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Like the 13 and 14 year olds they are!

Not sure what is so creepy. It might clear up the constant disputes about Crabs and holdbacks. Lets see the real birthdates (obviously no players names,numbers,) and we all can judge for ourselves about the use of holdbacks by Crabs.

They looked great, but not sure what the level of competition was.

You do realize that many, if not a majority of the holdbacks that play for Crabs go to McDonogh right? What would AH benefit from pointing this out? Makes no sense.

All MIAA schools have Holdbacks. There may be a bunch of holdbacks from McD on Crabs..but they get just as many from Boys Latin, St Pauls, Gilman, etc

Crabs 19 lost to express north that team is 1 year old and Edge from Canada

Express North also beat them in Philly over the summer so new but good...and Edge is....well, older...

There is no dispute. If it's a grade based tournament/event, all that matters is the grade the kid is in. You can keep asking about birth certificates, but that is irrelevant and just sour grapes.

Actually no - it is not sour grapes. When you game the system by holding your child back so he can beat up on younger kids your priorities are out of whack. Keep telling yourself its OK.

You can keep crying. College coaches keep calling us and our kids keep committing. LOL.

That's great, but your reputation is crap in the general public and unless you want to stay in b'more, i wouldn't publicize that you ever played for the crabs. i'd never hire a kid from the crab's organization, bunch of scumbag families.

I get that many would prefer an age based system. Just know that when you come on here and rip only Crabs for having holdbacks you come off looking ignorant and jealous. Holdbacks are EVERYWHERE in Baltimore lacrosse.

Not just Baltimore. Madlax has more holdbacks than anyone, including the Crabs. Look at their 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 teams.

I don't think a lot of Crabs alums are looking to work for you as a garbage collector.

I agree it's everywhere. I just wished they had a way to identify the reclassified kids. So the kids on age are evaluated correctly. When you are talking about 9th graders it's a big deal to be 14 months older. The on age kids are being down graded un fairly

This guy is getting old yes there are reclass kids on Madlax for sure. But I can confirm that they have no more then 3 or 4 a team. Yes it sucks but all top teams have reclass kids. It's a private school issue and private school kids play lacrosse

If Madlax has 3-4 reclassified kids per team, that is on par with the Crabs. Not shocking that the scumbag owner would lead the way in cheating.

News flash... College coaches keep calling kids that haven't reclassed too! Your kid just wasn't good enough to be in that group! The college roster will be filled with many non holdbacks- many kids do not need to be left back to be stand out athletes and students. Who's laughing last? Props to the kids that are talented and smart enough to not have to get left back.

Coaches will stop calling if u can't win at least 2 games at your own tourney

Little Johnny couldn't keep up with his friends in 8th grade so we decided to hold him back a year or two so he can kick some little kid's [lacrosse].

So if 3 or 4 reclassed kids on a team is the high water mark for all the clubs this problem is not as big as we all claim. I say they should do something like I have seen at Baseball/softball showcase tournaments where they make the kids where colored bracelets to say the age and grad year. That way when the 18 month older reclass kid is running over my on age younger birthday son in the 2019 bracket at least the college scouts can come to his own conclusion. I am sure they would like to know if the kid is all ready fully grown or has room to hit his peak.

Very original response but there is some validity to the original posters comment. There would be other candidates more suitable as there is 1)no room for adults who had everything micromanaged by their parents 2) do not recognize themselves as a problem and 3) if they need to skip a grade instead of work harder that is a character flaw which will not change over time. Even if they personally did not hold back, it is a problem that they would align themselves with an organization who holds this methodology at it's foundation and not being strong enough to walk away. Yes, there are isolated holdbacks on other teams and those kids as individuals would be looked at twice also in the real world.

You guys are idiots. College coaches couldn't care less if a kid has reclassed once or even twice. They simply want the best kids they can kid in any class. Same for a basketball or football coach.

You can keep whining and pulling your hair out, but that's the landscape. All this Internet angst isn't going to do anything but serve as a way for you to waste your time crying about something that is not going to change.

If a college coach is looking at two kids and likes one better than the other, he is going to take him even if the kid is older. Period.

Not talking about college if you had read the text before you started calling names -the conversation was after their (and your) Glory Days when they hit the real world and can't cope because there are candidates better then them and daddy can't fix it . Work hard at your age and don't resort to reclassing so you appear bigger stronger faster by beating up on kids who have not reached their growth spurt yet. Tide is turning on Crabs Nation. Nobody cares if you win or not and D1 is not the end all- there are more people who want to teach their kids to work hard and just shake their head when a Crabs team takes the field which is too bad for the kids on the field who are on age but their parents knew the deal.

One of two things will happen in the next four years to the major programs who recruit early and have not discounted the bias toward kids who mature earlier / are older for their class.

1. They keep winning and it is moot.
2. It blows up in their faces and those same coaches get fired.

Kids at the major "early recruiting" places who are freshman in college now finishing fall ball were the first class to my memory where lots of kids committed at or before the start of 10th grade. To my memory, this year's senior HS class is the first one that had kids commit as 9th graders before XMas. The 2017 classes on down were an early free for all. It will be interesting the say the least how productive this college freshman class is on the field at UVA, UNC, Hop, UMD, then onwards over the next few years.

