What is a Henrietta Recreation Spring Lacrosse Team?

The concept of “Henrietta Recreation teams” (HenRec) may be different from other youth sports you have participated in. All of our HenRec teams span two grade levels and all the kids at the team level practice together during the week. For instance, this means that all the 5^th/6^th grade boys will practice together, no matter what “team” they are on for game play. Individual teams exist for the purpose of playing games in the Rochester Area Lacrosse League (RALL), which schedules six games per year for each of our HENREC teams.  Lacrosse coaches are different from other coaches.  You will probably never hear a youth soccer coach say, ‘I want him to play lacrosse in the spring’, but all the time you’ll hear lacrosse coaches say something like, ‘You can see his toughness from playing hockey’ or ‘he should try and play basketball this winter’.  Lacrosse coaches actually encourage youth athletes to play both baseball and lacrosse in the spring if they can fit it in while keeping good grades.

What is a balanced team?

A “perfectly balanced team” consists of half in the upper grade, half in the lower grade, half that have decent lacrosse experience and half that may not. This team will never exist in reality, but a “balanced team” will come as close to this scenario as possible.

Why use balanced teams?

The HenRec first formed youth lacrosse teams in 1999 and we have divided teams in many different ways, learning along the way.  The core goal is “teaching all kids the game of lacrosse in a recreational environment”.  Henrietta Recreation spring lacrosse is different from RH Club level lacrosse - travel/tournament teams, fall and winter indoor teams.  Although the key goal for both programs is teaching lacrosse and how to be a good citizen, club resources, costs and limited off-season team opportunities create a situation where many times club level events can not use the balanced approach.

·         HenRec Lacrosse exists to produce as many good citizens/lacrosse players as we can, and that includes keeping as many kids as possible interested and happy with the game as they progress through youth lacrosse.

·         HenRec Lacrosse does not exist to produce a handful of superstar lacrosse players.

·         The best way to produce the most “good lacrosse players” is to balance off the age and experience on each team. US Lacrosse also recommends that players below 6^th grade play on balanced teams.

Benefits of Balanced Teams

• Experienced players help out the inexperienced players, either directly or indirectly by “showing how it’s done”.
• Balanced teams also balance the load on the coaching staff. With balanced teams, each coaching staff will have the same opportunity to teach newcomers the game while having experienced players to help show how it’s done. This is not a small matter, as we want to retain as many good coaches as we can.
• Our teams do end up playing each other in league games. Balanced teams should allow all HenRec teams to be competitive against one another.
• Balanced teams allow more kids with age and experience to play pivotal roles on a team. More kids will be asked to “lead” their particular team - this is critical for those about to make the transition to the next level of lacrosse.
• This approach also teaches “life lessons”, showing that you may be put in situations that are new to you, where you need to make new friends, where you have to find new ways to succeed and find ways to help others succeed. Parents and coaches should be supporting the kids throughout the process.
• Balanced teams should allow every team to be competitive in league play. If we play six games against other towns, we don’t want any team suffering six blowouts due to inexperience and/or youth;
• The “jump” from one bracket (say 3^rd/4^th grade) up to the next bracket (5^th/6^th grade) can be a large one for some kids. Balanced teams always provide an “older core” group on each team.
• In terms of “the best kids playing together on the field”, there will be years and years and years of opportunity to do so during summer/fall/winter seasons and well beyond youth HenRec lacrosse. Modified, JV and Varsity programs exist to be very competitive and to have the best players on the field. It has always been HenRec philosophy that 1^st through 6^th grade should be a time for all comers to learn the game;
• The Henrietta Recreation Dept and the RH lacrosse coaching community (from Varsity High School coaches on down) all believe in and request we use the balanced team concept. Why? It produces the largest number of kids ready to play at the next level.

Drawbacks of Balanced Teams

• Experienced players need to help out the inexperienced players. Some will find this to be frustrating when they know other players on other teams would be “easier” and perhaps more fun to play with.
• Some players and parents may feel they are being “shortchanged” out of improving as a player by having to deal with inexperienced players during game play.
• Going to balanced teams very well may result in kids who have played together for a long time being separated for game play. It can seem a cold, heartless approach when friends are separated on game day.
• Balanced teams may allow each team to be competitive, but a team full of age and experience could be dominant. Most players, coaches and parents like being part of a dominant team and some may feel balanced teams take away that opportunity.
• Some feel that kids in the 6^th grade need the “chemistry of playing together” in order to succeed at the Modified level and beyond.
• Some towns in the Rochester and surrounding areas do not subscribe to the balanced team approach, and will put a “stacked” team into the league. Our balanced teams could very well struggle against “stacked” teams.

What’s the alternative to balanced teams?

An organization without a formal balanced teams approach typically ends up with an overt or discrete “recruit the good players to play with the good players” philosophy. The result is typically one team with lots of age, experience or both – and a host of kids (and their parents) left wondering why they didn’t make the “A” team. If other teams exist at the same age level, they are then left to “fend for themselves” in the school of hard knocks.

HenRec does not believe the above approach provides the best chance to produce the highest number of good citizens and good lacrosse players.

There is also the issue of kids having played together for years and years – in some cases, since the point they picked up a stick for the first time. As long as it does not trample the balanced team concept, HenRec will certainly allow kids who have played together to remain together. However, balanced teams will always be a higher priority than the “buddy system” when it comes to filling HenRec rosters.

 SUMMARY

Hopefully the above has provided insight as to why HenRec prescribes to the balanced team concept. All HenRec participants within an age group practice together, providing FAR more interaction (60-70 hours) than actual game play (6-8 hours) during the short, six week Spring season. Most children are fine with the balanced team approach when the reasoning is explained - we sometimes need kids to step up and be a leader on a team.

After leaving our youth program, these lacrosse players will have six more years of lacrosse before they leave High School. Those six years will provide all the competitive ups and downs a child can handle. Our hope is that HenRec will provide each child the foundation to handle it all