BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2028 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

So the #1 club team in the country is not a team at in any sense of the word and consists of 13-14 yr olds. But lacrosse doesn’t need age verification, ok got it. smh

I have lost track of what the discussion is about - is there a point buried in here anywhere?[/quote]

Lost track that surveilling and individually identifying 12-13 yr old boys isn't creepy or disturbing? What mileage do you get on your windowless van?

Unsanctioned club tournaments don't need to follow any USA Lacrosse age recommended guidelines. If the NLFs, Adrenalines, NALs and other higher-level tournaments want to follow age verification, those tournaments will quickly become irrelevant for the top programs around the country that accept reclasses. These programs will seek to play in existing non-age verified tournaments (Naptown will never change) and a new set of power tournaments that will be surely created. It starts at the top and the top of the food chain is the NCAA. The NCAA will need put in say a 19-year-old max freshman enrollment age for all sports and then let the reclassing take place in college. Similar to taking a red shirt year which many freshmen already do. Until that day comes, our 2028s will be playing with reclass 8th graders this year and 9th graders next year whether you like it or not.

Yes. Unless you have a younger son, none of these new rules will apply to you. It is too late for these 8th graders. And to your earlier point, until something changes in college, we will still have holdbacks in high school. I personally don’t see anything changing with the NCAA rules at the college level. With all the transfers moving around, I think it will get worse before it gets better.

Mark Millon has entered the chat!

Don't worry, your 17 year old 10th grader will not be negatively affected in his recruiting.

You know very well that the club model is moving - rapidly - towards regional corporate acquisitions. Large corporations seek to (aggressively) limit liability. 3Step (who, after all, owns the Naptown event), NLF, Adrenaline, and alllll the way down to the Alohas of the world, will not want to add liability to their ledger just so 20 year old seniors can continue to compete against 16 year old seniors.

If I'm NLF, I know I am just one 4K live stream clip away from being ESPN-famous with a small kid getting airlifted off a field after taking a hit from a boarding school leviathan. The shareholders (or silent owners) will immediately ask, "Well, was there any one step we could have taken to say we're doing our due diligence here?" And what do you think their lawyer will say?

I doubt any of this will affect any age group above 2031s but you're kidding yourself if you think it's not coming - fast.

And don't worry, none of this will actually hurt your ROI when you sell T91 and Millon events after 2025 has headed to greener D1 pastures.

You sound unhinged.

You sound like someone for whom "liability" is an issue discussed far above your pay grade. I'm going to guess your one of the millions of faux "project managers" in the DC area who are assigned tasks by your boss every monday morning (which is very much, not a project manager). You're proudly a Volvo Crossover in the streets and a Chevy Volt in the sheets.

What kind of nonsense claim is "Naptown will never go age based!" anyway?

now you sound more unhinged. I cant even tell what this debate is about. all I can tell is that your passion for your ninth grader's lacrosse career is controlling you a bit much.

☝🏻

No dog in this fight but “Volvo Crossover in the streets and a Chevy Volt in the sheets” is a good roast.

HoCo has 34 teams registered. 8 Elite, 9 AAA, 10 AA, 6 A, 1 B. Guessing the 1 team in B is Breakers, FCA Orange or Baltimore Elite. Will Team MD, Blue Claws or 91 be the final 8th team in Elite? AAA should be a shoot-out with some good teams too.

Yet here you are, on a Tuesday at 10am.

Yet here you are, on a Tuesday at 10am.
I detest to say it, but it's kind of sorting out as it should.

The 91 parents say that they are going to Elite. I personally think Team MD is a better choice for elite in terms of actual performance, but I get the politics at play. Team MD would rather stay AAA and win out (again), while 91 is just fine with going to Elite and winning 1 game. Different trajectories/business models for the two clubs.

The fact that Blue Claws lost talent this year isn't surprising, as it's a rec club. What's surprising is that the talent didn't go to elite teams at all.....all went to AAA teams. You could say this means Claws were never that great, or I'd prefer to say that (like Kelly Post), they were AAA players all along, who were really, really well coached.

Not much intel on what has changed at AAA, especially with out of state clubs VLC and Team Money.

Way too early picks for Elite playoffs: Hawks, ML, NL, FCA Blue (same as usual). Pick (hold my nose): FCA
Way too early picks for AAA playoffs: Team MD, FCA White, Blue Claws, Sidewinders or VLC. Pick: Team MD by a long shot.
Way too early picks for AA playoffs: Depends on who got kicked out of 2022 AAA. Cannons and Predators would have an easy run at AA, in fact they shouldn't be at AA at all. So maybe Cannons, Predators, CVille, Hawks Black.

