US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Boys 2021 - 8th Grade Fall 2016/ Summer 2017

So I just stumbled onto this thread by accident as I was simply trying to find a replay of the True National 2021 vs. Eclipse championship game played in Annapolis yesterday. My wife flew out east(from Chicago) with my son and I wasn't able to be there and see him play. It's pretty shocking to pull something like this up and see a bunch of garbage assumptions and accusations about a team you know absolutely nothing about. My son has trained with and played for True Lacrosse in Illinois for 5 years now and has done so with the same group of boys he started with - every one of which is still 14yrs old(or younger) and has a graduation year of 2021. They bust their butts nearly year-round under the instruction of True's 2 founders which not only both played D1, but also each played 9yrs in the MLL. They decided to take the game they know and love and grow it in the Midwest where I have to tell you - it has blown up. Believe me when I tell you we have been told far too many times that Midwest kids can't compete with the East Coast in lacrosse!! And our kids hate hearing it!

So to respond to a few of the comments above:

**** "How does a team from Illinois that didn't even win a B 2021 tournament on LI in the fall, make the finals of Naptown nine months later? Please tell." - This one I am happy to explain. True Lacrosse in Illinois alone has several Regional Teams(North Stars, Northwest, West Elite, South, etc....) which cover all of the various suburbs of Chicago........then there are their State Teams which are like "All Star" teams picked from ALL of these Illinois Regional Teams at each age group to play in more serious tournaments(mostly East Coast)..........then there you have other states such as True Indiana, True Idaho, True Michigan, True Kentucky, and so on and so forth..............and THEN their is True National which is selected from a mini tournament/tryout from ALL of the above and plays in 1 and 1 only tournament per year!! That is the team that you saw playing Eclipse in the championship! This happens at every age group and therefore they don't need to pick a bunch of older players and pretend they're 14 - they pick them from HUNDREDS of talented 14yr olds that work extremely hard to be there. So you may have seen a True team that didn't even win in the B division at one of your tournaments, but no 2 teams that go out East are EVER the same because when we come to your tournaments - we fly(or drive 12-14hrs) and we stay in hotels and not every family can spend both the money and the entire summer away from home so our kids can play lacrosse.

**** "Yeah it's a real mystery how true national all of a sudden is the best at most age levels. Must be something in the water out there" - I don't think it's a mystery and I doubt there is anything special in our water - I just know they train hard in every age group from U7 through high school. Where you may have 20 really strong lacrosse clubs to split your talent up - we only have a few. True happens to be the one that wants to test it's talent against the best. This should be a compliment to all of you. We would be happy to have any/all East Coast teams come to Chicago for a tournament, but something tells me you won't want to spend money on flights and hotels like we do each and every time we play you. And it's not really "all of the sudden".

**** "both teams also had many 16 years olds that were 2019 kids" - I can't speak for Eclipse because I have no idea what age their boys were, but that is absolute lie when it comes to True Lacrosse. You can look at our rosters year after year and see 90% of the same names. I am only aware of 2 kids in all of True Illinois who have "re-classed" and neither of them was on this team - it just isn't a "thing" you see done here.

So I hope this novel I've written(which was very therapeutic for me) helps to dispel some of the rumors etc..... you have about True Lacrosse. It should be exciting for you to know the sport is growing and improving around the country and not just in your backyards. Best of luck to all of your sons' in their remaining tournaments!

So I just stumbled onto this thread by accident as I was simply trying to find a replay of the True National 2021 vs. Eclipse championship game played in Annapolis yesterday. My wife flew out east(from Chicago) with my son and I wasn't able to be there and see him play. It's pretty shocking to pull something like this up and see a bunch of garbage assumptions and accusations about a team you know absolutely nothing about. My son has trained with and played for True Lacrosse in Illinois for 5 years now and has done so with the same group of boys he started with - every one of which is still 14yrs old(or younger) and has a graduation year of 2021. They bust their butts nearly year-round under the instruction of True's 2 founders which not only both played D1, but also each played 9yrs in the MLL. They decided to take the game they know and love and grow it in the Midwest where I have to tell you - it has blown up. Believe me when I tell you we have been told far too many times that Midwest kids can't compete with the East Coast in lacrosse!! And our kids hate hearing it!

So to respond to a few of the comments above:

**** "How does a team from Illinois that didn't even win a B 2021 tournament on LI in the fall, make the finals of Naptown nine months later? Please tell." - This one I am happy to explain. True Lacrosse in Illinois alone has several Regional Teams(North Stars, Northwest, West Elite, South, etc....) which cover all of the various suburbs of Chicago........then there are their State Teams which are like "All Star" teams picked from ALL of these Illinois Regional Teams at each age group to play in more serious tournaments(mostly East Coast)..........then there you have other states such as True Indiana, True Idaho, True Michigan, True Kentucky, and so on and so forth..............and THEN their is True National which is selected from a mini tournament/tryout from ALL of the above and plays in 1 and 1 only tournament per year!! That is the team that you saw playing Eclipse in the championship! This happens at every age group and therefore they don't need to pick a bunch of older players and pretend they're 14 - they pick them from HUNDREDS of talented 14yr olds that work extremely hard to be there. So you may have seen a True team that didn't even win in the B division at one of your tournaments, but no 2 teams that go out East are EVER the same because when we come to your tournaments - we fly(or drive 12-14hrs) and we stay in hotels and not every family can spend both the money and the entire summer away from home so our kids can play lacrosse.

