BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2032 Grads - Mid-Atlantic Region

Historically, 91 at the middle school and youth levels is not very good. No development. They don't make cuts and will keep your kid as long as you pay. But might not play you.

Previous poster is right. They are just a money maker for the HS programs. Which is fine. Just know how they are structured. Their only value is at HS. They do a good job with placing kids in colleges. But good luck making those hs teams. Complete roster turnover in 8th grade.

91 Md only began lacrosse teams for the youngest kids last year, 2023. Someone said here that the 91 Md 2032 was created when the Wolfpack team left for 91. It takes time for recruitment, years of tryouts, and yes, development. 2033 last year was made up of more than half 2034s, the only team like that. Other teams like Hawks amd Crabs (and now defunct Breakers) had young youth development teams far longer.

Missing the point entirely. I'm talking about the track record of the 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030 teams for 91MD. I know that for the 2026-2029 squads, 91 started in 3rd grade. Every team they field is something like $60-70K gross profit, and about $18K net profit to the owner, so if HoCo is offering a league for that grad class, 91 would really, really, really like to field a team.

If they weren't offering a 2032 team, it's because most "new" 91 youth teams are composed of kids/coaches brought over from other clubs. But this happens irregularly to the benefit of 91, and as a result, there are frequent year-to-year gaps in team offerings.

For comparison, Crabs also starts in 3rd grade, and in the last 12-13 years they had *one* age group they couldn't field a team, for *one year.*(2029s). And frequently, Crabs will add a 2nd team in middle school grad years. Other clubs at the youth level just don't seem to have this youth recruiting problem unless they are in the process of falling apart (Breakers, Looneys, 3D MD, Ground Control, Rough Riders MD, Rebels MD, Green Turtle, Koopers in the past 5 years). Not saying that 91 is struggling whatsoever because they aren't. But it's an interesting phenomenon to share with those other clubs that fell apart.

Maybe reputations shouldn't matter, but they apparently do.

91 MD Club director ( we all know who he is ) is developing teams for the future. So many people have no idea what has gone on with this club. Two teams got all the resources for the last years. Two players got everything thrown their way for years while they came up to High School.

I suspect he will get along just fine as no one remembers the past it seems. I can still remember , " Throw it to the 9th grader " as the opposing team 7th grade boy came by him. Or the " Break his arms to the 8th grader" those were the days. The recent highjinks filmed by MTV guy were great too. Nothing like garbage talking a player in the handshake line after you get beat. Now that is sportsmanship

Do you mean, "BREAK HIS ARM!!!!!! NOW!!!!" Ah such good fatherly and coaching advice. This is the same guy who was screaming obscenities at Loyola HS kids at the MIAA semi-final, with hundreds of people walking around in clear view.

The 91 HS product is all about buying their (significant) access to college coaches. The 91 youth product is, "Maybe that'll be you one day, little Johnny!"
What's not stated is that those 91 HS teams are very competently curated (for the future, as you say)........but not from the 91 youth teams. By 6th grade, kids on 91 will start to hear, "you're on the practice squad, you don't travel with the team." By 8th grade, they'll notice that 18 kids from the roster were signed up for the tourney, yet somehow there are 26 kids on the sideline with random jerseys out of a box. By 9th grade they'll be cut, or have already taken the hint and don't show up for tryouts. What's worse, is this experience leads a lot of good athletes to quit the sport.

A lot of detest & emotion in all that typing built on innuendo & irrelevant and uninformed info. 91 teams of all ages often practice next to Crabs and there isn't an observable difference. As far as all the complaints about money, you might as well complain about Apple and Google as you type away on your phone or Toyota profits as you take your child to his latest rec tryout in your Prius.

In HS there's little difference between Crabs and 91. That's true and both clubs build great rosters after 8th and 10th grades especially. But aside from the 2023-2025 91 teams, which were giant killers from day 1, I don't recall a single time a youth or middle school 91 team beat a Crabs (A) team in the last 10 years. In fact very few 91 youth teams ever had a winning record in the elite hoco league.

