BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2026 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

Never come off and never pass! Good luck NL/ML breaking them of this habit.

Not a merging. A defection from Madlax to Next Level by invite only as a result of player/parent has had enough of CM bs.

Déjà vu

MadLax has become a nice feeder system for NextLevel.

That's right. The NL 2026 team is going to have the same problem as its 2027 team. A roster between 25 and 30 players, with 4-5 who never come out of the game, which will leave 20+ kids rotating through the other five spots. What a mess.

LOL :-)

LOL :-)

So what’s happens to the Madlax players who aren’t worthy of a NL tryout on Sunday? Join DMV?

The great thing about MadLax is that they always seem to replenish. By summer the team will be a mixture of current players who couldn’t make the new NL team, DMV players they pulled up, out of town fly ins, and unhappy players from other programs, including some NL kids who were bumped off. The team was in decline anyway and was a bit of revolving door, so the summer 2023 edition won’t look terribly different than the old team. Cabell will do fine ($$$), he is a good businessman.

Are you though?

So how many reality checks at NL tryouts today?

Wow. New NL team is Legit! Will be top 5 by end of summer!

lol

That’s awesome! I’m so excited for them!

Come on. Really! So did the rumors come true and all of the top players from the other top team ML move over to NL. Why don't we just deal in reality and how many did show up for try out yesterday?

Ask Madlax

If the new talent that showed upall join, that team will be a vastly different team. They will become the team in the DC area followed by DCE and VLC.

Ahahahahahaha.
I hope DCE is your first game.

Would love to see that happen. That would be the game of the summer!!! If all show up and all in attendance that would settle this chirping...

The good remaining MadLax players did show up for NL tryouts yesterday. But keep in mind that many of their starters had already departed Madlax during the past year for DCE and VLC. The remaining players were the studs who don't come to practice and whose Dads are the big egos. MadLax 2026 has never been ranked higher than 20 nationally, even with the bump that all MadLax teams get in USL ranking, and last spring they stunk it up big time in HoCo. Next Level 2026 has never been a factor nationally, ranking in the 60-70 range, and last spring were not even in the top HoCo division. The cultures of the two teams could not be more different and they will get little or no practice time together before June tournaments begin. Yet some folks think this will be a top 5 national team?? I'm sure Coach CoachC is quaking in his boots right now.

Isn't it time for the parents to sit down? 14/15 year olds should be making their own decisions about where they want to play. Also, there is a way to join a team -- July/August tryouts. If you aren't happy with your club, change it over the summer like most kids who play for DCE/ML/NL and even VLC. (I can about guarantee that college coaches don't give a f what club your kid plays for if they are an outstanding player with great grades and good recs from coaches/teachers. The only people who care about rankings are the clubs (bc business), and way too involved dads and their kids. Your kids should show up, put in the work at practice and outside of practice, and be a great teammate. That's what matters.

Well said!!!! But to be honest they did try out and they (NL) did call for a tryout but it was all smoke and mirrors as PP said. The core moving to NL are mostly original players and the two attack club hoppers that went from DCE/Madlax/Madlax Nationals and to the promise land of Next Level to screw the Next Level families that have some sometime have stayed away from the drama.

The starters are actually the group of players looking to move this week. Those players that left in the last year where not big time players other then the goalie to VLC and lefty middie to DCE and recently two attacks one to DCE and the other attack and pole to Next Level.

Original ML players? Then the team should have had a convo with CM to talk about the issues and see if they could be resolved. Every true athlete has had good coaches and terrible coaches. Kids should learn how to deal with adversity rather than having mommy and daddy fix it at this age. The kids are on a chat, I'm sure. They should have gotten together, shown leadership, and addressed the issue with CM, or with the coach. Many great athletes, including pros like Brady and Rogers, talk about how they never started games and were passed over multiple times -- wasn't Kobe cut at one point? You know what they did, worked harder. Typical DMV parents though -- I actually feel for the business owners of these clubs. I don't know how they deal with the parents. To be clear, I don't blame NL. Business wise of course they want to do well in rankings - it's free marketing.

