BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM True Annapolis

Mesa will fail as their "main" teams up in Haverford, PA, aren't even any good. Nostrant should just start a new club in Maryland and not try to expand the Mesa brand which carries no weight.

Agreed and stating on your website "Maryland's & Pennsylvania's Premiere Lacrosse Club" doesn't make you that. Their Mesa Futures 2027 did well at summer exposure but in general I don't hear about their teams or see them at events like NAL.
The joke on severna park will come as they recruit kids outside of Severna Park while using up their valuable time, space and money. Oh and watch your kid not play anymore after paying 2G.

The Green Hornets kids in my kid's class are trying out for the Hawks as the Mesa thing isn't going smoothly. Apparently 5-7 kids.

good luck with that. I have seen both teams play and even the top 5 on mesa will have a hard time cracking the hawks roster.

Why not try out for True Annapolis then? The 2024 team needs players. There is honestly a lot of talent on this squad. The players/parents/coaches are friendly and welcoming too, which seems to be rare around here.

Based upon the Hawks website they are planning 2 teams for 2026. My guess is the Mesa and True players will make up the core of the 2nd team, which would be a great place for those boys to learn the game and position themselves for the possibility to make their A team at some point in the future. My guess is simply getting into the Hawks organization is a big step up from True and Mesa.

I am not involved with any of these teams mentioned, but as a coach and former club director I'd be careful of joining a 2nd team at an age group. In most cases I think it is better to be on the A team (assuming good coaches of course) of a lesser organization than the B team of a more successful club. If you are on top team and have success you can always apply for AA or A brackets whereas that won't happen as a 2nd team. The promise of eventually moving up rarely happens as the club is more likely to find an outsider to slide onto the top team.

True Illinois may have gone 1-3, but the losses were to three extremely good teams, losing by three to the Hawks and by one to BLC and VLC. True Illinois are the real deal and there’s no shame in how they performed.

How about just showing up with your MD team and leave the dog and pony show in IL. The using 20 kids from 20 different teams to play against standard club teams like BLC, VLC and Hawks is as bad as using holdbacks.

You’re absolutely right about the 2nd teams. It’s hard to find coaches, and the rosters seem much more fluid.

True reigned supreme this weekend. Only lost one and it was a close game. Score differential for the weekend was 25 - 8. It all gelled in the last two weeks. Club should be placed in Elite at HOCO as they will win their fair share vs Hawks, 91, Madlax and Loonies. Team is rising to the top ahead of schedule.

2024 team was 4-0 at NXT Cup. They won by impressive margins each time. Probably should've been in the AA division.

True re 2024. I was speaking of the play of 2026 this weekend. Really played great. All came together this weekend. Dominated the teams they beat and lost a close one to PA RR, which is an elite team. True 2026 is on the cusp of greatness.

I like the confidence (and congrats on a strong weekend), but not I don't think you are quite on the cusp. We've played PA RR multiple times and I wouldn't call them Elite (if you mean they'd play HoCo Elite then I agree, but they'd be middle of the pack...definitely not a nationally elite team). If True wants to be elite, you can't lose to any PA teams, even the best of their bunch.

So is True Annapolis 2026 folding or not?

Someone let True Dad know that just because RR puts Elite at the end of their team name doesn’t make them elite. Congratulations on pulling it all together and playing well in another B level tournament. Which where you should he playing. They’re definitely on the cusp of superior mediocrity.

It's all relative I guess...Elite in PA is same as avg in MD. Maybe True should drop Annapolis and start a PA team so they can say they are best in state.

Has anyone heard of any coaching changes for the 2026 team? I see they have several teams

Anyone go to the 28 True tryouts? How are they going to do chesapeake vs. annapolis with respect to A/B teams?

Anyone hear from 26 staff regarding what team their son is playing for. My son tried out and we have not heard. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

It ain't good.

Wait, there's a 2026 B team? The A team was hardly competitive this summer, how can any parent consider putting their son on a True B team?

True Annapolis is a money grab at best. Go back west of Mississippi and continue running youth clinics. Terribly unorganized and completely out of touch with the mid Atlantic market. Many other great clubs In the area to consider rather than settle on True..

So the AYLC coach leaves. He goes to True with a couple of his core players. AYLC now has no 2026 team. Funny how this great coach keeps bouncing around

So let me see if I clearly see the picture. The business men that run True have a vision that they can bring a superior program to Annapolis. To accomplish this they infiltrate Diamondback coaching staff and recruit players from inside the organization causing that 2026 program to implode. After a mediocre season at best vs B level competition they know they need to do something or all their best players will walk. Answer? Find another Diamondback scenario called AYLC and recruit from within. Yet another long time program dies to support the falsity that is True(ly) a $ grab. Did I get this right or are my facts inaccurate?

Is there really a True B team? My advice is stay clear. Moneymaker for the program but rarely a good experience for the kids and families You are much better off finding a program where their best or only team in the age group is the right fit for your son.

But they train more so it will be okay

You can't make this stuff up. They were even offering roster spots before tryouts. Yikes!

The Club hoppers are a funny bunch. So desperately want to be on an Elite team they blindly follow these coaches and end up on a multi level marketing team $$$ promising everything and delivering nothing. #trueon2

STAY AWAY its a joke , huge mistake , field issues , adding players to rosters , coaching issues , bad decision on my part .

This is actually spot on.

You can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig!

From the buzz in the lacrosse community it appears that while the pig lost a few pounds and got a Revlon kit it is even uglier then last year’s prom. Appears the new roster might be subtraction through addition.

Rumor is their really good goalie went to BLC.

"subtraction through addition" - excellent phrase, I plan to borrow it. My son's team just finished tryouts and their buzzword (fortunately) is the opposite.

But before we bash True too badly, let's wait and see them play.

Which True B team did your son finally make?? 🤦‍♂️

Not B, and not True but thanks for asking!

Why? True is a money grab disguising itself as a lacrosse Club. They have had a good team here and there out of to many to count. The Club is the place for players that could not make any top club in area, .True thrives on the parents of players below elite status that wants to tell the neighbors, his son is playing elite. Not bad marketing

True makes its money they way you say above. It makes its reputation of national teams using kids from other clubs!

I guess. If running around the country beating up on weak competition under the guise of "National Tournaments" helps your reputation then so be it. But again, they pad their pockets with the dense dumbs who fall for it.