Fairfax County is home to many award winning athletic programs. Long-standing programs of large schools with experienced talent bases on which to draw attract committed coaches with extensive backgrounds.

Smaller schools with more diverse populations suffer from talent bases lacking knowledge of particular sports, family needs around work obligations and childcare. Many programs at smaller schools run basically on fumes: programs are kept barely alive by athletic directors who take the path of least resistance and hire coaches from within their schools who may have no background or desire to learn about a particular sport: in spite of parent concerns and willingness to find experienced coaches and assistants, put together off-season training, camps and clinics, administrators bristle at volunteer efforts to better equip school teams for regional competition, and chances to play beyond high school. Apathy at the administration level results in ill-experienced coaches hindering a program’s progress.

What then happens when underequipped high school programs receive an injection of youth club-trained talent wanting to play a sport for their school? This is the situation at J.E.B. Stuart High School, located in the north-eastern section of Fairfax County. One of the smallest schools in the county (~1600 students), it has the highest percentage of reduced school lunches (63 percent), and draws from a diverse population of students (over 70 different languages). Although some athletic programs at Stuart fare well in their divisions, lacrosse has been struggling for the past four years.

Enter the supportive parents of individual sports and the booster organizations. Many parents of athletes and members of booster clubs are continuing or former athletes themselves, human rolodexes of connections, helping programs do everything from providing meals to teams, to sponsorship opportunities, uniforms, and connecting to untapped, experienced coaches. Stuart parents are no exception. But building a program takes time and real, consistent effort not just from the athletes, but also from schools and parents.

Lacrosse is a relatively new sport to Fairfax County, and is enjoying a surge of interest from local youth organizations fueled by programs like Annandale Youth Lacrosse, Braddock Road Youth Club, and other powerhouse youth leagues in Northern Virginia. The well-trained talent rushing out of the youth programs and into JEB Stuart meet immediate resistance with an under-qualified, under- prepared program that struggles year-to-year to find coaches and assistants: the positions require quirky hours around after-school practices and evening games. Schedule demands alone reduce the talent pool, as many working professionals cannot balance the desire to offer their talent and expertise and meet work demands.

Lacrosse athletes are hitting a wall: they either have to face the frustration of disorganized, skill-less practices just to be able to play a watered-down version of the game, or sit out the season, as there is no club alternative in season. Parents and their athletes need school administrators to see their efforts to better programs through outside efforts as crucial, integral, and essential to the health of the program, and not dismiss or minimize those efforts. The need for experienced, qualified, and certified lacrosse coaches is real: and small school lacrosse teams should expect nothing less.

Sincerely,

Jeny Beausoliel

I would think that a good education is far more important than a top rate sports program. Hopefully these schools are more concerned with actually educating their students. There's always private sports clubs to compete in if it's that important. But if you want your kid to go to a school with a great sports program, send them somewhere else and hopefully they'll also get an education to fall back on when they don't go pro.

Is the OP suggesting that there is huge list of fantastic lacrosse coaches waiting for their chance to work at the JEB? Just as the athletic talent sometimes lacks at this type of school, so does the quality of the candidate pool for coaching vacancies.

OP translated into English:

"My kids don't have the talent for real sports, and I'm too wrapped up in my own life to worry about them, so I need you taxpayers to foot the bill to run every afterschool activity possible, and will continue to ramble on until I get my way."

Lacrosse has long appealed to the upper middle class and the middle class with upwardly mobile designs. Unlike football and basketball, where the possibility of an athletic scholarship really resonates with the students and parents involved, scholarships don't drive the interest in lacrosse. Even the great players attend the Dukes, Notre Dames, UVa's and Johns Hopkins, only on partial scholarships, and of course, the Ivy League gives no athletic scholarships. What makes lacrosse appealing is that it is a ticket to admission to competitive schools (it always has been, but this factor has become more pronounced). Think a non minority kid with a 1900 SAT (combined score) without a lacrosse hook, although well above the County average, stands any chance of getting into Duke? UVa? Johns Hopkins? No. And forget Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. Lacrosse makes it possible.

