What is pathetic is your post. You cast a shadow on a team you have no clue about. The Crabs have 2 boys with early summer birthdays ( they are 14). So they have 2 holdbacks. Those are facts.Why don’t you let everyone know what team your son plays on so we could compare rosters? Much easier for you hide behind a keyboard instead? Have you considered these boys work harder & get better coaching than your son? I hope you feel better at the Expense of 13-14 year old boys. You must be a proud parent. Instead of working hard, just have excuses ready to make yourself feel good. Pathetic!
Over many years Crabs have earned their reputation as Hold Back U. Crabs are perennial bottom feeders in HoCo until 8th grade. Then suddenly big new '8th graders' who did a pre-1st and a redo of 8th grade before HS show up. Hawks start bringing their holdbacks in earlier. But no doubt Hawks and Crabs are 2 oldest teams in division. They're also two of the best. Should have a good game this weekend. Good luck to both!
Nailed it 1000% re Crabs (less so Hawks IMO, in this age group they've been good for years). I have an older son and the dynamic was identical--Crabs were botttom/middle of the pack in Hoco until 7th grade, then 8th grade there's a dramatic jump. I'm sure it's all due to development/coaching as well as nearly every single player hitting puberty and gaining 50 lbs and growing 6-12 inches at exactly the same time, right?
And like the other posters, not knocking it, it's allowed, and TBH I'm sure there's some reclasses on my son's team, but no other program (not just the 2028 team, but the entire program) works the process like Crabs do. Just own it.
I wasn't going to post but heck with it, these posters are so myopic in their thinking that they are not looking at the totality of factors; instead they want to maintain their victimization as if the larger community cares. The clubs don't care, middle and high school sports don't care, colleges and college coaches don't care. There are lots of factors that make some of these clubs just plain better so I'm going to break it down to you like a small child and hold your hand: 1. The best kids (and over zealous parents) gravitate to the best teams with the best reputations. It happens in all sports. 2. The push to join these clubs really begins in earnest going into 8th grade as kids and parents try to jockey for positions going into high school because wearing a Crabs, FCA, Hawks helmet gives them a perceived advantage and a "known kid" factor prior to trying out for varsity. 3. These programs likely practice more than the other teams and offer additional higher-level training opportunities and coaching that other teams do not. Which in turn drives kids to those top teams. 4. Steel sharpens steel so getting better and elevating the kid's lacrosse IQ, foundational skills and playing at a faster level/game speed again (which is critical considering how fast MIAA games are played), another key driver. I know parents at a lot of different clubs in the area and there is a wide disparity of practice drills and practice tempos amongst the different club teams. 5. Playing in better, more recognized national venues becomes really important as they are about to enter high school, again another driver bringing players to these clubs in 8th grade and beyond. 6. Lumping every kid that is playing at a high level on those teams as a double holdback or single year holdback, pre-first, etc. isn't always a factor. If a kid missed your age cut-offs by a few months I hardly believe those few months were such a game-changer; especially if kids grow and haven't necessary grown into their legs or size. There are also psychological factors that are not necessarily coachable like aggression, confidence, grit and other EI indicators of success. 7. If the kid is 15 and playing on a 28 or 29 team, I agree 100%, there are issues; now that kid has potentially 2 years of growth, development and additional lacrosse exposure. 8. All of this is a mute point in middle and high school when these kids have to try-out and play against older kids so again, an issue within the club programs and again another reason why kids and parents could gravitate to the other teams in 8th grade and beyond. 9. Specific to Crabs, they didn't start promoting younger teams until around the 2027 grad year; prior to that it was primarily started with kids going into 8th grade and preparing to play high school. Undoubtedly a money making decision and possibly to start building teams to be competitive earlier since everyone else was doing it, it eventually resolves back to Game Theory. 10. Same theory applies here to the whole holdback pre-first, PG issue, you don't do it so you find yourself at a disadvantage then you complain about it and stew on your victimization mindset to justify things. Most teams, if not all the "elite (I say this only as a general reference)" competitive teams, have them so now it goes back to previous bullets of the better holdbacks going to the better teams for all the reasons (and more that I didn't list) listed above. 11. Lastly, the club programs in MD/DC/VA have exploded over the years so the area suffers from dilution which is why the area can't seem to organize a truly MD-centric national team. Kids and parents want more playing time so a few join those teams which has a trickle down affect on more established and successful programs at the 7th grade and below where high school, MIAA and college recruiting isn't as big a factor.
