Believe it or not the world of lacrosse doesn't revolve around Long Island. Each state has it's own rules & regs. at what age a child can & should begin school.. If these schools start at a later age so be it. If L I teams do not want to participate in out of state tourneys then please stay home.. The complaints about size & age have worn thin.
....and this is one of the major reasons why nearly every other sport groups kids based on birthdate and not grade at the youth level. Having watched my kids play many hockey games against teams from MD, PA, and MA, it is pleasure seeing our opponents be the same size (on the average across the roster) and appear to be the same age (both from an on ice prospective, and in the lobby at the rink). No one in hockey cares what grade a kid is, or what age brackets a state uses to group their children in school.
But when my kids play lacrosse against teams from MD, PA, and MA, all of a sudden the kids are bigger and look older. Why is that? Do they suddenly get younger when they play hockey, only to get older again when they pick up a lacrosse stick?
And yes, NY teams need not play against teams from other states. But why not have a uniform standard that everyone can adhere to? If you are in MD, PA, or MA, what is the downside to having the kids grouped by age and not grade?
The downside to playing on age instead of grade is that we lose more games to teams with holdbacks, my kid has to play against better kids which makes him look bad, and my dream will die or him playing DI since he now can no longer kick [ChillLaxin] on younger kids. There. I said it. Now, what is the upside to me of fighting for this against the power of the clubs and tournaments and leagues that don't care and encourage holdbacks? They want grade based to win, show off holdback stars, make more money, brag about college recruits and then make more money. You want me to change all that?
My son is trying out for Express a year below this summer. That's how I'm getting him on their AA team.
Your son still couldn't make that team. They are not in need of ' B ' level players.
