BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Maryland, D.C., Virginia Fall 2015 Summer 2016 Lacrosse

You are the biggest Madlax apologist on the planet. Do you have another day job?

Hold backs I bet?

Any word on Hawks koopers BLC Fca 2022 scrimmages

Just out of curiosity... have holdbacks already started at this age? I was at Severn today and I can't believe there are that many 6th graders - 11 year old or just turning 12 this fall - who are 5'6 or taller. A few per team, but not that many...

It is called pre first..The made up grade between Kindergarten and 1st grade... Only private schools like McD. Boys Latin. St Pauls, etc,,are allowed this magical grade for holdbacks...Once the kids go into first grade they are a year older than most 1st graders...My sons class had over half the boys that were held back in "prefirst"... And apologists spare me that they were all summer birthdays...Bunch were but a bunch were much older...pretty disgusting as most was just to get an advantage..not make sure little johnny was ready for 1st grade...Every private school has them and the number total are staggering,,so to answer your question...yes there is that many

Some private schools have rules and some do not. The IAC stipulates that a kid can be 19 in the fall 12th grader, and a kid can't play more than 4 years in any HS league. I don't know if the extremes of this repeating grades means some kids can't play as seniors. My son's club had two kids who turned 16 in September of 9th grade, so have to assume that is ok to turn 19 Sept as a senior. I think the main reason why this is happening so much is it is being urged by the club and prep lacrosse people, which is a great way to hook in tuition paying families for 8th grade repeated through 12th. The part of the IAC rule that clinches this is the 4 year cap on high school sports participation. You can't repeat 10th or 11th as a transfer, have to do the "redshirt" year in 8th. This is an absolutely brilliant way for Bullis and Landon to rope in 5 year full payers. I keep hearing about gifted lacrosse players all being scholarshiped, but that makes no sense considering how small student body classes are. I don't believe that either school could stay solvent just waiving tuition for 10 kids in a class of 90-100 for lacrosse. I may be wrong, and that may be the case if the prep schools are as nutty as the parents. Anything is possible. The reshirting and private school trend in lacrosse is a fascinating study in tulip-mania. There's very little scholarship money in this sport, and even the admissions sponsorships from coaches are shaky of the kid doesn't have a strong grades and scores academic record. The UPenn and Princeton coaches have loved to brag about how he can get a 3.0 kid in when he really wants him, but both had three commits fail admissions last year. As a parent I'd be pretty bummed if my kid committed to Princeton and wound up at Loyola or Delaware. That trend has been happening quietly for a few years now.

that's right - May 1, 2002 is cut off. Point the poster is trying to make is that Crabs and Hawks have boys who are too old for WSYL. This is based on the Rosters that were released for these teams - from the Macdonough Tournament. Bethesda does not have any boys born before this date - so entire roster eligible. GT has 2 boys - crabs have 3, but possibly more as some left DOB out, and Hawks have 1 with couple left off too.

Everyone now clear on this. And no - the rosters will not be posted on this site - just pointing out that for WSYL these squads will not be intact - for whatever that is worth - and crabs have a 9th grade ages boy on 7th grade team - which is absurd, but not a rule violation for grade based events.

My worst fear as a parent would be my kid committing to a selective school as a 9th grader, and then the way it turns out he has a 3.6-3.7 and only above average scores. There are a lot of kids out there who have a 4.0 capability. I believe the kids who get the best grades work the hardest for their grades. Worst of all worlds is a scholarship school coach telling a non-revenue sport kid that he can get him in with a 3.xx. Or an Ivy coach stating that, whether it really is 3.0 or even 3.6. A 3.6 won't get any non-preferenced kid into a very selective school. I think a valid point is that coaches have some room, but not nearly as much as they think they do. The kids who didn't get into Princeton weren't lax bros, one our family knew had good grades, but not great grades. A 3.9 was definitely attainable but he was a 3.6 and didn't ace out any AP courses or tests. I am plenty familiar with "room", as I needed and got some as a recruited athlete a generation ago to a selective school D1 program. I did the "senior slide" spring of senior year and got 3 Bs and only 2 As, and that alone was not a big deal. I see it as a risk that a kid committed far in advance of senior year has the temptation to glide some and have a longer more mediocre academic record. I can appreciate that maybe the #1 and the #2 recruit can get a lot of room, but I rather doubt coaches at Penn or at Princetok can show up with a portfolio of 9 or 10 kids needing a lot or any room at all.

