Originally Posted by Anonymous
This area is so corrupt and beyond obnoxious about it

If I'm the first to tell you this, I'm sorry for it. But I'm going to lay it out below and you can either accept it, or find another sport for your son.

Youth lacrosse is not a meritocracy and it never has been, and even in the hinterlands it is not. This is a region where even mid-range players are pretty serious and could go be starters on most HS teams in 10th grade, west of the MS River.

Things that are not fair (aka "corrupt" in your eyes) that are realities in lacrosse, sports, and life:
1) Major donor dads (happens at public and private schools alike)
2) Daddy Coaches pushing the ball to their son for 10 years straight
3) How much money can Dad spend on training, tournaments, and showcases
4) What age does the player start to get "fast" (it's not a work ethic thing)
5) What age does the player get "tall" (not a work ethic thing)
6) Whether a kid lives within driving distance of a "good lax school / club"
7) Coaches making ill-informed choices in tryouts (it happens)
8) Getting sold a bogus sales pitch from a coach or director (you don't know, until you know!).
9) Coach automatically chooses your position for you based on your race, height, etc (not work ethic or skill)
10) Player's parent chose to not hold them back for 1-2 graduation years.

The reality in life is that sometimes we benefit from these inequities and sometimes we do not. Instead of whining about it, I recommend you spend time with your son figuring out does he want to engage with this process of "lacrosse advancement" - with all its warts and unfairness (Just like life) - or does he want to disengage and hope that something "more fair" comes along (which, "more fair" in your eyes will most realistically be a sport or activity where you have most of the privileges listed above, and just don't realize it).

Screaming into the void that "lacrosse isn't fair" will only get you three responses - the one above, or an eye roll, or the response from people who benefited from the above, professing that they don't exist, or aren't really a problem.

So you'll have to figure it out on your own lol.