By the way, I attended university on a Division 1 scholarship, but not in lacrosse, and the lacrosse guys were not exactly my socio-economic cup of tea (my sport was diverse). But that doesn't change the reality of what drives lacrosse.

With this in mind, Stuart is going to be a difficult place to attract lacrosse talent. This doesn't mean that the kids shouldn't have a decent shot at playing and enjoying it, but in the scheme of things, lacrosse is going to have a very low priority (and arguably should). The poster should really examine the socio-economics which drive the sport, and well, approach the world realistically.

FWIW, it's much ado about nothing. Only 60 D1 schools play it, and they max out at 12.6 scholarships/year (IIRC), and had roughly 2600 players total splitting 756 rides. It does make me laugh though to see the camps & programs promising to "get your player a scholarship"...

First off, I applaud you for using your real name and your concerns are all correct and here are the reasons why lacrosse will never succeed at a school like Stuart or Wakefield.

1) Like you said, the population is heavily minority based and diverse. Minority kids stick to spring sports such as soccer and track. In fact not many minority based kids will try lacrosse at any school because it is a sport dominated by the white male so no kid wants to really stick out like a sore thumb when they are the minority.

2) Stuart is an underachieving school in both athletics and in academics. That is not to say that they do not have athletes or good students in it, but as a whole they don't have them to compete.

3) The population is too small to compete with the bigger schools, even with the new rules changing to help out the smaller schools by making new conferences. Smaller population produces less athletes as stated before.

4) The coaching will never be there. Even if the school gets a good coach (which Wakefield I think has done) he needs help from assistants to go with him and get things going. This is a long process to make a team that has been unsuccessful better, maybe a 4-5 year process and no assistants will stick around that long because it is quite frustrating and they too have personal lives. Hell, good assistants from championship teams in the area leave quite often.

5) The youth program is not there. Tapping into the youth system is paramount to build relationships with the parents and kids. When you can't see what is coming to you, then how can you get it going. No interest means no success later on.

6) The money is not there. Kids at Stuart are poor and so are their families. lacrosse is an expensive sport that requires a lot of commitment to get better at which means year round play in leagues. The kids do not have the money for that and neither does the school. This is why they play soccer because 1 ball is cheap, you don't need equipment and you can find any field to play on.

Sorry, but this will always be the reality at Stuart or any other school similar to it. Lacrosse is not a new sport to the area as the high schools have been fielding teams since 1990 or so and national district teams have been fielding teams since 2000. It has had the time to grow and expand. Example: Yorktown and Stuart started programs at the same time and look at the differences. The differences between the 2 schools are mentioned above. If lacrosse is really a passion, I would suggest pupil placing into a different school and see if your child gets accepted. If you choose not to go this route, then I suggest you and your fellow parents go to the DSA at Stuart with a plan, not concerns/complaints, but a plan. Figure out your players, how much money it would take to fund the program and gain from it, look into starting a youth group and advertise it, and go looking for coaches in the area at youth league games and talk to them about coaching. Go to graduating seniors in college and talk to them about coaching. Tell them that the will is there, but you need them to help. Look into past players who had success at Stuart, ex: Jeff Cook who was Player of the Year in the District a while back. Stuff like that might help, but I honestly say it's a tough road.

Jeny Beausoliel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> What then happens when underequipped high school
> programs receive an injection of youth
> club-trained talent wanting to play a sport for
> their school? This is the situation at J.E.B.
> Stuart High School,
>
>
> Lacrosse is a relatively new sport to Fairfax
> County, and is enjoying a surge of interest from
> local youth organizations fueled by programs like
> Annandale Youth Lacrosse, Braddock Road Youth
> Club, and other powerhouse youth leagues in
> Northern Virginia. The well-trained talent rushing
> out of the youth programs and into JEB Stuart meet
> immediate resistance with an under-qualified,
> under- prepared program that struggles
> year-to-year to find coaches and assistants:

Jeny,

You make excellent points, and I empathize with you that JEB Stuart and other schools are not ready yet to step up into better lacrosse training and competition.