It is called pre first..The made up grade between Kindergarten and 1st grade... Only private schools like McD. Boys Latin. St Pauls, etc,,are allowed this magical grade for holdbacks...Once the kids go into first grade they are a year older than most 1st graders...My sons class had over half the boys that were held back in "prefirst"... And apologists spare me that they were all summer birthdays...Bunch were but a bunch were much older...pretty disgusting as most was just to get an advantage..not make sure little johnny was ready for 1st grade...Every private school has them and the number total are staggering,,so to answer your question...yes there is that many

[quote=Anonymous]My worst fear as a parent would be my kid committing to a selective school as a 9th grader, and then the way it turns out he has a 3.6-3.7 and only above average scores.

your worst fear as a parent is that your kid doesn't get admitted to a "selective" school? Charmed life

Do you really think that the schools put the kids in prefirst for some "athletic advantage"? You think they know when they are 4 and 5 years old that A)The boy is going to play lacrosse, B)The boy is going to be good at lacrosse and C)The boy is going to stay at said school for 13 years?

These schools can charge what they do based on the colleges they send ALL OF THE STUDENTS to. Not just lacrosse players. Do you not think it behooves these institutions to allow the boys to wait to start kindergarten in terms of maturity? If this wasn't the case, why is this almost solely done with boys? McDonogh does not put many girls in pre-first and neither do the all girls schools. My son is an early September birthday. If he had been born 13 days earlier he would have started the year before. I love my son dearly, but he was in no way mature enough or ready to start school the year prior. I was lucky that he was in fact born in September so I didn't have to make that decision.

I agree with you on the 8th grade holdbacks. That is shameful. But to label a kid with a spring/summer birthday that was put in prefirst as a kid that had to go to prefirst because otherwise he couldn't compete on the field is irresponsible and smells of jealousy and envy.

You may smell jealously and envy, but most of us smell something else. And most people could care less what you do with your child at a young age. But why is there a need to get an advantage MOST CHILDREN don't enjoy in YOUTH lacrosse.That is what this discussion is about, not if little private school johnny needs another year to mature for school. Even tho Privates schools seem to be loaded with children that aren't mature compared to the rare kindergarten child held back in the Public school system.And it isnt just a summer thing..Many kids held back in prefirst are born in months prior to summer. And if you think that many parents main reason is not to give their child an advantage you are misinformed and out of touch with reality. That advantage could fester in academics or sports.

There are thousands of posts back and forth here and on other threads. It all boils down to this: the prep schools don't have rules in regards to repeating grades, so there shouldn't be any problem with this issue insofar as prep school play is concerned. Public schools do have rules stating you can't reclassify for discretionary reasons. If you want that option, you have to go via a private school.

The clubs in this sport go by graduation years as well, and that makes lacrosse different from most other sports that are simply age based. I've never read anything that shows a good cause to be different and do grade based instead of age based youth teams. Many posters have also noted that college coaches do not care if a kid is old for his class, and may prefer it, which is fine. Posters noted that at clubs tournaments college coaches get both the age and the school year from the books issued and could not be confused about either. Since club lacrosse is not a school sport or a school league, why fight so hard against just doing age based teams like the other youth sports? The best players are still the best players, the best athletes are still the best athletes and everyone can read what grade a kid is in.

The point that always gets ignored is rec or club lacrosse is not a great big scholastic sport. It has literally nothing at all to do in any way with schools, school leagues or school rules and requirements. By the reasoning on this board, what would you do with a 16 year old who graduated young from high school? Tell him he can't play because he skipped grades on discretion instead of repeated them on discretion? That makes no sense.

This is a easy one have the kid play with the other 16 year olds. Would we all be yelling for a 16 year old in 12th grade must play 2016 team. I think not he would say I am 16 years old can I play with the 2018 team and everyone would say sure no problem

You are incorrect. Many private leagues have rules about transfers and/or kids repeating grades. Many only allow kids to play 4 seasons of a sport (and some don't differentiate between JV and Varsity).

Some do not allow kids to repeat a grade at all. Some only allow transfers for kids of a certain grade and/or age.

Not everyone fits in your bucket.

FCA got beaten badly by Bethesda - not sure how that makes them undefeated lol.

It was 6-4 fca