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Was at the Duke's '29 tryout. Kids wore their own pinnies. I don't understand the issue with kids bringing their own pinnies. NXT charged $50 and you get a nice pinny. Duke's charged $20 and I don't get another piece of laundry that my kid doesn't need (I don't know about anyone else, but I could start my own pinny supply store). Not judging, just my take on it.

With regards to the talent, a little dip in talent from the first tryout at Duke's, but still some real quality players there. Probably 6 or 7 kids with NXT pinnies, a few from Brotherly Love, Fusion, Mesa, True Philly and others I didn't recognize to identify, but largely Duke's pinnies on hand.

Was at both NXT and both Duke's tryouts. So a little comparison that no one asked for here. Assuming both teams get their top 16-22 kids (big assumption here), the teams would be very comparable/competitive. After that though, the 2nd tier level of talent definitely falls in NXTs favor. Just based off of 2 nights of practice at each place, I'd see it this way: Goalie is a push, Duke's with the better d-pole talent as well as LSM, Faceoff goes to NXT, NXT has a better attack, but not by much, midfield is a push (maybe a slight, razor thin, edge to NXT). I can't say anything about any other clubs in the region, but I like parity, so it should be an interesting year for Philly Lacrosse if the talent level looks like this at other club tryouts.

This predication did not age well. Lots of Mesa kids (including key players) at the Team TEN 2027 tryouts last night. What is going on at Mesa?

Mesa is a poorly run organization that tries to sell itself based on past glory during the years when Nostrant coached at Haverford and all his players had to play for Mesa. It is unnecessarily expensive based on what a player gets for his roster fees. There is no thoughtful development path once a kid gets to high school. Great coaches who have no independence to do what they think is best for their players re: practice schedule, tournaments, etc. Mesa may be able to play in the NLF but that is about the only good perk the organization has.

says the person who ran two good high school programs into the ground and trying to steal mesa players, got it

How do you steal Mesa players if they are happy at Mesa? That would seem tough to do.

So who will have the biggest change at the 2027 level now? Brotherly love or Mesa?

You could replace "Mesa" with ANY club team name. All lacrosse clubs are expensive. Please tell me a club that actually "develops" players in the true sense of the word. There is a reason why club coaches are club coaches and not club directors. They don't want to deal with the hassle of managing every aspect of the team (else they'd just start their own club and do it and rack in tons of cash).
I do not have any association whatsoever with Mesa. Their teams just continually kill my teams and they are clearly very talented. I'll attribute that talent to the kids that gathered there rather than some Bill Belichick wizard pulling the strings from the sidelines. Club Lacrosse is a different game than High School Lacrosse. Checkers vs Chess. Whoever has the biggest horses is going to win 95% of the games. End of Rant. Please tip your waiters. Good Night.

Watch out for Team Deez Nuts making moves

With tryouts pretty much completed this week what are predictions for the top teams at the 27 28 and 29 ages?

2027 - Team Ten, Brotherly Love… large gap then NXT/Freedom, mesa (If anyone is left)
2028 -Freedom (reclass central!), dukes
2029 - Dukes

Not sure what to make of Fusion Futures 2029. Supposedly some of NXTs top kids jumped there because of some agreement with Nationals Lacrosse club joining them or something. All very confusing.

oh interesting. Anybody got some more deets on that?

Poll's aren't closed yet. We have HHH and Black Bear with tryouts coming up for these age brackets. I'm hearing good numbers expected for one of them.

True bought BucksSelect

True bought BucksSelect

Roughriders play in terrible tournaments or B bracket of others and still lose consistently. They will cook nothing.

^^cook deez lost^^^^

How do you steal Mesa players if they are happy at Mesa? That would seem tough to do.

True Philly has some excellent coaching, as did Bucks. The problem is people’s perception of clubs and the constant club hopping which makes it difficult to really build a team. There is a fixation on and belief that certain clubs are great such as HHH or Dukes, when in reality, the coaching is minimal, there is clear favoritism towards certain private schools. Kids and parents continue to flock to these programs without ever objectively looking at what they are getting for their money and as teams get older these clubs have their pick of the best players from a 2-3 hr radius. The positive bias towards players from certain schools and clubs, which typically correlates directly with wealth, is absurd. There are so many fantastic athletes and players who are overlooked and not coached because they don’t have the right “name”. If you actually want your kid to learn good fundamental lacrosse and get a legitimate product for your money, True Philly is a great option.

What is correct here is that club lacrosse is not about coaching players up (at least in PA). One practice a week during fall and summer doesn’t leave a lot of time for that sort of dynamic. It’s about collecting the big guns and going to tourneys to get film. Nobody gets coached. That is for Rec and school teams where practice is daily.

There are clubs, programs and training for kids of every socioeconomic background, if you’re willing to search for it.
The Duke’s is not only one of the most cost-effective programs, it’s also one of the most diverse.
Work hard, achieve success in the classroom and good things will follow.

This is for real and if you ask club directors they can also direct you to some generous people that offer scholarships.