I love these vague categories like "truly play A". Half of the clubs on this list bounce around from grad year to grad year, yet you list them in a group with M&D & Heroes. M&D, Heroes, and most likely Coppermine post 27s compete at the top of every age group in top tournaments. Coppermine is certainly headed in that direction despite the haters. MDU bounces around from year to year, Pride dissolves after 8th grade, BLC is spotty at best and SW is done after the 2025 age group despite the super accurate fall rankings. Some teams listed as not being "Truly A" have teams still playing that routinely beat all the teams on your list depending on the grad year, but the grad years from those teams certainly vary more than the others.
If your kid is on a team in the A bracket, they are playing against A talent, seeing how they size up, and have to live with the results. There are plenty of kids happy playing with friends on those teams, winning their fair share, and learning where they need to improve. Those teams have plenty of top talent that get recruited to top schools. It's definitely less than M&D & Heroes, but the kids apparently don't feel the need drive an extra hour each way to practice in order to win every game in youth lacrosse.
Credit to Coppermine. They play in top brackets even when there talent doesn't merit it.
