonna be huge for this league. I think Karl's got something going by having the play-in games in Houston and Dallas. One of our stud freshman, Mike Carrington, was an all-american at EHS. Now, he came to SMU for various reasons (academics, older brother, etc.), but he's been pretty impressed with the talent around the league so far. His best buddies, Webb and Weiss, went to the big leagues. He didn't want to come out to our team at first because he wasn't sure what he'd find. Now that we've got him on the bandwagon, all it takes is for him to go back home over the summer and talk to his coach and former teammates about SMU and the LSA. Thus my point being if at least one former Texas highschool baller went back to their former team and did some publicity for about thirty minutes one random afternoon, I think that it would do wonders. I went back to SJS my freshmen year and had Sam Chambers come out to an SMU/Rice game. Just a little work on everyone's part is not that much to ask if we want to see this league be legit someday.

By the way . . . where is the play-in game being played in Dallas and on what date/time/etc? Thanks.

[LaxC21]

smulax28 - I think you are right with the fact that current players have to go back to their high schools and get those kids to come to the LSA.

As far as EHS, all I have to say is good luck with getting Pete on board with the USLIA. He has done some significant work in bringing the east coast to Texas to recruit, I doubt he will change direction now...but who am I to be a hater...go for it.

[Brent Burns]

I like what Karl suggested in one of his posts in this thread that LSA can look at forming a Recruiting/Retention committee. One of the objectives for this committee can be one like Tom Greene (aka smulax28 suggested that each LSA team can appoint a rep to speak to the high school students).

[SMULaxHC]

Hey, I'm definately in on that. Do we have something like that already structured similar to the playoff comittee or do we need to start from scratch. I'll volunteer to get it going for sure.

[FormerTiger]

If I could take this back to Jessexys original post....He is 100% correct. Of course none of the LSA teams want to win....which explains why there are so many players practicing every day and traveling hundreds of miles every weekend....because they dont care and they dont want to win...clearly. Sure A&M could sit back and win games if they wanted to and cared, but hey, who would want to enjoy the dominant reputation that they have enjoyed for so many years. Its very tough to believe they only put up 10 goals on UNT.....because surely UNT hasnt progressed into a competative lacrosse program in the past year. I guess it has nothing to do with the fact that A&M has a young team and havent found their groove yet, its just that they dont want to win....clearly. While we are at it, lets get after Baylor, a team that could hang with any team in the LSA last year. Dont even get me started on you boys in Lubbock.....because apparently beating A&M must have been a fluke....surely you guys havent been putting forth effort in practice with a little drive to win a game. You will have to beat a perrenial power again....but dont worry....apparently they dont want to win either.
I hear its pretty cool these days to play on fields covered in mud from end line to end line.....So next time, try to do a better job of controlling the weather. Since we all seem to be without limits to our club budgets, next time get Reliant field so nobody has to worry about the field conditions.

I sincerely hope that the readers will note my sarcasm....but I dont think that anyone who claims to be supporting the LSA should be bashing every team in the league. It doesnt bode well for visitors from other leagues that read our board. As LSA reps, we should always support each other during out of conference play, not suggesting that its a lack of effort or heart that determines the scores. I guess they just dont make lacrosse players or programs like they did in Jessexy's day. If I could quote Dale Carnagie via Sonny...."Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain......and most fools do"

[JStoops]

Touche` FormerTiger

[tlaing1]

Jay- you are formally banned from speaking ever again.......

I think that the idea behind most of these points are not that teams dont want to play, but do they actually show up for games.

[FormerTiger]

Well, if that wasnt the point, then dont ask if they dont want to win

[OldBalls]

Apparently sarcasm is lost on the sarcastic...Keep bringing it Rev. Jessexy!

I think we all know what he was talking about, the LSA has played like they are just happy to win in conference and get their ticket punched to wherever the hell the championship is.

And, no, they don't make players like they did in Jessexy's day...Where you at Juice?

[LaxTastic]

maybe some old aggies should come around to every team's practice in the LSA and inspire us to win some out-of-conference games. Plus, who doesn't want to hear stories of how they won for like 10 years in a row while the league was still growing and all the other teams weren't good.

GET 'ER DONE TEXAS

[green tea]

maybe some old aggies should come around to every team's practice in the LSA and inspire us to win some out-of-conference games. Plus, who doesn't want to hear stories of how they won for like 10 years in a row while the league was still growing and all the other teams weren't good.

Or maybe we should ask those 'old Aggies' to remain involved in the game by coaching at the youth, HS, and college levels. And to become refs that help the game grow and prosper. And to pass down some of the knowledge to the next generation that was given to them by Tony S, a man who has forgotten more about lacrosse than most on this board will ever know.

Oh, wait...that's already happening.

LaxTastic - we all want the game to grow. Respect those that came before you and have tasted the success that we want all of the LSA to enjoy.