Also, responding to a claim by saying it's irrelevant and uninformed, but not refuting the accusation, sounds like a courtroom defense of somebody who knows they're on tape. And innuendo? A selection of comparable public facts about a person over a number of years is a "pattern of behavior." Not an innuendo.

You arent following the posts and info. 91 only started young youth teams last 2023 year for the express purpose of development in-house. For such new young youth teams, they are building fairly quickly. At the youngest ages, it is a brand new history.

Above is correct. 91 in the last year started 5th grade and below teams and it’s a process. Both ‘33 and ‘34 had good showings at recent tournaments considering both are for all intensive purposes new teams this year

Not at all specific to 91, but some life advice: If you think that providing the same product (3rd grade team) with a different name (3rd grade development team) is a new product, you are going to spend an unnecessary amount of money on youth lacrosse in the next few years. There's nothing that 90% of Maryland clubs have done with 3rd-6th graders that demonstrate they know how to develop youth talent, or really care to do it properly, vs. knowing how to annually pick the biggest, fastest, and oldest kids (which is a proven formula, sadly). , Take a look at any coaching resource, or even USL , about the "best practices" for running high level youth lax practices in 2024. Make a checklist. Then watch those things not happen at your son's practice.

And if you think that "following their posts" is some kind of beacon of truth or bellwether, then you'll always be surprised when coaches call or don't call all the way through your son's 12th grade, because that stuff has very little bearing in reality.

Again, nobody's getting "developed" by playing fall tournaments at 3rd-5th grade after having a half dozen fall practices. That is nonsense.

And by the way, the 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030 91 teams, starting in 3rd grade, played fall tournaments.

Don't get exhausted while convincing yourself that you've happened upon a new and unique product. Enjoy the ride, it's a fun club to play up until your son gets the "you're only practice squad material" talk in July before 9th grade. Your son will have developed some skills by then, and he'll surely have the opportunity to go to another club at the Hoco A or B level, that way 91 can say they never cut a player.

Look who is here , Hi Mark !

You don't know anything. In 2021 (3 yrs ago), the youngest team 91 had was 2026 (end of middle school, 8th grade).

Development occurs through all types of play, practice and training.

HoCo Boys 2021 Season:
- 2028 Team 91 (https://www.ghclacrosse.com/page/show/6198314-2028-aaa-spring-2021-)
- 2029 Team 91 (https://www.ghclacrosse.com/page/show/6198333-2029-aa-spring-2021-)

Your statement would appear to be factually incorrect. Or no?

He knew that when he put it. Just making excuses for their lousy teams

Unlike many of the other notable programs (Hawks, Crabs, Madlax, FCA), Team 91 Md was originally a middle school program. Team 91 Md is only now starting to recruit at the youngest ages. As you can see, Team 91 Md began with 7th graders, only moving to 5th and 4th graders in 2021, but phasing them in at lower levels. With the exception of the 2028 and 2029 teams at 5th and 4th grade respectively, all subsequent teams played in the Elite division. This 2025 HoCo season will see Team 91 Md's first complete team of 3rd grade recruits.

In 2022, when the 2029 Team were 5th graders, was the first year that Team 91 Md. recruited a complete 5th grade team to play in the Hoco elite level.

​Here are the Team 91​ Md. teams ​as they established themselves in ​the HoCo league:

​2026 - 7th grade yr (2021)

2027 - 7th grade yr (2022)

​2028 - 5th grade yr (2021) - began as a AAA team, next yr AAAA team, and then Elite
​
2029 - 4th grade yr (2021) - began as AA, next yr Elite

​2030 - 4th grade yr (2022)

2031 - 4th grade yr (2023)

​2032 - 4th grade yr (2024) - team put together mostly from Wolfpack in Harford County

​2033 - 3rd grade yr (2024) - 2033/34 team, more than half made up of 2034s (2nd graders)

2034 - 3rd grade yr (2025) - first time Team 91 fully recruited a complete younger team