By Eric Black
Recently, US Club Lacrosse has been notified of the issue of players switching club teams for a weekend, game, or tournament. Often, these players are some of the stars of their teams, and their absence or presence could decide a game one way or another. These “ringers” are becoming apparent all around the club circuit, and raise the question over whether or not the practice is fair or in any way undercuts the value of tryouts or the sportsmanship of competition. On one hand, it’s important to remember that at the end of the day, most players compete in these club tournaments in order to get exposure from college coaches. Many tournaments are even deemed showcases, rather than tournaments, because the ultimate goal is to have players display their skills. Tad Doyle, the founder of Rising Sons lacrosse, is generally not in favor of adding players to load a team, despite the fact that he’s seen it been done at the younger ages. That being said, he permitted one of his players to briefly switch teams in an effort to improve his college hopes. “We did just have one (player) who Amherst wanted to see play,” Doyle said. “So I called (the team) to see if they would let him run with them. They were short kids and obliged. That is how and why it should be done. Not to stack a team versus regular club teams.” Patty Daley, the head coach of the 2020 Check-Hers Elite team, has seen her players been recruited by other teams in the past. While they’ve never decided to change teams, Daley’s players are given the opportunity to make the decision for themselves and consider the pros and cons of doing so. She believes that ringers defeat the purpose of a team’s tryouts, and no matter what team a player decides to play for, they’ll always receive exposure and recognition. “It really comes down to the team and coaches a player wants to play for,” Daley said. “And the philosophy of the club. All three things are considerations for players.” Daley thinks that the mid-season recruitment of players shouldn’t occur as much as it does, but there isn’t really any plausible way to police it. Another coach that has seen his players been recruited in a similar fashion is Andy Pons, the Director of Lacrosse Operations for Thunder LB3 lacrosse. Teams have reached out to the kids on their Elite teams in the past through social media, something Pons described as “slimy”. Thunder LB3 Elite, based out of the Atlanta area, never recruits kids outside Georgia because that would “hurt their overall mission.” While they do have a national team, with players outside of the state, Pons explained that they only play in one tournament (Naptown Challenge) and instead enjoy weekends filled with college tours and training. If a player is already on a team scheduled to play in the Naptown Challenge, Thunder LB3 doesn’t take him. “The topic of ‘ringers’ is always a hot conversation,” Pons said. “Personally, I don't understand the attraction. Our guys get the best training in the country and we have developed a great track record of college commitments...We do not want to develop a reputation for ‘stealing kids.’” Dave Mitchell, the President and Owner of Next Level Lacrosse, often sees ringers at big-time recruiting events in the November, June, and July months, he said. Many of these kids are likely on a different team than usual because their original squad either wasn’t playing in the event, or they thought they’d get more exposure on the new team. If this was the case for all ringers, there’d likely be less brushback from opposing coaches, parents, and players. Although winning games is always important no matter what the setting, that concept may need to be viewed through a different lens when it comes to the future careers and college choices of teenagers. Mitchell doesn’t think ringers are a problem for club lacrosse, but he does think they “undermine the value of the team,” and its long-term chemistry. What do you think? Is the increasing frequency of ringers in club lacrosse good or bad for the sport?
6 Comments
Tad
7/26/2019 11:45:02 am
I see nothing wrong with an athlete playing on a different club team if they are short players and for additional exposure, however club teams do hold tryouts for a reason. At such a competitive level, the kids who were chosen for a team, were picked because of their skills. A “ringer” will undermine the value of the team as a unit. High level competitive club teams are about every player, not one specific athlete. Nothing more beautiful than seeing the game played well by an entire team.
Reply
Jared McNichol
7/31/2019 10:04:15 am
Club programs are a money grab more than anything. If your own team travels why play on another club program? Shouldn’t you develop around the players you will play with until you graduate high school? What about programs like Brady’s bunch that exclusively use ringers? It seems far beyond growing the sport and more making profit
Reply
Andy
7/26/2019 12:01:48 pm
As stated above, the jump to another team should be reserved to be done under certain circumstances. What I’ve seen happening more and more is some “Elite” clubs stacking rosters to maintain a culture of winning, to use wins as marketing tools to try to attract talent and money, and not necessarily a culture of learning, training and individual exposure. Just my opinion. I will say however that I enjoy it thoroughly when a team’s ringer gets stonewalled by my son in the cage. 😁
Reply
Sam
7/26/2019 12:58:15 pm
I agree that adding ringers to a team can have negative effects on team chemistry but may also have an unseen impact on “second” or “b” teams in a club. I have seen boys who work hard to move up to the first team only to be disappointed when a ringer takes a spot. Also, another twist is pulling an older player back to play on a younger team (say a 2023 player moving to a 2024 team) this happens more than we realize.
Reply
Landon
7/26/2019 04:34:35 pm
Having been a ringer myself, I see it as a great opportunity and really helpful. It opens new routes and gets you exposure and helps build your connections.
Reply
Donald Szeke
8/13/2019 05:24:39 pm
Although my child has never been asked to play for another club, I personally do not see it being a problem. For one, parents/opponents from competing team usually is not that familiar with their opponents roster to where they would even know if a kid is a "ringer". But more importantly, I agree with the Jared in that most clubs only care about making money. Most coaches/directors are not loyal to any of the kids on their team; they will quickly cut a returning player to pick up a new kid whom they think is better (which is okay). I think "ringers", or the overall concept of willingness to play on another team, just returns the favor and will hopefully force coaches/directors to develop all of their players and not just concern themselves with the better ones.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorKevin Preston Archives
November 2019
Categories |