BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Bring Honesty Back

Man, you guys just do not know when to lock it up. Now making sexist comments. Every player has a mom. And now you have insulted them by implying somehow it is likely to be a women making these comments, as they do not understand the manly sport of lacrosse. It is cheating, period. Every human being knows it. These moms know cheating, they know the club coaches, they know the athletic directors in town, they know PTA board members and they are smart and would be more than willing to tell the music teacher that sits on the school board about the cheating. The comments from many in this lacrosse forum bubble are quite frankly inane.

I think it is a reference to 1 specific mother.

Can you read? They said a 2025 player dropping DOWN mid season to play 2026. You are talking about playing up.

Back on top

Time for another summer season. Keep it strait or be exposed by the sunlight!!!

If only this sport had a national governing body to manage all of this. 90% of the issues here -- illegal rosters, club jumping, reclassifying could be solved if USA Lacrosse had an interest in improving the sport instead of collecting $$.

Wait if school is over for an 8th grader and he holds back, right now he is a rising 8th grader. Correct? He is not a 9th ie he has officially reclassed at the end of school.

I agree with everything you wrote with the exception of the pre-k holdbacks. Even in small non NLF clubs half the rosters consist of pre-k hold backs (with the exception of the NY kids ) This has nothing to do with lacrosse. Pre-K is just common practice outside of the northern states. Kids graduate HS at 19 instead of 18. Re-classers start college at 20.

It's actually quite simple ....make lacrosse ON AGE just like soccer . U13, U12 etc......until then there will always be hold backs and reclassing etc....what these money hungry clubs forget is it's not safe for kids to be playing other kids who are older and could have hit puberty already . But in the end money is king not safety . And we all fall in line like sheep for this stuff while the club owners line their pockets and don't care about the kids one bit

How about 91, and express both using 31 kids in a 32 division at blatant. Ex top programs showing true colors. That’s absolutely pathetic.

This will never change unless proof of grade (report cards) is required. And that probably will never happen.

Who has abused reclass and who has cheated this year?

Pretty much all the private school kids. They do because they can. Reckless disregard for anyone other than themselves. I love when it backfires. Unfortunately (actually, fortunately) being older doesn’t make you better when others catch up. Fun to watch.

2way

Why do you care?

Maybe the hope for a level playing field? Massive Hold backs and cheaters will be on display at NLF. Clubs and coaches should be called out . Parents think they are great, everyone else knows it is bs. Is this any better than the Lia Thomas situation?

Maybe the hope of a level playing field?

Lia Thomas

The holdback thing amazes me in this sport and it seems like a very simple fix that every other sport has already incorporated. All is lacrosse would have to do is enforce a rule it already has of age instead of graduating year in club. Yea there will be holdbacks for high school still but it would be a disadvantage to do it for club which is where the kids get recruited out of. And for those of you who think, well it all evens out when they are older, you are seriously underestimating the effect of older kids making better teams and getting better coaching when they are younger. Great study of this effect in youth/minor league hockey where 80+% of the kids who made the minors were born in Jan/Feb vs any other month of the year. The bigger kids make the better teams and get better coaching early on.
US lacrosse needs to have the guts to stand up and enforce the rule that every other sport already has

Well said

So the real question is why don't they?

All the “Hall of Famers” and head coaches have holdbacks as kids. They don’t want to rock the boat!

It's not the why don't they, it's WHO should and WHO has the authority?

USA Lacrosse is the obvious choice, but it will require buy in from every club and tournament

I hear the top recruit in the country is like a double holdback

Nope. He re-classed before high school to the 23 class and is a March birthday but still played mostly with the 22 class. he'll be 19 when he starts college.

Pretty sure he’s talking about the top ‘22 recruit going to Cuse

He’s been driving to 91 practice for 5 years now.

One of the sad parts of all of this is the pressure put on these kids by their parents. The kids buys into it all because their scheming parents tells them that it’s a way to gain an edge, so they do as directed. What happens at the next level can be devastating to many of these heldback kids when they are not the superstar everyone expected. They will be rooted against. I will always root against the holdback, and for the kid that did things the right way.

Not holding back as much on island has paid off. How did Duke do last year? Li has still increased last few years the percentage ok kids going in to play college. Kids are better to not hold back and Redshirt 1st year You practice for 8-9 moths at a college level. Holding back during your younger years is a joke. So u can be a top recruit. Look at top 50 busts last few years, more than 10 year ago.

The 22 recruit is a hold back. He held back starting kindergarten. He should be a 21. He played up a year his entire youth with the 20’s Funny thing is he would have been the top recruit in the 21 class. He didn’t need to hold back

Spallina is a hold back, but a summer hold back. I know it's splitting hairs since the gap between March and June is equivalent to the gap between June and September, but I find that slightly more palatable since the March birthday is closer to the average on-age kid in the grade above than to the average on-age kid in the grade below.

A holdback is a holdback. Are the other boys holdbacks…YES! You’re supposed to be an ambassador of the sport. Stop cheating!!

My kid isn't even 19 yet and he's starting his sophomore year in college.

So, a summer holdback is okay, but others are not? Please stop.

Easiest fix is if US lacrosse just enforced their current rules for club lacrosse and promoted it to the tournaments(don’t offer insurance for those that don’t). Hard deadline of sept 1 and that’s it. There will still be holdbacks for high school ball but it would be less prevalent as most recruiting happens from club and not high school. Simple and done