Dollars or Development?
The challenges we face with lacrosse in the PNW
What is the Development Plan?
Parents, reflect on the last year or two of your young athlete’s journey and ask yourself... What has my lacrosse player learned in the last year? Can you honestly answer that question? Have you seen their mechanics get better or have you just seen them get stronger, so their shots are faster? Are they causing and getting more ground balls or are they sitting in the penalty box a little more? I could go on with more examples, but you get the point. Kids grow and develop at different rates, and while everyone knows that, we keep repeating the cliché…”We are winning more games so that means development is happening.”
This is totally false and a major flaw in the lacrosse club system…but the club programs will never admit that. Why should they? Parents keep shelling out money for their kid to play on the “best” travel program and go to the “best” tournaments, and clubs will keep taking that money and putting kids on inflated rosters to turn around and say, “Play for us because we go to the best tournaments!” The reality is that club sports are not designed to scale. The best programs hold their manageable size and stick to it while developing the players they have. Most clubs that are centered around growth are just in it for money and have no interest in development. Think about it like this - Club team wins > people think they're good > people sign up > club grows > club scales > quality degrades. The bigger the club the less quality in coaching and development happen…doesn’t matter what the sport is.
People have been saying it for years…The PNW is not big enough for multiple elite clubs, but what the real truth is, is that it is big enough for several development programs and a couple elite level teams at each age group. This only holds true if there is a development plan/model in place and some form of regulation and/or oversight. That doesn’t exist here in our area because the system is set up by those whose interests conflict with every aspect of youth development.
“But there are several clubs in the PNW that have multiple (AA and A) teams and we have regional leadership!”
Yes, that is true but what has the leadership done to grow and promote the game? How many of the people on those boards are also club directors and coaches? It’s a clear conflict of interest there, but we let it happen and continue to struggle and stagnate.
Are the clubs developing kids as athletes and young adults? How many A team players make it to the AA team the following year? Are the kids able to reach the next step or goal in their lacrosse journey? Is there a plan both regionally and at the club level, or is it “Come play for us because we win games”?
The easy answer is there is no development plan/model at any level. No development plan because the leaders control the narrative. Spring programs are on their own to grow their numbers and the clubs gladly chew up and spit out kids as they please. No development plan = continue as is and keep the narrative, winning is development. In most cases it simply comes down to physical growth and mental development but not athletic development. When kids hit 7th and 8th grade you see a ton of change. Suddenly your shortest player is now one of the tallest, or the kid who was the biggest is now the same size as most of the team, another kid put on 20 pounds…all changes that need to be addressed individually when developing as athletes. Can your club really say it recognizes and addresses any of those changes?
10-15. That is the total number of practices most of the clubs in the PNW hold in a single season. That’s 20-30 practices a year. Clubs on the East Coast hold over 50 practices in that same timeframe, as do most other sports here. Yes field space is a challenge but it’s not impossible. How many practices did your athlete go to this fall? All of them? 8? 6? Less? How can we expect athletes to develop with only 10 or fewer practices? Now go a step further. In that hour and a half to two-hour practice, how many times did they touch the ball or were part of the drill and moving? How much of the practice are they goofing around with friends while in line (which is normal)? If kids practice standing around most of the time, how can we possibly expect them to get better, or even have the desire to get better? Now go one more step. Are the coaches seeing that growth we mentioned earlier and working with the kids, or are they just taking advantage of the new size and/or speed? That is not development, and in fact sets the athlete back, especially if they want to play at the next level. I’ve seen too many kids hit that 8th grade growth spurt and shoot the ball 10X harder all while having terrible mechanics and somehow no one tells them. If coaches are not addressing that then there is no development plan for any player.
Not everyone has the D1 dream and that is 100% fine. Playing any sport is a privilege and I think we forget that, especially as kids hit middle and high school. Some will want to make that next step while others may just want to maintain. Talk to your kids and put together a plan/goals. Do they want to try to play in college? Do they want to make the varsity HS team? Do they just want to play and have fun? All are acceptable answers, but also mean very different development plans and timelines to hit those goals.
Now go ask your association directors and/or club coaches what the development plan is for your athlete based on what your kid’s goal/s are. Do the associations reach out to the community and rec programs? Do the travel programs help the spring rec programs or do they just want the best kids? What is the regional development plan? Do coaches ask what your kids’ goals are at the club? Will you even get an answer or a plan? Do they even care?
Here are a few links to the many reasons sports are struggling in the US and many touch on the development factor.
https://www.thewildcatroar.com/800-sporting/2022/11/14/the-money-world-of-youth-sports/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/opinion/youth-sports.html
https://lasvegasweekly.com/news/2024/mar/14/pay-to-play-youth-sports-have-become-expensive/