BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums PENNSYLVANIA LACROSSE PENNSYLVANIA FORUM Boys 2025

Again, this is a 2025 forum. You oughta bounce over the 2032 forum.

So your "clear & present danger" lawsuit only applies in club lacrosse for high school age players but not their actual High School lacrosse team. Guess it also doesn't apply to the 18 yo college freshman playing against 24 yo seniors (redshirt + COVID year). Gotcha.

Not sure why you are unable grasp the safety issue, but the concern is players in the 11-15 year old range and the physical disparity that can exist at those ages. I am sorry your kid cannot succeed with players at his own age, but this is about the safety of the players and quite frankly.....a level playing field.

Why are you against your son playing with kids his own age?

It's time to teach these boys that life isn't always fair. Are they going to complain when they are in the working world and someone has more experience? My son is better than other kids in his grade, but he gets made fun of because he will be turning 16 midway through his 8th grade year. He is making sacrifices to be the best in his grade, now you want to change that???!!!!! That's not fair.

Sorry to ruin your narrative but my son is age appropriate and not a reclass who competed against players 2-3 years older last spring as a freshman.

Congratulations on your son doing what every other high school player is doing, but you clearly have poor reading comprehension. We were referring to holdbacks in club lacrosse between the ages of 11-15.

You may not like that I held my son back 1.5 years, but it is going to pay off because of the covid holdback year that is creating a glut for college lacrosse scholarships.

Poor kid . Kids get held back for learning disabilities, it shouldn’t be because there dad wants them to get a 7k scholarship to college .

You sound jealous. My son was third string midfield on varsity while your son was playing JV!!!

It’s not the 7K scholarship. It’s the college doors that get opened because of lacrosse. Schools kids would not get into otherwise. You think half those kids going to the Harvard, Duke, Yale, Princeton type schools would get in without lacrosse?

Exactly. These calendar cowards don't get that coaches don't care if you are two years older than your grade......they want wins on the field.

The only cowards in this holdback environment are the ones that hold their kids back so their kids can intentionally play against younger, less physically mature kids so that their kid looks better. Instead of relying on your work ethic and genetic gifts, you need to rely on playing against younger, less physically mature competition. If your kid is so good, keep him on age or have him play up. Call it what it is instead of deflecting. You’re cowards scared of the reality that your kid isn’t that good. Get over yourself

The holdbacks scenario is rewarded by opportunity in college recruitment. Check out D1 commits ages.

It’s hard to blame the parents for doing it, if others are taking advantage of the clear advantage. It’s not illegal and clearly gives kids major advantages! US lacrosse is at fault for the whole problem. Time to address it going forward.

In the meantime, hard to blame the parents. They want what other kids are getting for advantages. Is it right, no! However, if you don’t do it, it’s putting your kid at a disadvantage as far as playing lacrosse and getting opportunity to get in to some of the better schools. Hard to not do it.

Said the parent in this group.."I held my son back 2 years and he's destroying the other 6th graders" What a joke

"Calendar Cowards" LOL. Awesome. 100% true. Completely ruining club lacrosse and not a care in the world as long as their kid gets recruited.

Yes! However, it’s totally the sports fault! They needed to change to age base (like soCcer) years ago! Now, it’s getting out of hand at the youth level and getting dangerous. Also, it’s just not fair.

So what if my kid is almost two years older than your kid, the rules allow me (and you) to do this. My kid will be recruited to a better school and thrive in a sport he loves. The alternative is making you happy, guess what I am going to do you calendar coward!!

Exactjy! The rules do allow you to game the system right now and take advantage, if you can afford to. The Rules need to change and stop the obvious advantage in the youth years, that favors the elite parents! That’s why it is still very much an elitist sport! If You can afford to buy your kid a few extra years for development, obviously it gives your kid a huge advantage.

It’s also very dangerous ti have 13 year olds playing 10 year olds! There’s that too!

Here we go again. Talking about 10 yo lacrosse in the 2025 discussion.

^^^^^^^^^holds his kid back^^^^^^^^

Who is your “2025” voting for? Oz or Fetterman

Anyone know what squad Malvern is sending down to Maryland this weekend to face Gonzaga and Calvert Hall? Is this an actual varsity event? Could be some great matchups if its all the top players from those 3 schools facing off.