Brief historical observation: We entered a new generation of lacrosse, boys and girls, about 10-15 years ago when parents who played in high school and college wanted to bring the sport to their children. They met resistance from the youth clubs (especially football and soccer clubs) because of a lack of available fields, and because lacrosse destroyed grass fields quickly with their method of play.

A combination of egos and unfair treatment led some of these parents to start their own small lacrosse programs, which led to the creation of the Northern Virginia Youth Lacrosse League and some more elite programs. Unfortunately, over time the NVYLL decided to limit the number of clubs in their league in order to protect these small programs from competition. Meanwhile, Fairfax County and some youth clubs invested heavily in creating synthetic turf fields, which to a great extent solved the fields problems.

The powerhouse clubs, as you call them, now are able to support lacrosse and are building their programs. The high schools have taken notice that these clubs are attracting quality coaches and players, and backing their efforts. But it will take time to develop players who are ready to truly play competitively in high school, along with coaches who are ready to lead them.

It's sad, but you are just a little ahead of the time when lacrosse really takes off in Fairfax County schools. The first wave of parent coaches are starting to retire as their kids grow up, and these mini clubs and leagues like NVYLL will either fold up or reorganize to better serve the new generation of players and the better coaches who are just now becoming involved.

It's not going to be an easy or painless evolution, mainly because there are egos involved, but five or six years from now you can bet that there will be even better club programs feeding the high schools both players and coaches.

If your DSA looks to be around for the long haul, you might want to talk with him about his vision of lacrosse in the school. If your son has a strong coach, he might want to talk with the DSA also.

Get over yourself and get back to something you're almost good at...Whoring.

Jeny: You sound like you are writing about the state of northern Virginia lacrosse twenty to twenty to thirty years ago. Lacrosse is a well established sport in area public schools. That does not mean that all programs are equal. There are some schools with good programs that identify and develop talent year after year; There are some schools with OK coaches that can do well if a group of talented kids falls into their laps; Then there are programs so bad that success is almost an accident. In some schools this can vary from sport to sport. In others the pattern seems to hold school wide.

The important thing to remember is that high school sports is not supposed to be a farm system for higher level sports programs. It is an adjunct to the school's teaching mission. The pay for coaches is lousy and quite often the coaches are teachers, some of whom have little knowledge of the sport they are coaching. Again this is not unique to lacrosse. You will find it true of other sports programs as well.

One thing to remember is if your junior jock is serious about a particular sport, there is an alternative. Chances are you can find a decent private school in the area that is serious about the sport and has invested in bringing in the right talent to coach and to develop players. If private school isn't an option, but your kid does have real talent, then the high school season is his chance to show off the skills developed in those summer camps and out of season club teams.

"I applaud you for using your real name"

It's a cut'n'paste from the Patch.

Jess1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "I applaud you for using your real name"
>
> It's a cut'n'paste from the Patch.

Frump!

Ask more complete
He knows all about hs sports

Jess1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OP translated into English:
>
> "My kids don't have the talent for real sports,
> and I'm too wrapped up in my own life to worry
> about them, so I need you taxpayers to foot the
> bill to run every afterschool activity possible,
> and will continue to ramble on until I get my
> way."


Lacrosse is a rich white kid sport, for the kids who cant hang in the big 3, Football, Basketball, Baseball. Its so they can say they play a team sport unless you count swim team. Why dont you run around Lake Barcroft and grab the remaining rich white kids that dont go to Oconnel and have them play...

Signed Stuart 3 Letter Athelete

Rugby Players, I mean Hockey Players, I mean Fencing Guys, Gymnast guys, Crew team players, water polo players are hitting a wall: they either have to face the frustration of disorganized, skill-less practices just to be able to play a watered-down version of the game, or sit out the season, as there is no club alternative in season. Parents and their athletes need school administrators to see their efforts to better programs through outside efforts as crucial, integral, and essential to the health of the program, and not dismiss or minimize those efforts.

Sincerlery-
Parent who want her kid to start on a team...any team

Sorry.

Sports are on their way OUT in Fairfax County. They cost too much, and County government has INSULTED taxpayers by increasing taxes and reducing services.

"Ball" (foot, base, basket) is something we can't afford anymore, along with trappings such as marching bands, pep rallies, and student government.

