posted 11/10/2011 In 2012 PSL will be entering its fourth year of offering girls travel and its seventh year of offering boys travel lacrosse in 2012. PSL is a well-organized club with excellent communication and consistent programming. Our families know what to expect from us and we do our best to deliver a great travel lacrosse experience for each family year after year.
Coaches and Results – Here's our philosophy on what makes a coach “the best”: All of PSL coaches are full-time professionals in a variety of fields, and most (not all!) are a bit older than the average lacrosse coach. Many are also parents who have played lacrosse at the highest levels and/or have coached the game for many years. How do you judge who is a “great” coach? Good bios help… but look for
results!
PSL publishes tournament and game results for all of our teams. Our girls' teams have won
four tournament championships in the past three years and our boys’ teams are now beating the likes of MD Roughriders, VA Cavaliers, and other east-coast powerhouse club teams. The best coaches get the best results.
PSL enhances our players’ skills development by including guest coaches at our team practices that specialize in individual lacrosse skills. For example, in our recent PSL Boys Fall Academy, PSL coaches lead the player development sessions and were assisted by: Martin Cahill (MLL Rochester Rattlers star), Tommy Lee and Marty Horkan of Slingshot Lacrosse; Carl and Andrew Haas – SVC Head and Asst. Coach; BJ Jenkins – Head Coach – Hiram College; Mike Downey (SVC) and John Wilson (Vanderbilt) – goalie coaches; Jimmy Cogley – Seton Hill FOGO, and others. This unique mix of seasoned coaches and specialty coaches serves our players well and exposes them to many different coaching styles. PSL will also be following this format of bringing in guest coaches for all of our girls teams this season!
PSL Teams – PSL is the only club team in western PA to offer “year-round” travel teams to HS boys and HS girls. All of our HS teams practice indoors on a full-field at
Southpointe Fieldhouse during January and February – a format followed for many years by other major east-coast clubs. Our girls' HS teams have been playing year-round (winter, summer + fall) for three years and their excellent overall results speak volumes in support of this successful club team format. This format will be implemented for our HS boys' teams (U19 and U17) starting in January 2012, and after our most successful season as a club in 2011, we are expecting even better results for those teams at our 2012 summer tourneys. Our 2012 fall tournament options for our HS teams will depend on player availability during that season. All PSL players that participate in 2012 winter and summer will have the option to play in our 2012 fall tourneys; we will tryout and bring on additional fall players if necessary to ensure fully-rostered, fully committed fall travel teams.
PSL has always fielded only one team at each age level for girls and boys. In addition, all current PSL players must tryout each year to make next year’s teams ensuring that we field the most competitive teams at every level, every year.
Girls’ travel teams are determined by graduation years whereas boys' travel teams continue to be fielded by age group – U##. PSL has found that a mix of ages/grad years (i.e. – 2012/2013 girls and U17(&16), U15(&14) boys playing together has allowed us to field the most competitive teams. This mixed-grade team arrangement allows outstanding younger players to “play up” with older players and improve their game more rapidly.
We feel that teams that are formed strictly by grade can result in being limited competitively. That teaming scenario is not a good challenge for outstanding players and may not result in a competitive squad within a tournament age bracket. For example, an all-“rising-junior” boys’ team will have a tough time competing in their required U19 tournament division against many other U19 teams that include “rising seniors”. Similarly, an all-“rising-freshman” team will have an equally rough time of it in U17 tournament play against many “rising sophs”. PSL has always followed US Lacrosse recommended age guidelines for fielding boys and girls travel teams.
Tournaments and Recruiting – Tournament fees are rising each year so offering a thoughtful and balanced combination of recruiting tournaments is essential to get your player the most “exposure” for your lacrosse dollars. College coaches attend recruiting tournaments to watch the better teams and evaluate their players. PSL will be registering our HS teams at tournaments this summer and fall that will offer the most competitive play as well as the right amount of exposure for recruiting purposes – at a reasonable price.
Recruiting is a full-time, year-round job for college coaches, and
it is their #1 priority during travel season. They appreciate it when players contact them because it makes their job easier. To assist our players and their families in the recruiting process, PSL has purchased HS team accounts for our boys and girls HS teams with CaptainU.com. Each of our players now has the basic “rookie” package to learn about and become active participants in the recruiting process. PSL’s team account status allows for a 50% player discount for upgrading to CaptainU’s “varsity” package. CaptainU has already filmed several of our HS Girls games this fall which will allow each of our players to create individual video highlight films that are crucial to the recruiting process. PSL has also partnered with College Advisor of NY for guidance on college placement . CANY is a national company the helps high school students and their parents find and get admitted to colleges that are a
best fit socially, academically, athletically, and financially.
PSL has a plan in place to provide the tools for you and your child to become actively involved with the recruiting process. PSL will also provide the correct mix of tournament opportunities to take advantage of your due diligence and enhance your player’s chances of being evaluated and recruited by the college programs of their choice.