**** "Yeah it's a real mystery how true national all of a sudden is the best at most age levels. Must be something in the water out there" - I don't think it's a mystery and I doubt there is anything special in our water - I just know they train hard in every age group from U7 through high school. Where you may have 20 really strong lacrosse clubs to split your talent up - we only have a few. True happens to be the one that wants to test it's talent against the best. This should be a compliment to all of you. We would be happy to have any/all East Coast teams come to Chicago for a tournament, but something tells me you won't want to spend money on flights and hotels like we do each and every time we play you. And it's not really "all of the sudden".

**** "both teams also had many 16 years olds that were 2019 kids" - I can't speak for Eclipse because I have no idea what age their boys were, but that is absolute lie when it comes to True Lacrosse. You can look at our rosters year after year and see 90% of the same names. I am only aware of 2 kids in all of True Illinois who have "re-classed" and neither of them was on this team - it just isn't a "thing" you see done here.

So I hope this novel I've written(which was very therapeutic for me) helps to dispel some of the rumors etc..... you have about True Lacrosse. It should be exciting for you to know the sport is growing and improving around the country and not just in your backyards. Best of luck to all of your sons' in their remaining tournaments!

So I just stumbled onto this thread by accident as I was simply trying to find a replay of the True National 2021 vs. Eclipse championship game played in Annapolis yesterday. My wife flew out east(from Chicago) with my son and I wasn't able to be there and see him play. It's pretty shocking to pull something like this up and see a bunch of garbage assumptions and accusations about a team you know absolutely nothing about. My son has trained with and played for True Lacrosse in Illinois for 5 years now and has done so with the same group of boys he started with - every one of which is still 14yrs old(or younger) and has a graduation year of 2021. They bust their butts nearly year-round under the instruction of True's 2 founders which not only both played D1, but also each played 9yrs in the MLL. They decided to take the game they know and love and grow it in the Midwest where I have to tell you - it has blown up. Believe me when I tell you we have been told far too many times that Midwest kids can't compete with the East Coast in lacrosse!! And our kids hate hearing it!

So to respond to a few of the comments above:

**** "How does a team from Illinois that didn't even win a B 2021 tournament on LI in the fall, make the finals of Naptown nine months later? Please tell." - This one I am happy to explain. True Lacrosse in Illinois alone has several Regional Teams(North Stars, Northwest, West Elite, South, etc....) which cover all of the various suburbs of Chicago........then there are their State Teams which are like "All Star" teams picked from ALL of these Illinois Regional Teams at each age group to play in more serious tournaments(mostly East Coast)..........then there you have other states such as True Indiana, True Idaho, True Michigan, True Kentucky, and so on and so forth..............and THEN their is True National which is selected from a mini tournament/tryout from ALL of the above and plays in 1 and 1 only tournament per year!! That is the team that you saw playing Eclipse in the championship! This happens at every age group and therefore they don't need to pick a bunch of older players and pretend they're 14 - they pick them from HUNDREDS of talented 14yr olds that work extremely hard to be there. So you may have seen a True team that didn't even win in the B division at one of your tournaments, but no 2 teams that go out East are EVER the same because when we come to your tournaments - we fly(or drive 12-14hrs) and we stay in hotels and not every family can spend both the money and the entire summer away from home so our kids can play lacrosse.

**** "Yeah it's a real mystery how true national all of a sudden is the best at most age levels. Must be something in the water out there" - I don't think it's a mystery and I doubt there is anything special in our water - I just know they train hard in every age group from U7 through high school. Where you may have 20 really strong lacrosse clubs to split your talent up - we only have a few. True happens to be the one that wants to test it's talent against the best. This should be a compliment to all of you. We would be happy to have any/all East Coast teams come to Chicago for a tournament, but something tells me you won't want to spend money on flights and hotels like we do each and every time we play you. And it's not really "all of the sudden".

**** "both teams also had many 16 years olds that were 2019 kids" - I can't speak for Eclipse because I have no idea what age their boys were, but that is absolute lie when it comes to True Lacrosse. You can look at our rosters year after year and see 90% of the same names. I am only aware of 2 kids in all of True Illinois who have "re-classed" and neither of them was on this team - it just isn't a "thing" you see done here.

So I hope this novel I've written(which was very therapeutic for me) helps to dispel some of the rumors etc..... you have about True Lacrosse. It should be exciting for you to know the sport is growing and improving around the country and not just in your backyards. Best of luck to all of your sons' in their remaining tournaments!