Over the Transom: BYLA's FAQs

Send in your questions and we'll post the response.

US Lacrosse fees: "I just registered my three children for spring LAX.  My sons have played for several years - this is my daughter's first year (Kindergarten).  I am confused about the USL membership - I just paid USL $25 for her membership and $125 to BYLA for her clinic.  Is that correct?  I thought BYLA paid the USL memberships?"

You are correct...in the past we absorbed USL fees for all grades ($25 per player annually). Historically, our interest in USL memberships involves insurance...they provide our coverage...and covering the USL fee began as an administrative convenience, rather than any specific fee formula or incentive. Just recently, USL upgraded their system so that we could simultaneously offer BYLA on-line registration together with independent USL updates...as you saw, it is one "on-line charge," but actually two transactions. In your daughter's case, the Pre-Travel program fees have stayed level even though we broke out the USL fee. It hits you like a $25 increase, but it was not intended as such. Pre-Travel (K-1-2 and Boys 3) have always paid less than the Travel teams, but as they are already priced so low there is less wiggle room when we look for reductions. Elsewhere, we have reduced fees in certain programs (Girls Programs, something to look forward to) and we continue to offer incentive reductions for those boys who re-use uniforms instead of ordering new ones each season (don't toss 'em, they're worth $40 a year).  And there are other adjustments--you may also notice that with the older Boys programs, certain fees increased a bit last year, reflecting the fact that we have begun adding depth to those programs as well as paid coaches on certain teams.

Mismatched US Lacrosse numbers: "I am trying to register my daughter...this will be her third summer in the program...(but) an error pops up that says there is a mismatch on her US Lacrosse ID.  Any guidance would be appreciated." 

USL issues are usually easy to resolve. Try this quick fix: Go to https://secure.uslacrosse.org/m.cfm and look up your daughter's USL number according to the fields they request...her name, birth date and zip code...it's a simple, one-box process. Don't even worry about entering what you believe is her USL membership number at this stage.  Instead, just see what their system has on file for her. More than likely, her USL number(s) will appear and you'll recognize a simple anomaly, perhaps there is a digit or so out of place in your records. But if nothing comes up according to her birth date, or if there are duplicate USL numbers, you need to go to www.uslacrosse.org/membership and trade e-mails or otherwise contact them by phone at 410.235.6882 x102 (M-F, 9 am-5 pm EST) in order to resolve the issue. They are pretty responsive.

Register Button (Eligible) or Ineligible Button: "When I go in and register my daughter the system doesn't allow me to register my son as well. It says my son is 'ineligible.'"

Multiple registrations are easy in this system but you must remember that there is a separate registration offer and matching registration process for each child being registered. Since your son cannot possibly be registered for the girls team, the system tags him ineligible for that specific registration offer. You can do your family registrations all in one sitting, and you should....in the end it adds up to one on-line credit card transaction. But you have to start with one child and do a pass to establish a family profile...then you can do successive passes for each subsequent child's registration, grade by grade. Example: When you visit bronxvillelacrosse.org to register on-line, one of the first steps you take is to scroll down the list of registration offers to chose the correct program for your child. We organize our teams by grade. Let's say your daughter is in Grade 4. As you go through the Grade 4 lacrosse registration process, you will come to a family history box that has a button next to your daughter's name...it should say "register"...and you click that button to proceed with her registration. Note that at the same time, the button next to your son's name (let's say he's in Grade 8) will say "ineligible" because you are in the Girls Grade 4 registration offer. Just noodle through and complete your daughter's registration to the point where the system offers you the choice of making a final credit card purchase or "registering another child." After clicking the latter choice, you go back and repeat the same "steps" that you did for your daughter, but this time for your son in the Boys Grade 8 registration offer. At the end of that process you will have the choice of paying for both your son and daughter together or adding another child.