So I think the old tired excuse of "well if they get rid of their holdbacks they will @ChillLaxin or that's why they @ChillLaxin now" excuse has been put to bed with Elvis and Big Foot but I will sit back and await your creative retorts that amount to nothing more than excuses for mediocrity.
You raise some valid points and thank you for taking the time to actually try to justify your stance. But you missed the point on a few things. First and foremost, I’m not complaining or feeling victimized. I just simply pointed out that these parents should not be boasting here. Once again, I will point to the facts. If you take away the holdbacks or reclasses or whatever you want to call them, they would not dominate like they do. That is undeniable. And I would like for you to respond to that since you seem like a reasonable intelligent person. The conclusion that is always jumped to is that people are saying that teams with known holdbacks would not be any good without them. You sort of said it yourself. I have never seen that written here or on any other forum. Nobody is denying the quality of the on age players. But let’s call a spade a spade. Without the kids who should be 27s or maybe 26s, these teams would not be as good.
Another tactic on this, and other forums, is to jump down the throat of anyone stating the obvious about youth club lacrosse and ask them what team they are associated with. While I do not feel comfortable with that, even though I was not rude or insulting to anyone, I’ll do one better. I’ll give you the demographics of my son’s team. The demographics of my son’s team should help you understand why me, and MANY others who share my opinion, occasionally feel compelled to call out people on public forums who ignore the obvious. This is always perceived as whining or complaining. It’s more of putting an asterisk next to a statement or a ranking or a record in a league or tournament that someone else felt compelled to brag about. I’ll get to the bragging in a little bit. It took 5 minutes on the app we use.
There are 24 players on my son’s 2028 club team. The average age is 14 years 16 days. The oldest player is 14 years 9 months. The youngest (two of them) are 13 years 7 months. 13 kids have turned 14. 11 kids are still 13. We fall somewhere between 25-50 for us club lacrosse rankings. We would not beat the hawks We would not beat the crabs We would not beat rhino We would not beat 3D We would not beat 2way I mention those teams for obvious reasons.
It’s not because of a lack of work or a lack of training that we would not beat these teams. You literally said “excuses for mediocrity”. I’m stating facts. They couldn’t beat those teams because those teams are just flat out older. If they took off all the reclasses and holdbacks off of those teams, I’m guessing that we could pull off about 3 wins out of every 10 games against those teams. Which is a true compliment to the talent, coaching, and dedication of those on-age players and their families.
Truth be told, my son’s team is not even in the hoco league. So I really have no skin in the game. I’m honestly hoping him playing currently up on jv (far from bragging), and playing against older kids yet again this summer, will make him even better. Time will tell if the “it all evens out” theory is a reality come September of his junior year. It doesn’t matter though because holding back is not financially possible for me, nor do I necessarily think he would want to. And quite frankly I’m hoping for academic money and an athletic scholarship is not something that even crosses my mind. If he is good enough to play in college, whether it be at D1 or a quality college club team, then the years of not making excuses and trying to beat older kids in his youth, will certainly be part of the foundation that created his character, work ethic and lacrosse abilities.
As far as the bragging I eluded to prior, this is where that comes from. A page or so back somebody arrogantly came on here and dismissed a discussion about some other teams and basically said the hawks and the crabs are the only teams that matter. That type of arrogant post without acknowledgment of the pink elephant in the room deserves an asterisk. And that’s just what I did. I pointed out the obvious.
Too long. Did not read.
I read it and I appreciate the perspective. It is a moot point, at least in HOCO because they’ve changed the age requirement. We will see how the 2028 holdbacks do in high school. I can tell you that kids need to be able to compete with older players when they get to high school, especially if they want to play in MIAA A. If this isn’t your goal, then none of this should really matter to you. As for the people who come one here bragging about this club or that, they should just be ignored.
I agree. And thanks for the respectful exchange. To be honest I’m jealous that my son isn’t on a team competing in a league like hoco. No such thing up here.
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