Our announcement about growing the Team 91 Charlotte girls programs and teams has also led to a ton of questions from parents eager to learn more. A lot of information can be found on our tryout webpage here. I’ll also drop some of the frequent questions and answers below.
Q: What ages will Team 91 Charlotte have girls teams at?
A: We have the ability to have teams from 2028-2037. A lot of our focus so far has been on 2030 and below knowing that 2028s and 2029s are in or are starting the recruiting process soon. It’s rare for girls to join a new club at those ages, however, what makes things really interesting is Kathleen brings an incredible amount of recruiting experience. If 2028 and 2029 girls are interested, she is a former Division I head coach that knows the recruiting process better than anyone in Charlotte….
Q: What will their practice and training schedule be?
A: We expect the girls to train a lot! The plan will replicate what we have been doing with the boys for several years. By season and somewhat generically to avoid sending an entire calendar:
Fall: One weeknight skill training session or team practice (Wed/Thurs), one weekend skill training session (Sat.) and one team practice (Sun.) with 2-3 team tournaments.
Winter: One weeknight skill training session (T-Th.), one weekend skill training session (Sat.) and Winter league game(s) (Sun).
Spring: Sunday team practices for 8th grade and below teams. Optional rec league for 6th grade and below.
Summer: Practice 3x per week with 3-4 tournaments in June.
Girls will also have the ability to try out for 91 South and 91 National teams for additional opportunities to play that do not conflict with 91 Charlotte events.
Q: Where will teams practice?
A: A majority of our training will be held at the Mecklenburg Co. Sportsplex and William R. Davie Park. At times if those fields are not available, we’ll use a number of other fields around the region including Richard Barry Park, Chestnut Square Park, Cornelius Road Park, Elon Park, Charlotte Country Day, Charlotte Latin, Charlotte Christian, Rama Rd. Elementary and more. We are second only to the Charlotte Soccer Academy in terms of renting fields from Mecklenburg County and a majority of our programming will be done in that area.
Q: Will the teams travel up north a lot?
A: That depends. If it is appropriate and at a certain ages, we’ll travel. We’re not opposed to it. We’re just not going to ask families to travel for no reason or when we have alternatives. Every time a family has to take a flight to a tournament, that’s a $1,500-$2,000+ weekend across flights, hotels, cars, etc. As we have shown on the boys side, our preference is to play up an age when needed for competition or work with partners in the region to create events that get the best programs playing each other. If we can get good games within a 4-5hr radius, we can make this a lot more affordable for families. When recruiting isn’t a factor, we try to be smart with what we ask from families in terms of travel. When recruiting is a factor, we’re going to travel to make sure the girls are getting the exposure they need.
For those that want more and want to travel at a younger age, we offer the 91 South and 91 National options. This allows girls to play on more competitive teams at more competitive events that are generally outside of the 4-5hr drivable radius.
Q: Other clubs have a recruiting director, will you?
A: Absolutely not. Here is what we have done on the boys side without one. We have 31 boys committed in the 2027 class already across our 91 Charlotte and 91 South programs. All of the other Charlotte girls programs combined have ~11, from my understanding. I could write an entire article on the “recruiting director” role. Your job as the director of any club is to know the players, be on the field with them and help them accomplish their goal of playing college lacrosse. That is not to be outsourced to someone living in another city. Kathleen and I will work together with players and families to help navigate the recruiting process… since it’s our job to know the girls.
Having been in the club lacrosse world for 15 years now, I would strongly encourage families to avoid the recruiting director sales pitch when the recruiting director isn’t at a majority of practices… getting to know the girl(s) that coaches are asking about.
Q: Can we play on a 91 South team but not a 91 Charlotte team?
A: We discourage this but it can be up to each family. One of the things that makes the 91 South program so successful is that all the directors involved in the regional program are working together to avoid schedule conflicts. When a player from outside of the regional programs tries to play for a 91 South team, they generally end up running into schedule conflicts. Additionally, we need to be mindful of how many girls are on a South team that are from outside of the 91 regional programs (Charlotte/Carolina/Virginia/etc.). If we have 7-10 girls on a 91 South team that do not play for a 91 regional program, their schedule conflict(s) can become our schedule conflict(s) and impact everyone’s experience in a negative way.
Q: What will your (Ryan Flanagan’s) involvement be in the girls program?
A: I find a way to get involved in everything we do. At this point, across our boys and girls programs, my job is more to make sure we have the right people in place and we are all operating at a high level. I’ll pop in to work with our 2034 boys team one afternoon or our 2029s one evening. I’ll coach rec teams and I’ll meet with our high school guys in the recruiting process. Am I going to be on the field coaching every program? No. I don’t do that for the boys either. Will I know the girls and be on the field at times with them? Yes. I’ll work really closely with Kathleen, Ashley, Abby, Allison and the rest of our girls staff to make sure we’re running training sessions and teaching the way we want things done with Team 91. Helping our coaches and directors is the best way I can help all the players in our program.
Q: We will miss tryouts, what are our options?
As you can tell, we’re really excited to get to work with girls soon. We’ll host our FREE Impact Training Session on 5/17. We’ll also be announcing some summer drop-in training sessions over the next few weeks leading up to tryouts on June 22nd and 29th.
Have a question that hasn’t been answered? Please reach out.
We hope to see your son or daughter on the field soon.
Ryan Flanagan
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