Letters to West Side Lax

Question about the article regarding Beckman High School's ranking and their key players. How does a school rank #1 two years in a row, and you don't recognize the goalie? How can a team be undefeated, and you don't recognize someone that must have stopped the goals? You often mention the same 3 players. How about someone else next time? I am actually the parent of another player, who also never gets mentioned in print!

Dee

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Great tournament this weekend. Wonderful to see so many teams AND spectators involved in the game. A concern, though... I understand that boys' lacrosse is on a larger scale, with the women beginning to take off, it would be nice to see them get some coverage. You truly must dig to get any information beyond individual and team rankings. As far as this weekend's tournament went....the girls' all-stars weren't even posted on the website. We've played this tournament two years in a row and little has changed for the girls. They play and work just as hard and deserve some recognition right alongside the boys.

Leslie Harden

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What about Steven Bogert? He actually played on the Under Armour underclassmen games this passed summer. He has played on varsity since he was a sophmore, and he is going to HOFSTRA, which is ranked 8th in the country right now. You don't think he is going to lead LCC?

John Hetterman

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The stories on your website should have a date. Especially things like coaching announcements and players decideing one schools. I'm a high school official and run a men's post college team in Minnesota, so I'm around lacrosse a lot. For some of you stories, I can't tell if it happened last month or last year. Having a date at the top would look more official.

Sean Watts

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Nate,

Whoever passed along the information about Messrs. Greenberg and Storie got it wrong. They never tried to register for 2010. Salpointe told Greenberg that he was not welcome to coach Salpointe for a variety of reasons, including his lawsuit against the league. That was Salpointe's call, not the AYLL's.

Jule Dionne

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Nathan,

Not having any mention of Cal Gold is extremely weak. It's one of the top recruiting events in the West. We sent athletes to both Cal Gold and Showcase. You should support and report all good things lacrosse in the West. Not doing so really makes WSL lose credibility.

Best,

Jon Fox
Foothill-OC Head Coach

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I have noticed that most of the coverage for Minnesota girls lacrosse is Eden Prairie and Blake. There are a lot of good teams and good players other than these two teams. I think it would help promote the growth of the support to include other teams and players. This would help lend credence to your web site.

Thanks,
Steve Rosen

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Dear Friends,

As we are about half way through the 2009 lacrosse season, I want to share some thoughts with you in an effort to make our program better for the players, but also for the coaches and our families.

High school sports can be an integral part of the development of students, which includes their physical growth, mental maturation, character development, leadership skills, and other attributes. Team sports in particular foster the notions of selflessness, cooperation with others, and achieving far more than any individual can. All of this is why we have athletics as part of our educational system. Besides that, playing sports is just plain fun and a chance to make lasting friendships.

As parents, all of us want our kids to have a great academic, social, and athletic experience in high school. But often what the kids define as “a great experience” can be different than the parents’ definition. Therefore, all of us need to keep certain things in perspective, especially our EXPECTATIONS and ROLES.

Concerning our expectations, all of us need to remember two things. First, IT’S JUST A GAME, and only a high school game at that. Second, THE PLAYERS ARE JUST KIDS IN HIGH SCHOOL, not yet adults and certainly not professionals. Because this is just a game, we need to keep our negative emotions in check and maintain good sportsmanship toward the opposing players, the referees, and certainly our own players, regardless of how anyone else acts. We must act in a positive manner that reflects well on us as individuals and as members of our program. We are there for the players and their game; the players are not playing the game for the parents. Because the players are still just adolescents and not professional athletes, we need to tolerate their physical and mental mistakes (of course, we hope the players and coaches work to minimize these). We must acknowledge and appreciate the things they do right in the course of a game and over the season.

Concerning our roles, PLAYERS PLAY, COACHES COACH, and PARENTS (and other fans) CHEER AND SUPPORT. In our roles, all of us need to do our best and have fun.

The players are there to do their best based on their natural talent, work ethic, and attitude. Players become better when they make an honest assessment of their individual strengths and weaknesses, work diligently to improve their skills and abilities, and do what they can do to help the TEAM perform to its maximum capability.

The coaches are there to transform a collection of individuals with different talents and personalities into a SINGLE COHESIVE UNIT in order to perform to the highest extent possible. They do this by helping the players develop their individual skills and teaching them collectively how to become a team that is stronger than the sum of the parts.

