I dislike CM too, but that’s silly. It’s because a substantial percentage of kids reclass at that point and it would be disruptive to teams (particularly at the elite level) if 30 percent or more of their roster is ineligible.
You want to reclass as you transition to private… there’s nothing in place to stop that now, but in my opinion you should only get to play grade 8 hoco once not twice. It’s ridiculous and disruption be damned.
LOL you're not wrong, a number of the 2028s played their 2nd 8th grade Hoco season this year. And a number of "2029s" (some turning 15 this fall...7th grade) will be playing their second 8th grade season this year. Madlax, Crabs, FCA, and Hawks all come to mind.
A intended to be helpful note also - if you have private school admissions folks in your circle, get some data from them when you see them. I highly recommend that anybody who's got their kid in a public or a private "non feeder" school to take a look at the acceptance rates at the better private schools for 9th grade these days. Get adjusted for the reality of 8th grade applications. I know that club directors are already filling your heads with dreams of "9th grade schollys" (maybe 2 per year per school btw). BUT.
There are a huge number of 2027 and 2028 laxers from "good schools" and "good families" with "good grades" who didn't get into their top 3 or 4 private high schools in MD.......the landscape is changing quickly and become intensely competitive at "most" of the WCAC, IAC, and MIAA top tier schools.
If you're in MoCo or HoCo you may not be seeing this (because by and large the public schools are some of the best in the country) but you'll note that the top 50 public HS in Maryland (almost entirely moco and hoco) include something like 3 (of 35) Balt County schools, 1 (of 30ish) in Baltimore City, 1 (of 18) in AACO, 0 (of 30) in PG County, 1 (of 10?) in Carroll County, and 1 (of 15?) in Harford County. That's an awful lot of male athletes with A's and B's looking for a decent private education. Rough math, probably 20,000 athletes in those "not great schools" counties, with 5,000 of them with good grades and parents willing/able to stroke a check for HS. Another 500 or so are already in feeder private schools. And maybe 100 out of state sports and academic prospects. Not counting public school 8th grade boys from MoCo, Hoco, DC, or Virginia, which, let's just add 1000.
So those roughly 6600 kids will be applying for roughly 800 MIAA-A, about 700 WCAC, and about 500 IAC student spots. Giving the average B student, AA/AAA 2 sport athlete a roughly 30% chance of being admitted to any of these schools for 9th grade.
And from what I'm seeing, it's tightening up even further...
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