Program Philosophy
Lacrosse is a social sport.  It's about children and families and teamwork and having a great time. 

As your child's coaches, it's our responsibility to make sure your child is having fun while providing quality instruction, emphasizing solid fundamentals, teamwork, sportsmanship, and an overall appreciation of the game.

It's our hope that you always stay positive about your child's participation.  Encourage.  Support. Volunteer. Listen. Pay attention to your child's progress.  Remind you child, and yourself, that winning isn't everything. 


Playing Time Guidelines
Developing players and developmental teams should be embraced by all.  It's the foundation of our success. There is no possible way to predict a player's future - we've seen terrific athletes never grow into terrific lacrosse players, and we've seen the most awkward of beginners turn into solid players.  Please relay this to your children. It's all about positive attitudes and getting beyond stigmas associated with labels.

We believe children should have the opportunity to experience more than one sport while they are young. Some players will miss lacrosse because of other commitments, and in these cases, we ask that all parents sit down with their children and have an honest discussion about fairness. 

For example: “If the best lacrosse player we have on our team chooses to miss a practice or a game for another sport, should he/she start in the next game simply because he or she is the best?”  “Should he/she have as much playing time as a teammate who may be less skilled but who has attended all the practices?” 

Our coaches are to operate on fairness.  No player will be “benched” for an entire game for not making a full commitment to lacrosse, but fair is fair, and players should not expect to play a lot if they haven’t been to practices, no matter how skilled they are.  We ask that if your child has more than one commitment in the spring, please clearly communicate to your coach ahead of time when and if your child will miss a practice or game.

We also ask that parents talk with their children openly and honestly about playing ability. If we have enough players to form more than one team per age group, then teams are divided by skill level. We do this so that children can get the most out of their playing experience in terms of learning, fun, and safety.
  - A level teams are for the more skilled players.
  - B level teams are for players needing more skill development and more individualized instruction. 

Playing time among participants is generally equal. We don't count plays or record minutes of playing time per player.  It's up to the coaches' discretion who plays where and when.  Exception to the "generally equal" rule include:   (a) the player is not attending practice regularly (i.e., absences exceed occasional conflicts), (b) the player is exhibiting unsportsmanlike behavior , (c) "specialty" situations as man down, man up, faceoffs, etc.

  
Rostering of Players to Teams
Our goal is to have good ratios of Player to Coach, and team sizes that afford the best opportunity for everyone on the team to play and contribute to it. We hope to target rosters of 20 players whenever possible.
 

Playing Up: No player shall be rostered on a team which is specified to be at a higher grade / division level than such player would naturally fall into.  The only exception to this rule would be in the circumstance that inadequate coaching resources are available for the team in question, and a parent/guardian/relative of a younger player will be utilized to coach such team at the RELAX Board's discretion. In such a situation, the player will be playing up only 1 grade/age level.

Senior (7th and 8th Grade) Level
With all this said, and in preparation for the highly competitive high school programs, we do require our Senior level players (Grades 7 & 8 ) to make a full commitment to lacrosse in the Spring.  For those players who cannot make the commitment, they will be placed on the B level team if one is available. If no B team is available, those players can expect playing time not to be generally equal.