The parents are there to cheer for and support the players and the team. They do this in a POSITIVE manner, which means recognizing good plays and good effort while offering encouragement.

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It is so easy to see things from a vantage point in the stands and we may forget how difficult it can be to execute a split-second play in the heat of a fast-paced game with an opponent all over a player. It’s easy to see from a distance that a player should pass or run or shoot or cover an opponent or stop a shot; keep in mind the coaches and players can just as frustrated when they see something that should have happened differently, especially when the coaches have worked on that in practice or expressly gave the players certain instructions. It’s easy to call for a different strategy or tactic or lineup than what the coaches call; sometimes the players wonder why the coaches do or don’t do something in particular, but it is the nature of sports that two people can see the same thing and implement different approaches. It’s easy to be frustrated when we perceive so much potential to be better. It’s easy to get emotionally involved after having invested a fair amount of money and in some cases a lot of time into the program. It’s easy to see with perfect hindsight what could have been done better.

And it’s all too easy to forget that words can hurt. And it’s easy to forget that the manner in which we say our words can also hurt. In spite of our good intentions and even when we are “right”, when we let our passions and excitement get in our way we hurt the feelings of a kid and his or her parents. (And yes, very regrettably I have been guilty of this.)

I invite you to continue our journey of making our program better by making sure we stay positive about our players. These are memorable times for all of us, but especially our athletes. Let’s do our best to make these memories happy.

Thanks for reading.

John Kleponis

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I had the pleasure to meet Michael Carnow last night, as he was covering the Cate-Oaks Christian game.

As a parent, I really appreciate the coverage you guys give to all the teams. I know the boys and coaches check it out all the time. It is helpful to keep track of what the other teams are doing - as our kids play with and against these kids year round.

Keep up the good work - thanks for such a great service to the West Coast lacrosse community.

Bob Thomson

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Nathan,

I would like to thank you for shutting down the Nevada comment sections on your stories. I have read all of the last comments posted by many anonymous persons. I am appalled at what is being said about our players, parents, teams and league. I have yet to post a comment, because I will not lower myself or place my son in a position to read all the BS being thrown around. I would never post anything in a comment section unless it was for praise or a constructive opinion. I am sickened by the turn lacrosse has taken in Las Vegas over the past 9 months. I hope you can see that most of the parents involved with lacrosse in Vegas want it to grow and flourish. I thank you for your support of our lacrosse community and making our kids more accessible to colleges across the US.

Allen Hanners
Asst. Coach
Legacy Longhorn Lacrosse

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First, thank you WSL for providing great lacrosse news all around. It's a great way to follow High School, College and Pro Lacrosse. Articles are sent around the world to relatives, friends, sponsors, colleges, companies and more.

For this reason, I must bring up the following: the comments section are a nice touch, however, I strongly urge that WSL find a way to make comments-contributors register and identify themselves. The anonymity is allowing trash talk that is simply well below the level of WSL. Lacrosse is a sport that requires character. Whoever writes comments should have enough character to not hide behind "Anonymous."

Thank you and keep up the good work.

Michel Schmied
Coronado

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During the weekend, Brendan Yount (played close D) shut down his attackman against both Foorhill and Los Alamitos. He had 3 takeaways from Cameron Cole (Cameron's goals were scored against another defenseman), led 2 fast breaks, which resulted in goals for JSerra, and had 6 ground balls. In the Los Alamitos game, he had 4 takeaways, including a yard sale from their top middie, 5 ground balls and led 1 fast break, which ended in a goal.

He chose not to attend the West Coast Starz tourney in October, giving up his spot to someone else who had not committed to a college. Additionally, he did not attend the High Rollers camp because he had the flu. He chose not to play on the OC Starz team this year at the Adrenaline camps, because his high school team had recently formed a Starz team, and as a captain of JSerra, he felt that was the right thing to do.

It's odd how he could be such a leader, show such skill against your No. 1 ranked team, Foothill, and drop in the ratings from 18 to 22. I love what you are doing on your rankings, however, please ensure you have results prior to posting new rankings. You may want to break out your Top 25 into attack, middie and defense. This allows an even field when you have so many attack and middies in your group.

