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

Exactly 4 more years of skill development and training in the gym, makes a huge difference!

Huh, I’m a Proud-on-Age Dad. And my ego is more important than whether-or-not my under developed son plays or not. Color me #martyr with principles.

It’s a great day to be a Crab!

Keep drinking

Haters gonna detest - have a great summer

US lacrosse stealing time from on age kids in the past, present and future.

Come on man.....
Give them a break they are finding themselves. What do you want them to go out and get a job. Really.... finish college in four years and have to get a job. Oh my god please.

The amount of tears here is humorous. 2 different types of holdbacks too. The kids ages 5-6 that do pre k or repeat isn’t for lax reasons. Many did it because schools felt it in the best interest of the students development. In college my hope is the 6th years got the best education they could. Wins and losses on the field will not carry them the rest of their life and people here feel they are stealing a life changing event from them.

I’m a Proud on Age Dad, and I approve this message.

I'm a proud on age dad as well. More people need to step up and say that. Parents of middle school holdbacks that did it for sports only, please respond. Let us know if your kid could compete successfully if you left them on age??? Love to hear from you.

Our son did pre-first. When he started playing lacrosse, he played with a team that were all kids his age. He did well, mainly because he is athletic and worked hard to learn the game.

After a couple years, he grew tired of not playing with his school classmates, but with kids from the next grade up. He wanted to play with his buddies from school, so we let him move to a team from his grad year.

I'll give you a specific example of the holdback advantage. 2 sophomores ('24), one was the 1st SSDM on a very good public HS varsity team. Played a ton on varsity, will move to O next Spring. Other was a good JV player, hardly saw the field on varsity. The JV player is moving to one of the nationally ranked prep schools and reclassing. This summer the "JV" player has already made 1 national all star team as a '25 and the AS game for a large well known recruiting event. The on-level kid didn't make either, but is the better player b/w the two. Same build/height etc., 6 month difference in birthdate. Right or wrong, holdbacks are an advantage. The kid staying in the public HS can't reclass for obvious reasons, so the question is if he wants to play in college (don't know if he does) should he reclass next summer and plan on doing a PG. If he does a PG, where does he go?

So the answer is-the sophomore who was on JV that hardly played, who is reclassing cannot compete successfully on age as a 2024. He moves to 2025 and becomes a stud because he is playing against younger boys. No surprise here. I hope he and the family feel great about the move backwards so he can go forward in an unfair way. Hard work against younger boys does pay off....

I bet you are proud of your son who plays down an age against younger boys. Go Get Them Tiger !

And when he is playing D1 in college your kid can watch him play.

Yeah, the last 2 years of college lacrosse has eliminated the whole "coaches want potential" argument.

Fixed that for you.

If it’s prefirst, 5th grade or 8th, the outcome is the same. The kid gets an advantage that people with out money do not have.

Color it how every you want but stealing from on age kids is wrong on every level.

So SAD about holdback situation getting even more prevalent. If you want your kid to play D1 in college, you will need to hold him back. 2x would be best! SAD

Not true. My 2022 kid just Graduated on age not held back heading to College in the Fall to play D1 lacrosse at top tier program. IMO the holdback argument is just a excuse when kids don’t get recruited.

Congrats to your son. He is in the minority of on age to be recruited on age D1. holdbacks are the greater problem from middle school upward. It is not an excuse, it is a fact. Is your kid good enough to play on age is the question this whole topic should always come back to. Thats the only question that should be asked of holdback parents/players. If done done for reasons other than sports that is a topic for another forum.

The holdback argument is not an excuse. It’s a valid concern. A 2023 player should be competing against kids at that are all about the same age, ~all within a year.

If a player is really a 2022 or a 2021, this gives that player an advantage. If everything is equal as far as talent and resources, the older kid wins.

Congratulations to your son and his D1 recruitment. This is an oddity. My guess your son has a very early birthday.

It’s more true now fir kids coming up. Congrats to your kid, but he was on the cusp of the crazy holdback stuff going in now. It’s running more rampant now. It’s almost a must now?

What amazes me is that it is a simple fix, simply have clubs follow the actual rules set by us lacrosse and have a hard deadline of September 1. If you choose to hold back for other reasons, that’s fine but you will still play for the older club team. It might put more pressure on the college coaches to recruit but literally every other sport figures it out.

College coaches care less how old you are

holdbacks are the norm now for most recruits, Frankly some college coaches are looking at that.

If you are not a holdback the odds are you are a on age players born Sept-Dec. . When you do see a college roster it is amig the age of soph, jr, etc. All older than the norm.

It is out of control and will not stop as prep schools need older boys for various reasons.

holdbacks and their parents are cancers. Should make it like soccer and use the calendar year. No exceptions. You can play “up” if you are truly exceptional, otherwise, play with the kids in your birth year. That would be too simple though.

What other states have high numbers of holdbacks outside the mid Atlantic and northeast?

West coast? Texas? Midwest? south?

Wouldn't this be an issue in 8th grade? Schools don't use birth year for their cut off.

My son is older, faster and stronger than most of the weaklings he knocks the cr_p out of on the lacrosse field. I'm glad it causes parents of the weak to pee their pants. Proud Dad who laughs at the whiners. LOL

Unfortunately your son will follow in your footsteps in life. A loss.

What do y’all think about a club team bringing in committed 22 players to play in a 23 showcase ? Saw it in the fall and again today.

Why bother? It’s a showcase. The point of a showcase is to show yourself to coaches. Why would committed 22s want to even be bothered with a 23 showcase? Makes absolutely no sense.

Nothing wrong with that in today's world. They can claim they are doing a PG year and vola, they are playing at the right grade like the rest of holdbacks or even the unicorn double holdback. Today is doesn't matter about age in top elite lacrosse, it is grade. Get n line

COMMITTED 22s the OP said.

Crabs

It makes total sense if you are looking to get a better offer. Might be on age and deciding to do a PG the following year to catch up with all the recruited holdbacks ahead of him.

Covid has changed the rules somewhat and made reclassing and PG years more prevalent

Get out of line. It is holdback dingbats like u that have screwed it up. Did u or anybody else on this thread hold your kid back for any reason other than sports??

PG is all about elite boarding schools making u & son feel good about outperforming a kid 2-3 years younger-and u get to pay for it. Joke is on your wallet. Don’t use Covid as an excuse. Grow some and live like it is pre-Covid.