The way of the future is pay for service with a surcharge. That means if it costs $1000 for a school to do some sports thing, then another $100 must be paid as an administrative charge.

In plain English, no more free lunch.

Swimming is a grueling demanding sport helicopter. Football players are not up at 4' doing doubles. Doing their sport hear round. And don't get m started on hiw undemanding baseball is. LAX is tough. You obviously know nothing

I thought lacrosse players get drunk and kill their girlfriends.

Stuart 3 Letter Athelete Wrote:

> Lacrosse is a rich white kid sport, for the kids
> who cant hang in the big 3, Football, Basketball,
> Baseball. Its so they can say they play a team
> sport unless you count swim team. Why dont you run
> around Lake Barcroft and grab the remaining rich
> white kids that dont go to Oconnel and have them
> play...
>
> Signed Stuart 3 Letter Athelete


A 3 letter athlete at Stuart is quite an accomplishment, that's like being the tallest midget. Tell me, what district championships have you won or ever won at Stuart? Hell you guys can't even post a winning record in any sport and you are in the weakest division in the area. The worst players at any school outside the National District would be heads and shoulders above any of you guys in any sport. Lacrosse isn't athletic huh? Sorry but it does require athleticism and the fact you think it doesn't shows that you can't hang. Then again it is the fastest game on two feet which most D1 lacrosse athletes in college played both football and lacrosse and were standouts at both. Don't believe me, then do your research. Does Jim Brown ring a bell? The reason why kids are adapting to lacrosse is not because they can't hang in baseball, it is because it is boring as hell to play and in fact a lot of football coaches recommend they play lacrosse to keep up their athleticism and help out in their agility, the ones who don't are idiots who only want their players to do football.

Just pure ignorance and stupidity coming out of Stuart. I guess this is an example of why they score so high in academics. Your move 3 letter, I would love to embarrass you more.

Baseball is wimpy sport on planet. Besides volleyball

You are idiot Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Swimming is a grueling demanding sport helicopter.
> Football players are not up at 4' doing doubles.
> Doing their sport hear round. And don't get m
> started on hiw undemanding baseball is. LAX is
> tough. You obviously know nothing


I know how to spell...and let me give you a little hint. Nobody does thier sport year round. Get off your ass, LAX is not tough...its a joke there is no diversity in the sport, it is not played outside of the North East.
I thought you would have picked rugby for a tough sport

Oh really Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Stuart 3 Letter Athelete Wrote:
>
> > Lacrosse is a rich white kid sport, for the
> kids
> > who cant hang in the big 3, Football,
> Basketball,
> > Baseball. Its so they can say they play a team
> > sport unless you count swim team. Why dont you
> run
> > around Lake Barcroft and grab the remaining
> rich
> > white kids that dont go to Oconnel and have
> them
> > play...
> >
> > Signed Stuart 3 Letter Athelete
>
>
> A 3 letter athlete at Stuart is quite an
> accomplishment, that's like being the tallest
> midget. Tell me, what district championships have
> you won or ever won at Stuart? Hell you guys
> can't even post a winning record in any sport and
> you are in the weakest division in the area. The
> worst players at any school outside the National
> District would be heads and shoulders above any of
> you guys in any sport. Lacrosse isn't athletic
> huh? Sorry but it does require athleticism and
> the fact you think it doesn't shows that you can't
> hang. Then again it is the fastest game on two
> feet which most D1 lacrosse athletes in college
> played both football and lacrosse and were
> standouts at both. Don't believe me, then do your
> research. Does Jim Brown ring a bell? The reason
> why kids are adapting to lacrosse is not because
> they can't hang in baseball, it is because it is
> boring as hell to play and in fact a lot of
> football coaches recommend they play lacrosse to
> keep up their athleticism and help out in their
> agility, the ones who don't are idiots who only
> want their players to do football.
>
> Just pure ignorance and stupidity coming out of
> Stuart. I guess this is an example of why they
> score so high in academics. Your move 3 letter, I
> would love to embarrass you more.


