PENFIELD YOUTH LACROSSE
THE “BALANCED TEAM” CONCEPT

——— What is a “PYL team”? —————————————————————————

The concept of “PYL teams” may be different from other youth sports you have participated in. All of our PYL 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 PYL teams.

——— 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 PYL charter from the very first teams in 1995 up to and including today has a core goal of “teaching all kids the game of lacrosse in a recreational environment”. Penfield Youth Lacrosse is different from summer lacrosse (mostly travel/tournament teams), fall and winter lacrosse in that teaching lacrosse to all comers and how to be a good citizen is always more important than actual game play. Teams that exist solely for game play (summer, fall, winter) may have NO practice time to focus on teaching the game - these teams exist to play competitive games.

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 PYL coaches as we can.

• Let's face it - most youth coaches and administrators probably have children who were involved in lacrosse at a very early age. These players may be the most advanced, and the parents may be the most qualified coaches. Balanced teams allow newer players to benefit from the experienced coaches.

• Our PYL teams do end up playing each other in league games. Balanced teams should allow all PYL 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.

• Good players are good players. They will make the proper moves and decisions no matter what "type" of team they are on. Making the right pass is making the right pass, no matter if the teammate at the other end catches it cleanly.

• 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 Penfield team suffering six blowouts due to inexperience and/or youth and we don't want players to be bored if they are up 5-0 in the first few minutes of a game. Balanced teams usually result in balanced games.

• 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 lacrosse. Modified, JV and Varsity programs exist to be very competitive and to have the best players on the field. It has always been PYL philosophy that 1^st through 6^th grade should be a time for all comers to learn the game;

• Beyond the youth level, the Penfield 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” or older 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.

 ——— SUMMARY —————————————————————————————————

Hopefully the above has provided insight as to why PYL adheres to the balanced team concept. All PYL participants within an age group practice together, providing FAR more interaction (50-60 hours) than actual game play (6-10 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 PYL will provide each child the foundation to handle it all.