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

Wrong. That was not the case with either Looney's 2017 or 2018. Both teams were terrible. Neither team lost kids or a coach because of a mass exodus or another club wooing them away.

Both teams were terrible since the outset and then the club pulled the plug and kicked those kids to the curb.

Way to support them, Looney's.

If they where as bad as you say they where then they where stealing from those players. The club should not put a team on the field if they are not good enough to play at the level required.

Not to disrupt such an informative back and forth on Looney's, but a serious question:

How prevalent is it for kids to start kindergarten as 6 year olds in Baltimore, Md-suburbs of DC, DC or NoVA? In other words, do boys with Summer and even Spring birthdays typically wait a year to start kindergarten in these areas?

I was talking with friends with kids in private school in a couple of larger Southern cities and was amazed when they said it would be (and has been for years) unusual for boy born in April to start kindergarten as a 5-year old in their cities? They said this was also somewhat true of the parents they knew with kids in public school.

I am guessing you are on the age based side of the new grad year based format in use now in the DMV. With the cost of daycare in the DMV you have to be someone with means to be able to decide to pay another full year of day care. So your summer birthday son can go into school at 6 years old. Yes it happens a lot and many lacrosse boys do 8th grade twice so they are 2 years older going into high school.

Nobody is repeating 8th grade twice. Get a grip.

I'm not in DMV, but my kids go to a private school with 2-3 kids a year re-classing for b-ball or football, but not lax yet. All the kids I know who went to boarding school and play lax repeated 9th grade.

But many kids did pre first and repeated 8th grade

what is DMV?

Silver spring, would drive an hour or so. Our daughter plays for M&D so we can drive. Just at u9, we know he is lacking some skills of the better players on the better teams. We just want some better coaching and options for him in the meantime. Has played rec for 3 yrs and this is his 1st with NL. Was asked to tryout for zingos, this the initial question

He will easily be taller than that. He is 4'8" now and 8

By no means are we pushing him to be the next great lax player, he loves to play, its not his only sport. We are just looking for a good team for him to develop and grow with good coaching. His team now, is a little too relaxed and they are not teaching him much. He learned his dodges and crease rolls slides and faceoffs from a player at Gonzaga that lives in our neighborhood

drive an hour for LAX in a dime a dozen LAX region...wow!

define many? You can't be 19 before your senior year in MIAA and play sports that year. That would constitute the mythical double hold-back -- ie being a summer birthday and waiting until kid is 6 start school and then repeating a grade later on. Is anyone aware of a lax player that skipped his senior year? I would imagine it's happened since they made a rule that against it. But it certainly not "many" at least in MIAA. Does DC/VA leagues not have an age limit? I have heard of some egregious examples of holbacks. Fall bdays where the kids is already older for his normal grade and then a holdback year. But the double holdback is a myth. And the number of single hold backs is exaggerated. Most middle school teams have 4-5 and most of them are summer birthdays. Some teams have more, others less.

Maybe. Or maybe he stops growing when he hits 5'10". You have no idea how tall he may eventually become.

The double holdback does seem to go against being able to play in MIAA in HS. But you are sadly mistaken on the amount of kids heldback. I know from actual knowledge,,,not hearsay that two different grades at one had close to 50% of boys held back in prefirst.
It was common knowledge that all MIAA schools had many kids that did prefirst. Add that up and clubs are full of heldback kids. And they are not all summer birthdays. Could care less why parents do it at school. It is their business why, But the take over of Lacrosse for these special kids goes completely against all youth sports morals

DC Maryland and VA

I posted this fact to help the parents set expectations for there child. We all know looking at the parents size and height is not 100% but it is by far the best way to project size of child when they get to 18 years old. Also this helps the parent of a small child who is kicking butt at U11 and even U13. But his projected size is going to be 5' 8" 120 his Sr year. So I say once again Lacrosse at the highest level is still a CONTACT sport. Stick skills can not handle 6'1" 225 pole no matter how good they are.

Disagree, Off ball movement and stick skills are the key. The 6'1' 225 pole is good but if he is chasing a little guy like Rob Pannell 5' 10', Joe Sanke 5'5", Jordan Wolf 5'9", Matt Kavanagh 5'8" he will get smoked. That is a fact Jack.

I would guess that all of these guys have very very very sick shuttle run and 40 times. And if some one has time please find the avg size of all the 70 D1 attackmen. I am guessing its not 5'9". So lets go back to the football example I can name you some great small players but 99 out of 100 people will tell you Football is a big strong mans game. Top 1% measurable s can overcome size and weight negatives in all sports but as a rule of thumb in all contact sports size and weight win. Also when I talk about stick skills I am talking about all the skills acquired from hours of practice on a wall or goal not what you are born with or acquire in a gym.

Stick skills are practice. Game IQ is to a great extent just repetition and good coaching. People make this sport sound like it is the SAT in cleats. I'd say the liability for kids is poor coaching, bad habits. Great coaching getting to great habits are just being confused with this lacrosse IQ drivel. Most elite lacrosse players aren't elite in other sports. They may be strong athletes but if they are not coached and don't get reps in say soccer, they will look like the crude low soccer IQ kids out there. There are plenty of posters here who think great football players can't be good lacrosse players and it confuses a point when they back that up pointing at football kids who pick up lacrosse late and would be great lacrosse players if focused on it. It's just practice.

