US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2023

Is that you fat crab? LOL. Crabs are joke - field some on age teams for once.

Crabs doesn't go out and seek older players. They come to tryouts and perform better...Again, there are no rules barring age except in some HS leagues. We abide by the rules and filed the best level that comes to try out. Every other club has the same option and it's up to them whether or not to exercise that right. We have a solid track record in placing top athletes into top programs. What is wrong with that?


Are you serious? What's wrong with having a 16 year old (Crabs 2020) play on an 8th grade team? What's wrong with systematically encouraging your players to re-class before going into ninth grade in order to gain an advantage. What's wrong with berating and humiliating your players on the sidelines? Your organization is an embarrassment to youth lacrosse. Go count your money and eat your pork rinds.

1. Crabs
2. Club Blue
3. Next Level
4. Hawks
5. Bethesda
6. Looneys
7. 91 MD

Bethesda lost their best players to Club Blue.

1. Crabs
2. Club Blue
3. Next Level
4. Hawks
5. Bethesda
6. Looneys
7. 91 MD

Bethesda lost their best players to Club Blue.

Crabs doesn't go out and seek older players. They come to tryouts and perform better...Again, there are no rules barring age except in some HS leagues. We abide by the rules and filed the best level that comes to try out. Every other club has the same option and it's up to them whether or not to exercise that right. We have a solid track record in placing top athletes into top programs. What is wrong with that?

You're right. Crabs as a club doesn't go out and actively seek older players. But Crabs is basically the feeder program for Boys Latin, and the reclassification phenomenon in MIAA schools is well documented, whether it's the schools or the parents pushing it.

So kids that are planning to go to Boys Latin and play lacrosse are often reclassed upon finishing 7th or 8th grade to get that extra year before high school. And probably for other reasons, along the way some of those kids started school late.

Because of that, Crabs middle school teams are made up mostly of kids one or two years older than they would be if they had started school on time and/or not been held back along the way.

Does Crabs follow the rules? As laid out by HoCo and the tournaments they attend, yes they do.

But there are a lot of people that say they're gaming the system. Others justify it by saying "all programs do it." That may be true to an extent, but Crabs as a youth program is one of the most closely tied to a private high school there is in this area, so they tend to draw more of those older kids. And that draws resentment from programs that might have, say, only one or two of those kids.

Heck, there's a part of me that wishes I could afford to reclass my kid and send him there.

Whether or not there is collusion doesn't negate the fact that a grade based system allows parents to play their older children against younger children whose parents for whatever reason chose to keep their kids in the grade based on when they were born. Do prefirst if you have the financial means, hold your kid back, whatever, but don't say that a difference of a year (and oftentimes more depending on the birthdate) doesn't make a difference. After soccer changed age dates, my child is now the oldest on his team. While he was always good, he's now one of the best. Previously the boys with August-December birthdays were usually the best kids. So we're talking a few months here with soccer - imagine what a year or more does in lacrosse. But it's the system we currently have. And while you can always play up, and it used to be a sign of a great athlete to do that, the parents who chose prefirst/reclass generally don't play their kids up a grade by actually playing them on age.

What really chafes me is anonymity on this board. Maybe Larry will change that sometime....

Register. Post under your own name. Perhaps others will follow your lead.

You cannot be serious about that there is no difference between grade based/age based. Every other sport is based on age. A certain organization who shall remain nameless (cough ... Crabs) fielded a handful of 8th graders in the 2016 HOCO league that would turn 16 in the fall of their Freshman year and one who was 16 in the 8th grade (March birthdate). Grade based is a joke. The only people defending it are the people who game the system.

The real question is, why does it matter? One kid is a great player because he is a year older. Eventually his curve will level out. It's not a safety issue, so please don't give me that line. Much of the hitting has been removed from the game. I think it has more to do with parent egos and the refusal to accept that kids are better than their children. It happens. Suck it up, Buttercup. Nothing is going to change,

It is always "suck it up buttercup" or something along those lines. Yet you same apologists want NO part of anything you say. What you want is for your child to be the oldest guy out there.