Jim Yount

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I think having West Side Lacrosse is a real asset, but I hope you will be a little less clever and a little more professional in the future. The remarks about the teams in the Top 25 rankings are just plain lame. The best example is when you say that Regis and Rockhurst are your NOs. 1 & 2 Jesuit Schools when you have St. Ignatius ranked No. 2 in the West. Obviously, your commentator doesn't know enough about the schools he or she is commenting on.

Come on. You can do better than that.

Randy Harris

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Congratulations to WSL for having Michael Carnow as one of your talented reporters. He's doing a terrific job.

Nyeholt

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After watching high school lacrosse the last month, I have to inform you that Palo Verde deserves and should be in the Top 25 when it is released. They are 10 and 0 and have won two tournaments in Arizona, including beating Brophy last weekend.

Concerned Parent

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As an interested parent (and club president), I have to say that yesterday's event, billed as a clinic but really a tournament where as many as 18 teams from around the state played a series of 15-minute games, culminating in a bracketed championship series, was a stupendous day of lacrosse. Ending with in an extremely intense and dramatic, sudden-death surprise upset victory for Lincoln girl lacrosse over state powerhouse Oregon City.

David Kessler

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Dear WestSideLax.com,

Thought you might be interested in knowing that at today's 7 v 7 preseason tournament in Eugene, underdogs Lincoln went undefeated in nine games to beat Oregon City in overtime, 4-3, in the championship match. They (we) beat Oregon teams St. Mary's, Wilson JV, Jesuit, Glencoe, Lake Oswego, and West Linn during the 15-minute game tournament made up of both JV, varsity and mixed experienced teams.

It was quite an upset and deserves to be mentioned on your website!

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Isabel Osgood-Roach

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Nathan,

Nice job on the Colorado preview section. I thought your research was right on.

Mitch Brin

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I just wanted to make you aware that there is not a single mention of the Nevada boys championship game from 2008. Is this because Fiore pays for the featured article? This game was probably one of the biggest to come out of Vegas. It deserves AT LEAST a link to the story.

Miles Fray

Editor's Note: WSL lost the 2008 Las Vegas Lacrosse League championship game story in last fall's system collapse. WSL also does not participate in payola and does not accept money for feature stories.

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Nate,

Congratulations on your WSL Elite 25 Girls Player Rankings. While I know nothing about the Girls' game, I have acquaintances who live and breathe the gals' game. Universally, they say you have produced, "a credible list." Of course, they'd move player A up a notch and player D down a notch, etc - but that's the fun of a good list. It engenders discussion!

Nice work!

Bill Welty

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Wow, Alex Williams in the honorable mentions for Top 25? He wasn't even Player of the Year. And, honestly, his team doesn't even win, his numbers aren't that good anymore and he didn't make the Team Idaho travel team. I'm sick of this biased bullsh**.

Brandon Weedon

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Coach Moir,

Your argument makes little sense. You attempt to justify the poor coverage of California lacrosse by highlighting the even worse coverage of Minnesota lacrosse. What kind of pretzel logic is that?

If WSL wants to fulfill its stated mission, then it needs to improve its coverage. Its a simple as that.

Jeff Kahn

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Nate, 

I read some of the criticisms of your coverage (or lack there of) of the recent California tournaments. Ha! tell them to 'pound sand' and use Minnesota's lack of girls updates since 2007 as an example! I realize you are trying to do your best with limited resources. We in Minnesota are looking forward to a great 2009 and appreciate what you are trying to do.

P.S.: I remember you calling me on my cell phone as I was driving home after a couple games. You were looking for the scores. THAT is effort that will make you a success. Good luck.

Bill Moir
Robbinsdale Armstrong High School Girls head coach
St. Olaf College Women's head coach

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Who did the rankings? Did you check with the high school coaches? You have a player listed as a top player who graduated last year. So, obviously you or the reporter is not checking your facts. The OHSLA preview section is not accurate.

Astrid Hodgson

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First off, I will give you credit for publishing comments, both pro and con. But I still believe that you are failing to cover some pretty major lax events here in SoCal. You had virtually no coverage of Sand Storm, a top-quality tournament of over 40 girls teams. Now I see nothing about the Surfside Cup...major college lax being played right here in San Diego (four-time women's NCAA Division I champ Northwestern vs Denver, plus the Canadian National team, SDSU, ASU, UCSB, etc), along with a high school tournament and college club tournament. What more do you want? If you want to be considered a real voice of West Coast lax and establish any credibility, you need to be covering events like these. You can't stay beholden to Starz and Adrenaline...and the women deserve much better coverage.