Not to date myself but this was the late 70's early 80's look it up. Played basketball with a guy named Tommy Ameker...ring a bell. I am sure he would have been an all american lacross player too.
And please lets bring up Jim Brown who played lacross in what 1954 and your still talking about him? Give me a break..and go get your long stick and bounce the ball off your parents garage door.

its a joke there is no diversity in the sport, it is not played outside of the North East

^^This.

According to the NCAA, some 60,000 or so play at the HS level, so we're talking about an activity on the same popularity level nationally as Chess clubs (no, wait - there might be more than 60K kids in chess clubs. Scratch that)
It's a wealth display, nothing more - Lacross tears up fields something fierce, so NE prep schools showed their $$$ by constant groundskeeping.

With that off the table (plenty of good artificial surfaces on the market), Lacross still hasn't expanded (nor will it) beyond the Prep School region...

You brag about your spelling, and then immediately write "thier" and have the wrong use of "its."

Club swimming at the elite level is year round. You maybe get two weeks off in August. You get off Christmas Day, Thanksgiving and a handful of days here and there. Many weeks its 7 days a week. If that is not year round, then what is?

"What then happens when underequipped high school programs receive an injection of youth club-trained talent wanting to play a sport for their school? This is the situation at J.E.B. Stuart High School, located in the north-eastern section of Fairfax County. One of the smallest schools in the county (~1600 students), it has the highest percentage of reduced school lunches (63 percent), and draws from a diverse population of students (over 70 different languages). Although some athletic programs at Stuart fare well in their divisions, lacrosse has been struggling for the past four years.

Enter the supportive parents of individual sports and the booster organizations. Many parents of athletes and members of booster clubs are continuing or former athletes themselves, human rolodexes of connections, helping programs do everything from providing meals to teams, to sponsorship opportunities, uniforms, and connecting to untapped, experienced coaches. Stuart parents are no exception. But building a program takes time and real, consistent effort not just from the athletes, but also from schools and parents."

Jeny, you've got to be kidding!

Other than the tall kid who plays QB on the football team, there are no varsity caliber athletes on Stuart's lacrosse team. I'm think it's laughable that some pre-Title IX mom feels qualified to assess the athletic potential of a varsity sports team. Newsflash, your kid's youth club coach thinks he's great, because you pay him to say he's great. When the other district coaches voted for the All-District team, did they think he's great? I don't remember seeing your son's name on the All-District team.

You're like most of the loud mouth Stuart parents who sit in the stands and think to themselves, "My kid kid's really good, but those other kids suck." Maybe you should have your kid transfer to a school where he could achieve his true potential, like Robinson or Oakton? Oh wait, I think their managers were underclassmen.

A few years ago, Stuart had the former captain, and All-American, of Syracuse's lacrosse team as their coach. They won two games. Why? Because Stuart's lacrosse players weren't and aren't good athletes, no matter what their mothers think.

I heard the current coach, who won two games, quit. I can't wait to see which colleges apply for the job.

Thank you Lacrosse Larry for the newsflash "your kid's youth club coach thinks he's great, because you pay him to say he's great" Can you make sure to spread this over to the soccer moms as well. Travel Soccer is so watered down in the area. you have all these kids that show up to play HS Ball and get cut and the parents bitch and moan and point back to their travel program. Here is another newsflash-Coaches are paid to win, if your kid can help the program they will make the team, house,travel, or playing in the streets the cream rises to the top in HS and you can no longer pay to switch teams to have little Johnny or Sally play for a WAGS team,

Dream and ask more complete Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ask more complete
> He knows all about hs sports

How flattering. You really are full of sour grapes huh? Are you still having conversations with yourself online in order to feign interest in your bitterness? Go cry in your room, no one on the interwebs wants to see it.

Sour grapes make exquisite wine.

High school lacrosse is a special case of high school sports. Both are nothing more than a waste of time and money.

Fairfax needs to focus on the basics, it is high time to ditch the sports, cheerleading, the band trips, the student senate, the student rep to the school board and the board of supervisors.

I am INSULTED that the county raises taxes, cuts services, and then awards itself a four day weekend.

Toss 'em all out, starting with the coaches and athletic staff.