Holding back or doing prefirst makes a average player better than most of the younger players. At age he would be average..It works especially at the younger age groups. And even at 8th grade as many are just starting to really grow. But the majority of people you ask feel that it is wrong. You dont let a select group of kids ( for whatever reason short of some handicap) play down against their age group. If those kids get to play down then change the rules to let anyone play down that is within a year/6 months of their age group. Forget grades. why do these select kids get to play down when the same exact birthday kids dont ??? Makes no sense..except to apologists for grade base. Pretty simple concept.

A more simple concept is to not play if you are still stuck on this argument.

It is always "suck it up buttercup" or something along those lines. Yet you same apologists want NO part of anything you say. What you want is for your child to be the oldest guy out there.

Holding back or doing prefirst makes a average player better than most of the younger players. At age he would be average..It works especially at the younger age groups. And even at 8th grade as many are just starting to really grow. But the majority of people you ask feel that it is wrong. You dont let a select group of kids ( for whatever reason short of some handicap) play down against their age group. If those kids get to play down then change the rules to let anyone play down that is within a year/6 months of their age group. Forget grades. why do these select kids get to play down when the same exact birthday kids dont ??? Makes no sense..except to apologists for grade base. Pretty simple concept.

Actually, most people don't care. Most people realize that it doesn't matter if one kid is better than other at 9/10/11 years old. For the record, my kid is not a holdback, and if he's playing against a holdback that is bigger and stronger, then he's getting better by playing against him. When they get to high school, everything will even out and the cream will rise to the top. If the holdback kid is an elite athlete now, he will continue to be in the future. If he isn't, his parents will be crushed because he's no longer the superstar. Either way, they're in 5th grade and it doesn't matter.... not even a little bit. So tell your son to put his big boy pants on and play the game without excuses. Or maybe give that speech to the person in the mirror.

Another crying liberal calling fowl

I have never bought into the argument that the bigger "older" kids are going to hurt the "younger" smaller kids. Those kids will always struggle to compete against the legit "AA" players. Conversely it is somewhat true that at the HS level it does not matter anymore because size wise you are what you are as 10 - 12 graders beyond the continued muscle development as they mature and weight train with the exception of the late bloomers which are unfortunately penalized in this sport for collegiate recruiting.

I think the kids that get screwed are the really good players on elite teams that cut or bumped down the roster due to the number of holdbacks on the elite teams. I have watched pretty good on age players on top level teams reclassify and become studs / high level commits now that they are playing kids primarily one year younger in those crucial 8th - 10th grade recruiting years for the top 30 D1 programs.

Not a buttercup or snowflake, and my son is a on age public school kid that did commit to a mid level D1 program as a sophomore.

A unfair advantage for one kid is a unfair disadvantage for another kid.

I have never bought into the argument that the bigger "older" kids are going to hurt the "younger" smaller kids. Those kids will always struggle to compete against the legit "AA" players. Conversely it is somewhat true that at the HS level it does not matter anymore because size wise you are what you are as 10 - 12 graders beyond the continued muscle development as they mature and weight train with the exception of the late bloomers which are unfortunately penalized in this sport for collegiate recruiting.

I think the kids that get screwed are the really good players on elite teams that cut or bumped down the roster due to the number of holdbacks on the elite teams. I have watched pretty good on age players on top level teams reclassify and become studs / high level commits now that they are playing kids primarily one year younger in those crucial 8th - 10th grade recruiting years for the top 30 D1 programs.

Not a buttercup or snowflake, and my son is a on age public school kid that did commit to a mid level D1 program as a sophomore.

A unfair advantage for one kid is a unfair disadvantage for another kid.

You don't think recruiters take age into consideration? They absolutely do. Do you really think that all of these people are pulling a fast one on top 30 coaches? Your argument is invalid. They look at EVERYTHING! Age, skill level, grades, weight, height, parents' weight and height, sibling' weight and height, etc... they will not be fooled by a holdback.

You are misinformed. Look no further than the commits to top 10 schools from the class of 2020. Many holdbacks in that group.