It always pays to be a great athlete AND have physical stature. There are positional exceptions. An NFL receiver can be 5'9 weigh 80 pounds less than linebackers, and so can cornerbacks. But those players have to be fast as sin. Speed kills and size matters little at those positions. Except for these positions and kickers, football players at a high level need to have a oh shiva stature. In basketball and many other sports it is also needed. I think in lacrosse an attackman can be small but must be fast as sin. At all other positions I have no doubt that these kids have to be both skilled and have the physical stature. I doubt any early verbal at middie, defense or goalie at 5'7 and rail thin will ever play unless they fill out into the stature that strong players in college have. I think this is especially true at defense and goalie. In future years with the growth of the game I think a college defender or goalie under 6'0 and 190-200 will become as rare as a big time college or pro QB in football shorter than 6'0.

Lacrosse will reach a point soon where diminutive size means kids can't play D1 or pro just like other developed sports.

Just like in the NHL? Most players there are under 6'0 tall!

My coach always said "you cant teach speed or size"....you either have it or you don't.

Nor heart and determination. Height isn't the true measure of a man!

There isn't a doubt that if you take two lacrosse players where one is 5'8 and 170 pounds and one who is 6'2 and 200+ pounds were both are equally fast, agile and skilled the great advantage goes to the athlete with stature. You can't go to the gym and work on getting taller or longer. In lacrosse length to play bigger and cover more space or hold a stick away from defenders is an advantage. Being physically bigger and stronger than another smaller player is always an advantage assuming the bigger kid can run with the smaller player. That isn't even a debate. People who point at the past successes of undersized lacrosse players are focusing on attackmen and I maintain that is always possible for attackmen who are exceptionally fast. Beyond that, all there is to point at is lacrosse history to here is whitewashed by he fact that it has historically been a sanctuary for white, prep school, privileged and small kids who'd not succeed in other sports. Lacrosse is a comp to sports like squash and fencing in that regard.

And, what is the excuse for hockey?

Not true. Of the 28 players on the Capitals only 3 under 6'0". 1 at 5'10" 2 at 5'11". 7 6'3" or above.

Thanks prior poster. NHL has some diminutive sized players, but not many of them. I saw the Boston Bruins passing through an airport to their team bus a couple weeks ago. I'm 5'11 and felt like a twerp as they were walking by. Too exhausting to just respond to the toppers who won't give in. With alike speed, agility and skill, 6+ and 200+ has it all over 5'7 and 160-175 every time. One of the issues with early recruiting is the extrapolations of what a small 8th or 9th grader will be. In truth a lot of the reclassified kids are just plain undersized for their age and have used the repeat grade thing during the puberty years for a short window of advantage. Then that closes and it doesn't hold up.

Just like in the NHL? Most players there are under 6'0 tall![/quote]

Just looked at NY Rangers roster. Of the 28 players on the roster only 2 under 6'0". 1 at 5'11" 1 at 5'7". 6 players 6'3" or above.

Not sure where you are getting your hockey information from. It is wrong.

As lacrosse evolves so will the athlete that plays it...

Most get measured with skates on. I've met many NHL players who were list at 6 or taller and were shorter than me, I'm between 5'10 and 11

The best part of this thread right now is this started from a statement about if you and your wife are small and slow its going to be pretty hard for your son to play D1. I do love how it has gotten to this point. But for anyone to say Size and strength or weight are not great advantages in any contact sport you are nuts. So when it comes to speed of a player at D1 can you guys name any slow running players in D1 and if so how many? And if you do find any slow players please tell me how tall and how much they weight?

Speed will always be prioritized over size for a sport like lacrosse. Prototypical long pole playing in college will be 6'+, but if you ask them if they'd rather cover a slow 6'+ attackman or a shifty/fast 5'6 Sankey type ... you already know the answer.

There are no slow D1 lacrosse players. You'll never see the field.

Speed and size will always be prioritized over speed alone. Always.

Right now lacrosse is a sport where shorter players can play at the highest levels. There are plenty of 5'8"-5'11" attack and middies playing at the big D-1 schools. Who knows how things will change. I'm 6'4" and my son is already 6' at 13 so is isn't an issue for us. I think that there will always be a place for the smaller, shifty dodging offensive players provided they are fast/quick enough. It's one of the great things about the sport.

22 of 50 for Hopkins roster under 6' tall and add another 9 that are exactly 6' tall.

Don't forget. They don't just have to end up 6'1" and 190 lbs. They have get nearly that big by the Fall of 9th grade or Summer before 10th on the current recruiting calendar. Doesn't matter if dad is 6'3" and both parents played college sports if they aren't held back or an early maturer.

That is pathetic. Leaves lacrosse with a long ways to go toward becoming a real sport.

It all depends on club coaching, consistency, and dedication.

Jordan Wolf - 5'9"
Rob Pannell - 5'10"
Mike Powell - 5'11"
Joey Sankey - 5'5"
Matt Kavanaugh - 5"8"
Kevin Rice - 5'8"

Some of the best to ever play the game and below 6'.

Most of those a guys are shorter than Crabs 2020 players turning 16 this summer.

True dat.