BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2022 -9th Grade Fall 2018/Summer 2019

The objects of scorn are always the best teams.

If your good enough, you know you are on the team. Duh

You shouldn’t buy your sons until he is sure he made atleast the JV team. Lol

John Carroll? Funny

The irony of of the poor grammar and the “Duh” is rich.

If your good enough, you know you are on the team. Duh

You shouldn’t buy your sons until he is sure he made atleast the JV team. Lol

John Carroll? Funny

American way. Hate the teams that win too much.

Not bad for a bunch of 2020 and 2021 holdbacks playing against true 2022s

Doesn’t Spalding have different helmets for JV and varsity? Which did they get? Some will be on varsity but most will be waiting a year.

Totally baffling(<sarcasm) how all that "winning" has slowed down over the last year or so, since the other kids/teams in the 2022 age group hit puberty and physically caught up with the 2021 and 2020 kids that carried the Hawks 2022 to wins for years. It has become clear watching Hawks play over the last year that their bigger, more physical players are not able to push other players around to generate the offense they once had when they were 2 feet taller than everyone else on the field.

Hawks beat RR 10-2 in their 2nd HoCo game last season. RR responded with win against them in the Crabfeast semis and then again at the MD Tourney this fall. Unfortunately, Crabs and "Guests" got waxed(9-1) by FCA in their home bracket at Crabfeast, so RR wound up playing FCA to win the Crabfeast Championship. "Roughriders - 2018 Crab Feast Champions"! I have a tee-shirt if you want one?

There rankings at every age are comical....they have no idea what they are talking about

John Carroll did beat Spalding last year didn't they? The point about the helmets is that the Hawks coach bought all the kids Spalding Helmets. Comical. Make the team first. Though at Spalding it's not that big of an accomplishment.

That was nice of the Hawks coach. Very generous.

2022 lacrosse is his life. #Helicopter

Says the guy on the 2022 anonymous message board everyday. #SNOWFLAKE

Every team has an off day. Thunder out of Harford County beat Crabs last Spring.

True it is a game of face off and goalie play

Jealous your son didnt get one? Tell him to hit the wall, maybe next year.

Is receiving an invite to the Jake Reed Nike Blue Chip camp anything to get excited about or is it just another money grab that anybody with a stick can attend?

Well, good camp but money grab and as far as receiving invite as a badge of honor "congrats". However many peaking at this age have hit puberty early and stand out amongst other things. Good luck

If your kid is very fast and hates to pass then go he will love it.

During the early recruiting era, this camp was a "must do". Feels like more of a D3 camp now. Good way to get seen by a lot of coaches at once but exorbitantly expensive.

I agree these things are all about if you are from a hot bed area and do you play for a top 20 travel club. If the answer is yes and yes for sure not worth the money. If the answer is no and no you might want to see if you can afford it. And my advise from a 2019 D2 top 10 commit player. Is to find a level of play first. The sooner you lock in on what level your son should or wants to play the easier the where to go answers come. This is a lot harder now because of the Sept Jr. year rule. But still the most important question to get answered ASAP.
1. What level can he play?
2. What level will he play as a freshman or will it take up till Sr. year to play?
3. What level of Academics must he have? You will be paying something so this is huge no full rides in lacrosse.
4. Will your son work for years to get playing time? Does he have to touch field Freshman year?
5. How far away from home can he play?
6. Does he have to play a certain position or will he do anything to hit the field?

Other people with kids in college please add to these questions to help these dads of 9th grade ballers.

Have you and your son actually attended the camp in the last few years or are you just repeating what "you've heard"?

So it's your opinion that if a kid plays for a top 20 club and or attends a HS with a perennial lacrosse program that doing show cases like blue chip are a total waste of time and money? Aren't these the only kids they extend invites to?

The bigger question. At what point does a kid want to start getting his name out there? It's a small community and people talk..coaches, parents, kids. With this event being held in Baltimore there must be some influential folks attending who will get the word started about the kids that attend...whether it's great, good or indifferent right?

For Rising Sophomores, it is the same weekend as the Under Armour games. For Rising Juniors, it is the same weekend as the Crab Feast. The best players will not be at Jake Reed, and the coaches will be where the best players are.

My son went last year and it was a waste of time. They cast a VERY wide net for invites. It means very little to be invited these days.

If you have a rising freshman or sophomore, the college coaches really will not be watching this summer for the most part. If you want to attend pay for play events, do it for the experience and to get ready for later, not to try to get exposure.

Ok let me change my quote, I would not say its a full waste of money for the kids from Top 20 club teams and hot bed areas. I was just saying they will get seen with or without a camp/showcase like this for this kind of cost. But I am 99% sure if you want to go to this event and you have your high school coach reach out to this event they will take your money. They might contact you the week before the event but they will take your money. These events allways start with the best of the best but they never hit the full number with this first round of invites. If you want to be there you can get your son in this event.
As for your second question. If your son plays in a event like this and looks fully over matched it could hurt him mentally in the long run. But to counter that thought the coahes do try to stick to finding the best players not crossing off the worst players. So it could be a way to let your boy see where he lines up, if you are from a non hot bed area. This goes back to my point above, events like this can help you find the correct level of play for your son. If he stands out as a star go the top D1 path. If he just holds his own but does not look like a star. He is low D1 to top D3. If he looks over matched and lost get tons of one on one work for him then come back next year. Everyone tries to make it harder then it really is. Use the old EYE test and you will know who is a stud and who is not.

