I am very happy to see people giving credit were credit is due. The top 2 teams are the top 2 teams. 3,-6 is "any given Sunday". Some teams have 7th grade players ineligible due to the ever changing birth cut off, and it hurts them big time. Even if they are NOT "hold backs" (I hate that term), USA Lacrosse needs to get a hold of this showcase disaster with no real rules. But, LI has serious talent, even though no college coach is looking at them at this age. Good Luck this season. Enjoy watching your son make friends and develop skills.
------------- One thing I heard again and again this weekend that it was great to see REAL 7th graders playing against one another. Every team had some big kids, small kids and a lot of medium sized kids. No old kids tilting things. It showed which teams and programs rely on their holdbacks. A few teams surprised with how well they did while others were overrated. No doubt best 6 qualified. No doubt best 2 were in the finals. No doubt best won.
If your kid played in this tourney i don't see how you don't lobby for age restrictions in club lacrosse. Why go back to incorporating holdbacks this summer for these clubs?
Game of the day: PT vs S2S.
As for overly-aggro coaches, every team seemed to have them. I don't mind it. Top teams all have multiple coaches pushing these kids and the kids respond to it. I think some coaches say/yell/scream many more negative things than actually coach and they seemed to be on teams who didn't qualify. Their frustration consumed them and they come off as pathetic. Those are the wannabes who need a reality check cuz their team record reflected their team's reality.
While it was exponentially better than playing MD, FLA, PA and Mass teams with their 50% holdback rosters, let's be honest, very few teams there were completely made up of 7th graders (REAL 7th graders). There were teams constructed for this tournament and there were 7th grade team. Express had multiple 8th graders, Igloo did, Legacy did, Prime Time did, Preds, Eclipse and Express North did. And, all of the 8th graders on the teams were impact players that don't normally play on those teams. With that being said, they were all well within the rules to bring those players on the team (provided they play in at least 2 tournaments that they are entered into the 2022 bracket before the WSYL in Denver). Therein lies the problem. No event is going to be completely legit until the sport goes completely age-based. For example, are those teams playing those rosters all season in grade based tourneys? Are they playing in NLF events? Laxfest? Is that justifiable? Or is it cheating because they're 2022's playing in a 2023 bracket? It was definitely a step in the right direction though; of that we can all agree; however, more needs to be done. Hopefully more people will recognize the benefits of age-based events moving forward.
Express did not have multiple 8th graders on their roster - get your facts straight - there were two (2) 8th graders. You got an age based tourney now you want an age/grade based tourney . Stop complaining & making excuses as to why your sons' team can't compete.
One player would be singular. Two players would be multiple. And, those two were the best players on the field. I'm perfectly fine with the way my son's team performed and how is has performed in the past. I'm not making excuses for losses. But to those parents claiming that it was great to see true 7th graders playing against one another, they are likely avoiding the reality that many teams there were playing with multiple 8th graders. For the record, I'm 100% in favor of age based lacrosse. But, when the majority of the teams in the area are grade based, it's very difficult to do. Like I said, if those teams now contain 8th graders because they are brought in to compete in the WSYL, then they can't play in 2023 brackets at tournaments this season. Are you willing to play in 2022 brackets until July 4th and concede the majority of the tournaments this season to compete in Denver? Or will those teams just play their 8th graders against 7th graders and say it's fine because there are "only 2"? Will that be acceptable in your eyes because it fits your agenda? Again, I'm not, nor was I before, complaining about the teams. I'm explaining the constraints of the current system.