Moral of story-
Work for it.

Wow. You are really out there on another planet.

The original poster is definitely not on another planet. I witnessed some of these entitled, high maintenance parents on the field with their kids. Let the coaches do their jobs and encourage your kids to advocate for themselves.

Agree. The boys are in high school now. It’s time for parents to sit down and be quiet. Keep being involved and your kid will be the one quitting before college. Facts.

You want kids to advocate for themselves as freshman in high school. I hear this all the time from educators and coaches and it's a joke. They don't want parents to speak up on behalf of the their kids because it's easier for a coach to match wits with a kid than an adult where they have to look a parent in the eye and explain themselves. They want to hide behind some weird shield of expertise against an outmatched critic. And rest assured, your kid wil be punished if they speak up by themselves or the parent speaks up on behalf of their child. I have yet to see if years of parenting and coaching any situation where a child or parent speaks up in a bad situation and things get better. The coach and teacher take it personally and they take it out on the student and player. I'm talking about real constructive crtiicism ad not things related to something far more serious or sinister.

Your only option is to leave the coach and that's what these ML players did. Maybe NL will be better or maybe not and maybe NL should have said no thanks, but don't overly criticize those families for wanting something better instead of something bad. Given what is known about ML's org, I lean towards those parents actions as being the right move.

WTH is wrong with you? If that’s what you’re teaching your kid about advocating for themselves, then I feel bad for his future.

I highly doubt that if the kids got together as a team and asked for a sit down with CM that they would have been "punished" by being benched, etc. If that would have happened, then I agree, parental intervention would be called for. Doesn't matter now though because it's done. CM will have no problem fielding a great team bc there are enough kids who ride the bench on great teams who may see this as an oppo for a starting position. The irony would be if CM gets a new coach, fields a great team, and ends up beating all the top teams in the DMV, LI, Jersey, etc. Looking forward to seeing how this all plays out, and hoping that going forward the ML parents let their kids make their own decisions and trying speaking up/fixing things for themselves.

Agree on the move as these children would not be able to figure out what is really best based on the situation at hand. If ML is not wanting to remove or change the coach for the ___ time since they where in 3rd grade then you have to make the move for the best fit for your kid. Next Level knows what it is doing and they know these kids/parents well and it will be up to the new coaches to get them ready for summer play. But they will have to put in some hard work to catch up to those teams in the top 10.

Stop with the blowing of smoke. It’s not a good situation and it’s BS the way it went down. Kids on both teams, fully paid kids, are getting the shaft because of the egos and entitlement levels of parents. Bottom line. Any respectable club would’ve waited for summer to be over and for tryouts to happen, not uproot two teams two weeks before the majority of them go through their first high school tryout. These two programs have no respect for their players.

dumping on your son's former teammates? no wonder you are never happy. Good luck on your new team, I am sure all will go really smoothly for you and the other Karens.

Agree. Those ML players/parents screwed the Next Level kids no doubt about it. It was a bad situation and they should have made the jumps in the fall. As you said the ego and entitlement seems to win out all the time. Life is not Fair!!

Well said. But there are some very difficult and entitled Dads in the mix who have made a lot of enemies, and the high school years are going to get really rocky for these kids.

They must be friends with Looney's dads.

If this went down the way it is described then ML players didn’t screw the NL players, the club screwed them.

These kids are freshmen. Unless they are already on a radar (not likely) they aren't getting that many looks this summer any way. The majority of development at this age is going to happen every day after school, at school. High school ball is way different than club ball. Parents need to get out of their own way. Hopefully all of this won't impact the kids too much, and they all have a great experience with their high school team, and a really good spring season.

I don't think many clubs would turn away new players that are comparable (or better) in ability to their current players. They'll do everything possible to accommodate them. Unfortunately the impacted players only recourse is to leave - which then impacts other clubs and families. Having coaches/clubs not stick to the roster they select at tryouts has been my least favorite part of club lacrosse. No idea how you can fix that.