This landscape is extremely difficult for players to navigate and the general responses posted here reflect that. If someone had posted asking about Under Armour instead of Blue Chip the responses would be exactly the same...money grab, waste of time, players are pre-selected by region coaches before tryouts even take place etc.

Good point. My general sense (and I certainly could be inaccurate) is that the top summer events in terms of "prestige" are Under Armour, Maverik Showtime, and Adrenaline Black Card. Under Armour is a tryout process, and Showtime and Black Card are invite-only. Each has its warts, and none can claim to have all the best players. At the same time, each is supposed to be a good opportunity for D-I exposure. Relatively small number of players and relatively large number of coaches.

Beyond that, there are a variety of events to choose from, some more expensive than others. Jake Reed may be a good option for out of towners because the kids stay in dorms. NXT may be good because it is cheaper and an overnight stay is not required. Lacrosse Masters offers great exposure to Ivy and NESCAC coaches, etc. Choose based on cost, ease of attendance, and target schools, not because of some perceived "prestige" in receiving an invite.

In my opinion, Jake Reed is in an awkward calendar slot with Crab Feast, Maverik Showtime, and Under Armour all in that same 8 day period. My guess is that coaches at the more competitive programs will focus more on the latter three events. That may not be a deal breaker for a lot of prospective participants, but it should be considered.

If you want a good landscape and high exposure to D1 Coaches, the D1 Showcase, UnD1sputed Showcase for only 160 total players on 2 side-by-side fields and 30 D1 coaches present (15 on each field) plus local D2/D3 coaches. That one is legit and Showtime is great but that has been sold out since October. Und1sputed is on Long Island mid July.

Many of the invites were turned down last year and the camp was scrambling to fill slots. Not so hard to get an invite these days.

Instruction was not very good either.

Hmmm.... is anyone else sick of a certain prominent Smash/Crush aka double holdback bragging about Winning a box championship? C’mon aren’t the parents embarrassed? Your kid is supposed to be in11th grade!! Father constantly talking about promoting the sport yet he holds his kids back and the acts like they’re something special. Maybe they are, but we’ll never know because you cheated! For all of those doing thing the right way...karma will be on your side in the long run, trust me!

Did you lose to him?

How do you know how old or what grade he is in or should be in?

There are many of kids right here in MD that are thought of to be the best at this age! Many of them should be 2021 and have been playing their correct age or year up 2020. Now they must fall back to where they actually are grade wise. Like it or not these select few will always receive the highest honors . Everyone in this class , and I mean EVERYONE will always know exactly how they got to where they are. They will never be able to hide from it.

Yawn.

As a parent of an on-age player, who cares? The "on-age" 2022 players are in 9th grade now. Many of the best on-age players will play varsity this year against players 3 years older, maybe more. I don't know any of those kids who are complaining about it. Most are looking forward to it! The only people who are still complaining about it at this point are the parents who pay way to much money to watch their kids sit behind an entire team full of playbacks at a private school, or parents who spend way to much to watch their kids sit behind playbacks on certain club teams. There are plenty of on-age players who are still the top players in Maryland despite the hold-back crap. Stop complaining and just PLAY! You are teaching your kid to make excuses by example now! If your kid is not playing, then stop approaching lacrosse like it is a popularity contest and move to a club or school where they will play! Legitimately complaining about hold-backs ends when they all can grow a mustache.

Discussing hold backs is passe in high school. Focus your son's attention on his stick skills, strength and endurance all of which he'll need to succeed in his upcoming tryouts. Some kids peak out in 8th, 9th and 10th grades and never process further. Others don't peak until they're upperclassmen in high school. A couple are real late bloomers and explode in college (usually multi sport athletes that are relatively late to the game of lacrosse). The bigger issue is getting on the field and not being a practice player. Don't let your freshmen be talked into being a non front line reserve on a varsity team. Development for underclassmen is 75% game time PT not practice reps no matter what the HC tells you. Plenty of freshmen who starred on a JV or F/S squad have ultimately lapped some player who made varsity his first year in high school.

Reality: If your son is good enough (tough to tell as a parent), make sure he has a great head and position coach and has a reasonable chance of PT (don't put him in a situation where he's behind a D1 AA can't miss recruit.

Agreed. It's not against the rules and most kids benefit in sports and in the classroom. The holdback argument has lost a lot of steam.

Just love the get over it,,,its High School now. Time to move on with the holdback game. Three ways to be the best..Be First..Be smarter..Cheat ..I would say holdbacks get two out of three before the game starts! little joke from Margin Call

It is still an advantage for many, of course not all.. By the time they get to 11 or 12 majority of advantage is over. But there is still an slight advantage for multitude of reasons..,,Ever wonder why there is a PG year for many top players?? Of course its all within the rules and you go against kids 4 years older your first year in HS..well 3 years older if you are a holdback.

Lacrosse has been become the poster child with what is wrong in YOUTH sports. More so then other youth sports. Several have some warts, but top youth lacrosse is over the top with older for their grade children.

Maryland Private High Schools are the poster childs for what is wrong with lacrosse no matter how you spin it.GReat Lacrosse tainted by everyone wondering who is a holdback . If holdbacks were a rarity or even a little above average compared to other sports no one would care. It is a epidemic that is out of control. Just seems wrong ..Common sense. But it is within the rules and holdbacks will be growing in numbers every year,

It has not really impacting my on-age player, especially now that my on-age player is bigger than most holdbacks. Just glad they stopped recruiting 6th graders!