Nice picks, would swap out Crabs with NL in Elite, Crabs will be full of holdbacks this year and NL hasn't proven they can score against competent defenses.

Where did Blue Claws best players go to?

the kid who went to FCA blue is baller. Skilled athlete with high iq

This assumes a lot about the Crabs' offseason talent acquisition. Did they markedly improve on the offensive side? Crabs 28s only scored 5 goals in each of their Hoco games last season against ML, FCA, and NL. All losses. They will need to beat at least one of these teams to make the 4-team playoff.

You mean the two holdbacks from FCA 2027?

The new and improved 91 would beat Team MD by several goals.

No.

Be quiet.

Fair point, they seem like they've been scoring more than NL but seems like it was against lower level of competition. Each team's Fall results are on US Club Lax.

https://www.USCL.com/team_info.php?y=2022&t=106563
https://www.USCL.com/team_info.php?y=2022&t=106958

no i mean the kid who came from blue claws that went to fca blue is legit

Who are playing in the pre season tournaments?

Spring Thaw and the the kick off invitational.

I must have missed who that was, my bad. The Claws kids I know of, went to FCA White. Then there was the Predators kid who went to Blue Claws and ended up at 91, but that was last spring.

Kickoff is a NL event I think? Likely see BLC and maybe a few other Bmore teams? Anyone know if their kids’ teams are committed to either event?

91's addition of the Kelly Post and Predators kids makes that possible - I guess - but correct me if I'm wrong..... I think every time Team MD has played 91 in the past, Team MD beat 91 by "several goals."

And for better and for worse, the kids from Team MD don't seem to be going anywhere else....

Where are you getting this information?

Well they both should play Elite if the program/parents/players think they can hang.

I'm not Mark Millon and have no bone to pick with anyone as a '28 and '27 parent. I'm just providing my opinion based on what I've seen over the past few years participating in high level club. 3Step and it's Private Equity investors need to recapture their investment. They as do other tournament promoters carry a ton of insurance and don't worry about liability or they wouldn't be rolling-up club lacrosse and other youth sports for that matter. USA Lacrosse forcing change for sanctioned events doesn't change the rules for unsanctioned events. There are reclasses everywhere in the '27s and soon to be in the '28s. NLF is a prime beneficiary of reclasses. College coaches don't care about a kids age just what grade they are in. If 3Step wants to follow USA Lacrosse's lead, all the more power to them. I just don't see it happening.

I'm not Mark Millon and have no bone to pick with anyone as a '28 and '27 parent. I'm just providing my opinion based on what I've seen over the past few years participating in high level club. 3Step and it's Private Equity investors need to recapture their investment. They as do other tournament promoters carry a ton of insurance and don't worry about liability or they wouldn't be rolling-up club lacrosse and other youth sports for that matter. USA Lacrosse forcing change for sanctioned events doesn't change the rules for unsanctioned events. There are reclasses everywhere in the '27s and soon to be in the '28s. NLF is a prime beneficiary of reclasses. College coaches don't care about a kids age just what grade they are in. If 3Step wants to follow USA Lacrosse's lead, all the more power to them. I just don't see it happening.

Yeh why do the right thing for the kids and the sport.

No, he sounds spot on and you don’t like it because you are a holdback daddy.

Wow for decades lacrosse was age based Tyker, lightning and midgets with 24 month windows. How did these kids survive?

Couldn’t agree more.

Sorry. My son is not a holdback. Why do people think the only way to be elite as this level is to be a holdback?

You'll have to define "be elite" for a real answer.

If "be elite" means "start or contribute on an elite club after 9th grade," the answer is yes, you need to be a holdback.

If "be elite" means "make an elite club roster after 9th grade," the answer is no, you definitely don't need to be a holdback.

If "be elite" means "make a D1 roster anywhere", then that means be in the top 700ish national players by 11th grade. An easy bar for most MIAA-A players who even aspire to D1 (which is not all of them).

And there are 500 other definitions of "elite" I'm sure.

NLF is the biggest beneficiary of the holdbacks and yet they are the ones that made the announcement that they are going to implement some age restrictions. If NLF actually implements this, others will follow. If NLF wasn't concerned about the liability, I'm not sure why they would make that announcement. They have a competitive advantage right now.

If "be elite" means "start or contribute on an elite club after 9th grade," the answer is yes, you need to be a holdback.




By this standard NO freshman would ever start or be a big contributor on a college lacrosse team which couldn’t be further from the truth. Ignorant comment.

Do private schools recruit middle school kids to come play lacrosse at their school? I'm guessing this comes from within their feeder club or seeing them play in tournaments/camps. I know football/basketball recruit big time and offer scholarships.

Agreed