BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Boys 2020-8th Grade Fall 2015 Summer 2016

Ironically our friends to the north opened the door for this now almost universal grade based segmentation of youth club lacrosse. In 2012 there were ZERO grade based clubs in MD. Breakers, FCA, Hawks, Madlax, Looneys, Roughriders, Green Turtle.... even Crabs were age based -- u11, u13, u15 in youth and then grade in HS. And all local tournaments were age based. I think when rec teams started getting pounding by teams named Express 2019, Crush 2020 etc in what had been rec tournaments LaxSpash/Beachlax -- the seas of change were set in motion. That scourge of youth sports took over – the need to win at all costs and opportunity to make money. The next thing you know its dump the rec programs and organize by grade to take advantage of kids who were held back in kindergarten. More clubs, more tournaments, more money. Now we have Team 91 MD breaking new ground on how much money we can fleece parents for in youth lax in MD. My original point is that clubs in Maryland, DC and Va followed the format created in NY. It’s imperfect and unnecessary but for the most part keeps kids within an 18 month window. Of course there are some that push the limit but the “double hold-back” is a myth. There is a rule in the MIAA that you can’t turn 19 before school year and play a sport. Anyway you can’t blame teams for organizing by grade when that’s how tournaments and teams from other regions are formed. If clubs on LI feel the system is unfair/unsafe – let’s see some leadership organize your teams/tournaments by single year’s u11, u12, u13 etc and based on US Lax 9/1 cut-offs. Many including me would welcome the change. Until then you are just whining about a system you helped create.

Looneys 2020..5..Hawks 0...

YOUNG GUNS....this past summer
HAWKS forgot where the goal was...

Edge here we up graded 8 players from the team that played sweetlax last year. fl$ are a much better team than they were last year. Could have won the final if they didn't run into a hot goalie

Actually Ithaca is not bad 4 hours and we like the Sweetlax people. Don't think we see you (fl$) again so good luck with the rest of your season this fall and hopefully we see you again next summer.

from LI, parent of a '20 (appropriate age), sounds reasonable to me. get rid of 5/1 as cutoff (ridiculous) and organize tournaments by u age as of 9/1. I don't care if the author of this is crabs/looney's/leadiug edge/breakers/crush/fl$- great post and agreed.

Can't wait until all the Baltimore teams crush Crush in the fall or summer.

So who played in this tournament and what were the scores?

Agree-back to 9/1 ! Too bad nobody has the guts and ability to put into place and enforce. NJ is trying to cut down on holdbacks who do so for sports and proposing kids that were held back in middle school only be permitted to play 3 years in high school. That would put an end to this nonsense.

Agree-back to 9/1 ! Too bad nobody has the guts and ability to put into place and enforce. NJ is trying to cut down on holdbacks who do so for sports and proposing kids that were held back in middle school only be permitted to play 3 years in high school. That would put an end to this nonsense.

Saw that legislation being introduced in Jersey. Good for them! Hope others will follow their lead!

Be careful what you wish for. The next thing will be regulating if kids are legally allowed to be cut from a team....Sports need to fix themselves from within.

Keep crying, Long Island!

Your kid born in Q4? Just go to calendar year groupings, 5/1, 9/1, all arbitrary

You can't magically create a great player by holding a kid back. It may appear that a mediocre player is a better temporarily, but that will only last a little while. If you hold a great player back, they will continue to be great and look amazing. Problem is most of the kids being held back now are not great, just average. In a few years they will be average again. If they happen to be recruited the majority will ride the bench. Cream rises to the top, no matter how hard you shake the milk!

i know you want to believe this but do yourself a favor and look at the birthdays/grad years on the top div 1 teams. not all publish this info but some do. The MAJORITY were 19 entering freshman year.

Keep crying, Long Island!

Keep crying, Long Island!

i know you want to believe this but do yourself a favor and look at the birthdays/grad years on the top div 1 teams. not all publish this info but some do. The MAJORITY were 19 entering freshman year.

Has anyone ever heard of Elev8 futures lacrosse from Canada? They are in a tournament we are playing in. From their website they appear to be 9th graders playing 2020.

They are from Calgary, Western Canada. Where are you playing them? Looks like a west Coast version of Edge.