Originally Posted by Anonymous
Just gone done watching the tapes of the Jake Reed Rising Freshman. The best players were very physical athletes and yes I am sure more than a few were held back. A few good stick skill guys were able to succeed but the run of the middle solid kid who finished 8th grade was simply not able to compete. I think what you will see is kids start to fan out into the two distinct groups a bit earlier than in previous year, that is one on a D-1 track and others on a D-3 track. The good news about this, is the parents won't be less held hostage by college camps and clubs. My advice is get an independent third party to give you a realistic evaluation of your son. After this event it became clear to me that my son will likely be better served going down a track that focuses on the NESCAC schools. He simply is not going to have the size or speed to play at the D-1 level and his stick skills while good are not great. Not everyone can play for Duke and schools like Middlebury etc are very attractive institutions.


Hate to burst your bubble, but the NESCAC route is not so easy. Take a look at a NESCAC roster, all held back and PG kids. Just got back from NESCAC school camp and I talked to about 10 parents whose kids were held back or are in big time prep schools. NESCAC is basically D1 competition, the only difference is the NESCAC schools dont have the depth of a top D1 program. Oh and by the way your kid better be in the top 10 percent of his class or you can forget it.