In hockey, the players are much older in college, yet hockey uses birth year at the youth level. So these two concepts can mix very well. In hockey, if a kid goes to school "on age" (meaning they graduate HS in the same year that they turn 18 - but this will vary state to state), and is a college hockey prospect, it is often true that they are not yet ready to take a spot on a college team, so they are told to go to a prep school, or play juniors. For kids that are holdbacks - usually because they are at prep high schools or were just held back when they were younger, then they are more likely to go straight to the college team after HS.

The bottom line is that there are a ton of holdbacks in hockey, and the colleges mostly want the 19-20 yo freshmen, but so what - - because youth hockey is always played on age. In other words, it is exactly the same in college hockey, yet they seem to manage just fine with a youth system based on age.

This is what lacrosse people don't seem to understand when the two sides of the holdback argument yell at each other. You can still have age based youth play along with a system/culture filled with holdbacks and a college system that wants the older players for the competitive advantage they bring. I have never been anti-holdback. I have never cared if a kid is a 16 yo HS freshman, or a 20 yo college freshman. It doesn't affect my kid. I only care that in youth sports, they all play on age.

Also, the argument that says "hey in HS your kid will play against older kids so it is fine for it to never be aged based no matter what age or level they are at" is, and always has been, wrong. At HS the kid and his family CHOOSE to play varsity as a freshman (if offered by the coach). If they believe its not appropriate for their talented, but young, kid to play varsity, then the kid won't. I have seen it both ways. If the varsity level is very competitive, and the kid, while excellent, is small and not very physically mature, the family will say no, or sometimes, the coach just won't offer it. But some freshman are big and very mature, and sometimes the varsity level is not that competitive, and the kid will play. The bottom line is a choice can be made - to play JV or Freshmen team. Compare this to travel lacrosse, where the younger, smaller kid has no choice but to play against the older, bigger kid. The younger kid can't play down because he can't play below his grade.

Exactly. Very well said. No one cares about holdbacks in HS. It's only a problem in elementary and MS.

21 year old seniors to the freshman clocking in at 18, normal

My son will turn 20 years old spring of his senior year. What is the max age he can be and still qualify for PIAA sports?

^^^^^^^^^^^^SNOWFLAKE^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you talking about the Future Stars High School Showcase in Maryland this Sunday? Just looked it up on Tourney App and Malvern is the only local team playing. Haverford & Malvern both played it in last year. Looks like some quality teams from Baltimore / DC area and Hill Academy from Canada. I think this event is for Sophomores & Freshman only so not Varsity.

MIAA these ages wouldn't fly and we still blow PA out.

Those ages are exaggerations…. just like the MIAA blowing out PA.

My son is high school age and his club team has a subscription to IMCLA Recruits. My son is pretty bright and we input his GPA into the system. We received a note that UPenn looked at his profile. The next day, we receive an e-mail solicitation to attend the Penn Quaker indoor training session on 12/4th and 5th for the low low price of $550. I assume that the inquiry was to generate interest to come to the training session. Curious to see if this happened to anyone else, either this year or in years past.

It's called a money grab and yes.....I have experience with schools inviting us to training days. My son is not bright and he received that same invite from PENN. I think IMCLA is a pretty good platform for lacrosse recruiting.

My son is a '26. He'll be 13 for another month. There are other freshman in his class that are turning 16 now. Not an exaggeration.

+1

I saw plenty of Freshman turn 16 in high school lacrosse and not just summer birthdays. The Inter Ac is chock full of them. Not so concerned on the highschool level but playing club against kids two years older is ridiculous.

So, this post is just pot stirring. Keeping in mind that this is the Pennsylvania forum, if your son is turning 14 in a month, he'll graduate at the age of 17, which is young. In Pennsylvania, your son is an on-age 2027. PA freshmen, for the most part, will all be 15 by the end of the school year. As I said, you're either pot-stirring or you put your son into school early. Either way, your son is the exception in the class of 2026.

Think PP was trying to say the school has 17 year old freshmen and seniors that are 21. If reading between the lines also saying they are average, lose to MIAA always.

Anyone follow?

17 yo Freshman & 21 yo seniors are complete exaggerations. Please create a new forum “Holdbacks” specifically for anyone who wants to complain about holdbacks in youth lacrosse. In the meantime there were some very interesting posts over past couple days relevant to sophomores in high school (2025). Thank you in advance.

Agreed money grab. Be aware of generic invites to Prospect Days too. Also money grabs.