Sincerely,
Jeff Kahn

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Before I begin: I truly don't want to sound rude at all. With that being said, I was just curious as to how much thought went into the Texas preseason Top 10. First, St. John's has lost their best returning attackman for the season (Ed Williams) and their best attackman from last season graduated. Two of their starting middies, one being an all-stater, are all lost as well. Yet, they remain in the Top 10. Though, the most ridiculous is Austin High. They lose their top 2 defensemen, one of which being an All-American, their starting goalie who graduated, their two best offensive players to graduation, their LSM, who graduated early, a starting middie, who graduated early as well, and a player featured as a player to watch (Will DuBose, who isn’t even playing this year.) How do they manage to be a Top 10 team?

Jarrett

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I want to sincerely apologize to WSL. I kinda got into it on a blog under the heading of Cali Team Rankings with a screen name of "thatsbulls***." I will apologize to you...not that person. Besides, "FEAR THE GOAT" IS MY SON'S PERSONNA, NOT MINE. I just cannot sit by and read stuff that people write sometimes and not respond. I felt then as I do now that if you have an opinion, which you have a right to, that it can be projected in a clean way.

My sincere apologies.

Fear The Goat

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There is no doubt that Fog City put forth a tremendous offensive effort, but how does Fog City lose almost every face-off and still beat a tough team? DEFENSE!!! You even include in the article two pictures of Fog City defenders upending their opponents with nary a caption nor mention of their effort. Please add some balance and objectivity to your coverage.

Phil Downs

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Hate the new previews. What happened to the personalized ones? These seem arbitrary and nowhere near thorough. And since when did the only thing that matter about a team become how many DI athletes they have playing for them? It's shallow and its a faulty indicator of the true strength of a team. I guess these new previews are a lot less work though...

Mary T.

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Pretty interesting how you left Marin Catholic completely out of your NCS conversation. They did win MCAL last year, the year before and the year before that. Are you still mad about the Redwood player issue??

Julie Collins

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Where is the coverage on the Sand Storm Tournament, going on this weekend in Palm Springs, California? This is a very significant girls tournament. But all we read about is the Adrenaline Challenge, which for girls is less than half the size. If you want to be considered a real source of info for all West Coast lax, then you have to cover more major events like Sand Storm.

Jeff Kahn

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Have you considered covering Wisconsin and Illinois? I know both states are on the wrong side of the ol' Miss, however, we're not on the East Coast either. Please consider, and happy holidays! 

Amanda Brooker

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I have to wholeheartedly agree with the negative feedback on your player rankings methodology. Since it is so closely aligned with Starz and Adrenaline, it definitely looks like a "pay-for-play" scam. It is even worse for the girls. Most of the elite girl players do NOT play in the Starz League. For example, in San Diego, the best girl players are in the Element 5 and Wildcat programs.  

Regards,
Jeff Kahn

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The Elite 25 sounds kind of like a pay-to-play deal, which is kind of disturbing. What if a kid is just good but doesn't do the tournaments? Needless to say, I think you'll run the risk of leaving out the recruitable, multi-sport athlete. I've always supported you providing a voice for and promoting West Coast lacrosse, but I think that this loses objectivity. Given that there is a state system (CIF in California) in place, why not just promote or publicize the All-League, All-Section or All-American selections? I'm all for camps, tournaments and traveling teams OUTSIDE of the school season for those kids that want to develop their skills.

However, I don't know that we (or I'd) set the right kind of example by encouraging camps, teams, etc., just for recruiting purposes. I think we should be quite frank with the players about how very few spots there are, especially in varsity programs. I know lots of kids look at your site, and I think it sets a dangerous precedent to be publishing this kind of list for a state-sanctioned sport, based on play within a for-profit system. These are murky waters at best. West Side Lax is a wonderful forum for promoting the sport, and I really appreciate your effort. Unfortunately, I can't support this latest endeavor.

Bruce Dini
Head Coach, Carmel HS