From the CEO: Say No to FOMO

This article appears in the March edition of USA Lacrosse Magazine. Join our momentum.

A good friend recently texted me asking for advice. He was about to speak to a group of New York/New Jersey-area parents and coaches at a youth lacrosse meeting in a community with a strong history in the sport. Some wanted to move their K-2 kids out of their town program and into a travel league.

One week later, a USA Lacrosse Foundation board member who is deeply involved in youth and high school girls’ lacrosse in the Philadelphia area expressed concern about a similar movement.

Two years earlier, I spoke to a group of club/travel progr who collectively said they don’t want to encroach on town leagues. That parents are often driving the calendarr changes.

Stop and reread that previous comment and consider resetting your assumptions. The club programs react to the demand parents create.

To the parents reading this column, please consider:

• No scholarship was ever awarded to a second grader or even a sixth grader. Fun, friends and skill development happen at these ages.
• If you start travel too soon, you will burn your child out and they won’t develop the lacrosse skills they need. That’s not fear mongering — it’s fact. We’ve seen it. The research and data confirm it.
• Ask our National Team athletes, and they will say playing with their friends in town leagues was the most fun they’ve had. They developed skills and cultivated a love for the game in those early years. That is what led to long-term success. Not the other way around.
• If you choose only to play club and do not participate in town and recreation programs, you undermine the long-term viability of the game and your child’s future playing opportunities. Most families don’t have the resources to fund a full private sports experience for their child. Over time, fewer kids play, making it even more expensive for those who do.  Fewer players mean a less competitive experience. Fewer players mean fewer programs. It becomes negative spiral to the bottom.

To be clear, I’m not anti-club. Many programs provide fun, valuable and competitive experiences. Club and travel teams are an integral part of youth sports in America. That is not changing.

It’s better to work together for common outcomes than not and hope everything will be OK.  Hope alone is not an effective strategy.

Also, a strong town rec program is good for club lacrosse because more kids develop skills and a love for the game. This means better players, and more of them. It’s good for the game and it’s good business. Club directors know this and there are many programs that coexist very well with town programs. However, some do not.

Parents, you are the market. You are the decision makers. You define what products and services club/travel programs offer and what town rec programs do as well.  You won’t have FOMO if you prioritize fun, friends and skill development at young ages.

Ask yourself the hard and possibly uncomfortable question.

Are you part of the solution or part of the problem?