There are a lot of misinformed posts/posters on this board.
First, at U15 Hawks, Crabs, Madlax are all excellent teams and could beat each other on any given day.
Correct that Madlax has most talent at 2018 and 2019. Also correct that with more and more youth programs popping up, talent is getting really diluted.
VLC's 2018s and 2019s weren't great last year; both are better this year, though not among the best in their age groups. They did add some good new kids...haven't heard about any kids leaving for Freedom. Freedom doesn't even have a U15 team.
Breakers 2018 is not as good as their 2017s but still a solid team. Again not as good as Crabs/Hawks/Madlax but hardly terrible. Let's not be so dramatic.
Not many programs have outstanding teams every year save Crabs. Madlax's 2015s are not good, 2016s are so-so. 17s/18s/19s are better.
VLC is the opposite; great HS teams, current U13 and U15s are not on the same level.
As for 3d 'wiping out' Madlax and VLC, don't bet on it. You think 3d has a magic cure for parental BS and egos? As long as there are only 10 guys on the field at a time no DC program will be able to get or hold all the elite kids. How's it going to go over when little Johnny doesn't get selected for the 3d national team?
The idea that politics issues are hurting VLC's HS teams doesn't add up with the fact that their HS teams are their strength and among the best around.
Whether you like Madlax and VLC and their people or not, there are a lot of talented players in the area and plenty of guys will want to play in programs run by local people who actually know the kids, regardless of how much money 3d spends on marketing hoodoo.
Interested to hear from those who disagree.
I am a VLC parent and posting for first time here. I am not informed about MadLax, and most of the parent peer complaints I hear at our son's age are about the high prices at MadLax. VLC dropped having a U-11 team and does one U-13 team and one U-15 team. That is not a philosophy to develop talent. It is a philosophy to do a All-Star team at each age. The VLC 2015 team is outstanding, the 2016 team is not, and the 2017 team is outstanding. I agree that you can't run a program to make everyone happy. VLC used to be a program where the kids tried out once a year, made the team and then after making a team had to earn playing time. If someone was better at your position they could take your spot or your playing time and the idea was to have kids who were ready for the recruiting phase. The 2017 team is a political mess like the earlier poster mentioned. Even though it is late in the game a lot of top players are looking to leave and are being invited to other top teams, including the new 3d invite only high school team. The problems started with the VLC rules not applying for everyone starting with bringing over a MaxLax kid and driving two great VLC kids away last summer. The fall was a mess. Bad tournaments that were barely attended by college coaches instead of the Terp Classic, and there are more than a few families of the top VLC players who were fuming that the top players were not being played in favor of the ones who were local rec team kids. These are not families who worry their little Johnny won't make a 3d team or a national team. Those kids have already been asked to switch and are guaranteed national team spots because they are very good players who don't want this stuff at an important time in their lacrosse lives.