We'll know soon if it really is a hot mess, but unfortunately too late for a lot of late blooming 10th or 11th graders now. That stinks on some levels. On my son's team is a very good player who didn't start playing lacrosse until 7th grade. Now he has caught or passed a lot of the kids on a very good team, but since he's in 11th grade it is too late. That seems nuts to me, but the college coaches have made their determinations. Let's see if they were right.

If they are looking at 9th graders they really should care a lot if a kid is 14 or 16 years old. Most kids grow a ton during this 2 year window and most slow down after this window. And at the D1 level size is a bigger deal. Scouts love growth potential. They love to say when we get him we can make him so much better. So the age of the kid should mean a ton to them. I say play by grad year but call out the age if its all about the college guys and what they see the more info the better for them correct. They asked for grad year teams and we gave it to them. Lets give them the correct age of each kid also.

There are plenty of Crabs who are "on age" Why all the hate towards them?

You can make an argument that is morally the wrong thing to do. But if you look at the number of reclassed kids who have committed to D1 programs, the numbers aren't in your favor.

Maybe you're right and all those D1 coaches are wrong. But it doesn't seem like they agree with you. They are taking the best kids they see without any regard to whether or not a kid is older or younger. You shouldn't be surprised because football, basketball, soccer and other coaches couldn't care less, either.

Because the bulk of their players are a year or two older and playing against younger kids for one reason and one reason only. They're shameless and while it's an effective strategy to win games, it demonstrates horrible sportsmanship. Lax will end and everyone will hopefully have good memories and learn life lessons that extend beyond the lax field. The culture of the crabs is rotten to the core and you all have to live with that and knowing, that for your age, you're really not that good.

Those coaches could care less, just like when a kid blows out a knee, they could are less. Get the next piece of meat off the bench and put him in.

Your pre-first, 8th grade hold back can play high school ball and nobody will complain, but your pre-first 8th grade holdback son shouldn't be playing down on the youth teams.

I agree that they do not care at the end. I am not asking for them to change the Grad year system I just would like them to call out the reclass kids so the on age kids will get credit when they out play a kid 18 months older then them. If it does not matter why would the reclass kids be upset. And if it makes us on age parents happy whats the harm?

Madlax 2017 has five reclassed kids for sure and probably more.

Why would the tournament directors (let alone them) do that? Most recruiting books the coaches get have birthdates listed, so the information is there for those who may actually care about the ages.

And it's not always 18 months. Sometimes a reclassed kid was young for his grade and is the same age as his new peers in a lower grade (but sometimes not).

If your son is a good player, it will all be fine in the end.

I don't care how old Crabs or Madlax players are, or if college coaches put credit or discount on 16 year olds playing with 14 year olds. Here is a different point: in football, they look at your physical stature and raw inputs like a running dash time. Basketball that matters a lot. Soccer, I've seen kids examined upside down and back over how well they can run and place the ball and a lot of academy soccer players don't even make it to college.

My point would be this: if I see a 6'1 or 6'2 kid who can really run, has a lot of balance and explosiveness...I know Mr. Weight room will work to round his stature out. Same thing with goalie where the college and MLL trends recently now that the game has grown are bigger and bigger kids who can also move. Basically, the way I see it is the only position in lacrosse where physical stature is less important is attack. Tons of small but very fast kids playing college lacrosse at attack. But everywhere else, I'd think that a college coach would be indifferent about ages on grade school teams if he sees that stature on the field. Bet early, middle or late all day long on the big kids who can really run, are balanced and explosive. What I don't get is seeing college coaches committing stick figure 2019 goalies whose helmets are several inches below the crossbar, and diminutive middies. For the life of me, I just don't get why they will bet unhedged on a kid being undersized after puberty and growth fills out, and for all those 5'7 130lb early recruits that risk is really high. What do others think?

Right. Because I know I put on my resume who I played club lacrosse for in Middle School. I must have been crazy to think my resume saying I was a Division 1 lacrosse player that graduated from Johns Hopkins would be sufficient. I am glad that I didn't include that I played for Crabs. I may have never found a job with my Hopkins diploma.

Idiots.

Are you idiots under the impression that the college coaches don't have the birth dates of the kids? Every coach gets a full rundown of every kid at the tournament. This includes DOB, GPA, SAT scores, Height, Weight, etc...

This whole argument is so stupid. It's the way it is because the college coaches want it that way.

Do you really think college coaches don't know how old the kids are? Who gives a [lacrosse] if you don't know how old everyone on the field is. It's really none of your business.

You're what's know as a "lax bro" - Hopkins lax guy doesn't get the same credibility that you get with a Hopkins degree. Everyone knows you're likely just there to play lax brah. See a resume with JHU degree, check, played lax too, right in the trash can.

Any kid who goes to Hopkins and has a great academic record there is going to have a lot of great opportunities when they graduate. Unfortunately at Hopkins and several other selective schools that have scholarship lacrosse, a lot of kids do play for years and leave with the 'ole 2 point something a liberal arts gut major. You are right that those are the trash can resumes, but the examples of that are not isolated to Hopkins. Sadly it happens a lot, and that is why you have so many going to Plan B recent college grads in Baltimore and in DC areas who are club coaches who give private lessons when they can get that work.

Right. Because most "lax bros" have a degree in Applied Mathematics from JHU. Glad you don't work at my company.