US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Girl's 2027 Grades - Mid Atlantic Region

To be clear, when I say "down players" I mean missing players because of scheduling conflicts, not injuries. I think there's some flawed logic btw on the idea "multisport kids are suffer less injuries".. Kids who play or concentrate on one sport tend to get overuse injuries from using the same types of muscles over and over without building up the other parts of body not used by that sport. That makes sense.

I also don't believe we've ever seen a generation of players like we do right now with the intensity of club sports, least in this area. Ten years ago, were 2nd graders playing year round lacrosse and soccer? Maybe they were and I just didn't know but I can already see from the time my 2027 started, the younger grad years start earlier, with more teams than ever.

The whole "multi sport athletes are less likely to be injured" has a few factors

Article


1) Speaking to youth level
2) Sports share same IQ, like basketball and lacrosse, they translate in concepts
3) You aren't specializing ie you aren't playing these things year round.

The idea is you play soccer from Aug to Nov, then you play basketball from Nov to Feb then lacrosse Feb to June. What we've created here is an environment where kids play soccer from Aug through May, lacrosse from Sept through June and maybe sprinkle in Field Hockey or Basketball in there between. Pre HS kids are a bit like rubber, they can bounce back, they typically don't suffer tendon injuries, HS girls on the other hand, are different, the wear and tear is real.





""Research shows that waiting to specialize and playing multiple sports during childhood is linked to higher achievement and lower injury risk across most sports."

"Michele LaBotz, MD, medical director of the athletic training program at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, noted that "before children develop those sport-specific skills -- before they become particularly a soccer player or a lacrosse player -- they should really kind of build this foundation of general athleticism.""

Club can be for playing at a very high level and some ladies can play a couple high level sports ! They do it because they can ! Not just for recruiting.

If you can write a check, you can play club, don’t kid yourself.

They said high level, not just club. Big difference

The problem with playing two club sports at the same time comes when there are practice and tournament conflicts. Which team gets the nod? This is especially true when the athlete is in high school and the tournaments are mostly all recruiting showcases. Not a problem choosing one sport to play club and playing multiple sports for the high school teams. In fact, that should be encouraged.

Somebody's kid is on elite club soccer team and an elite club lacrosse program at High School level?

Yes, I've seen it. The in season sport should always take precedent. At the end of the day, it's really no ones business if it's not your child.

See: JD from UNC.

Soccer is less common but you do see FH players on elite clubs.

100%, in all honesty, im shocked an elite club coach would allow HS age players to miss events/practices for other sport conflicts. I have seen players on top club in one sport and a avg club on another where coach knows other team is priority.

Yeah, we've all seen it. That's the whole point of the discussion. The decision is of course always with the athlete and the parent, but we're allowed to notice that they're getting injured at a higher rate than everyone else and warn parents about whats coming. I think for the truly elite athlete that plays at a top level on both top teams, the risk might be worth it. But this is pretty rare. Typically a kid is truly elite at one and can manage to get on an elite team in the other, but isn't a top performer. These are growing kids, but they're still kids. You're going to have to pay the piper at some point for overworking their bodies beyond the ability to repair itself. I don't ascribe bad motivations to any parent trying to figure this out. Everyone wants what's best for their kid. But the 2027's are getting ready to go through the first noticeably big injury year, so be warned. (cue snarky comment...)

At the end of the day every parent and player needs to decide what is best for their family. I have 3 holders daughters who all played at private schools and higher end clubs, the amount of knee injuries in spring is insane. Crappy turf, 5-6 days a week and over conditioning.

The grind starts in Feb and will go through July for most of these 2027s. I can't imagine having them fresh off a fall sport into a winter sport before this begins. As someone stated, its ok to rest if there's a lingering issue. Do it now before the body forces you to rest.

Agreed. This is why not making varsity as a freshman will actually be a blessing to many girls on top clubs

^What? Why is that a "blessing"?

Because it will reduce their workload and likely prevent injury coming into an important summer season, especially if the player plays a winter sport.

So many are on here complaining about injuries. Questions -- are any of these girls working out outside of team practices? There are workouts to help prevent injuries. Just curious.

No real need for grind. Play high school and tournaments only. Don’t do all the overpriced non recruiting year summer events that all your friends do.

I think there’s a fallacy that working out can prevent injuries? While true, being in shape can prevent certain soft tissue injuries, there’s no workout that prevents ACL or bone breaks. If there was, the NFL would have figured it out.

They don't have time for training between club soccer, club field hockey, travel basketball, and pickleball.

Most common injury is stress fracture which is driven by load 90 percent of the time and completely avoidable.

Speed and agility work can reduce ACL injuries and doesn’t impact injuries driven by workload.

Also remember, many of these girls have started to really lift in the last 12 months and are putting on muscle. While it helps them at sport, it is more stress for the joints to support

If this is the case, how do NFL players suffer these non contact injuries? I get out of shape people doing anything active can lead to injury I am just not sure how speed and agility training reduces ACL. Obviously flexibility and streching helps prevent soft issue.

Hard for me to think an Izzy Scane suffered her ACL because she didn't do enough agility work.

A few things about ACL tears and other ligament injuries

1) Biggest factor in genetics. Everyone is at risk but some kids are genetically predeposed to ligament injuries

2) Body mass and change in body mass is second biggest factor. The reason you see so many ACL injuries in skill position players in the NFL and high level D1 is knee ligaments aren't designed to support that type of weight moving at speed. For girls lax, a change in mass is a big deal too. Knees need time to adapt. This is way you see lots of injuries right after girls put on weight due to puberty, beginning of lifting program, other reasons...

3) Agility work is important on teaching good technique. It wont prevent injury but definitely reducing it. You dont need a complicated ACL prep class either; anything with plyometrics or change in direction/level will help.

Biggest factor in knee injuries is overuse generally on less than ideal turf.

There is only so much tread on the tire.

The elite truly club player can do and be very good at many sports , That is why they are elite. But there is only so much time in the day or week to train to be elite along with school . Being a true elite player at two different Club sports is like spotting a club coach only interested in the welfare of players, heard they are out there somewhere, just havent seen them.

Every childs and every parents aspirations for why they decide to let sports take over a portion of their lives differ. Along that way, it changes due to injuries, clubs and school. Ideal world, you pick one club sport and play a couple other High School sports. That seems to be getting harder and harder to do in the modern age of club sports.

Agreed. Save your $$ for August last chance prospect days when coaches will actually be looking at 27s.

Coaches at d1 will not be looking at 27s till August at earliest. I’m sure someone will disagree but the will move on when done 26.

For me, its about building your resume, not about getting seen by coaches. No college coaches were scouting AS 2027 last year, but those girls did get their name added to that list, got film and in some cases, got auto invites for other things like Best in Class and Juniors. When they evaluate who gets accepted to these things, those things matter and that is where it comes into play.

I disagree - the "resume" does not matter. Getting in front of College coaches is what matters. You can be invited to ALL sorts of things, but coaches are NOT looking at that.

100% true. They watch games now and film isn’t needed as much. I’m sure you know more than those that have done this before so just have at it. Look at past American select or all American kids and you will see kids that have it on their resume but don’t find a school.

If your daughter balls out next summer and fall they will get on lots of radars

Coaches will not be watching the high school season at all

How did any of the local 27’s do last weekend in Spooky Nook? Saw StP was in the finals- any FR make the trip up? How was their experience playing with the Varsity girls?

Smaller squads so most schools usually only use returning varsity players, especially schools with more depth like SPSG. A quick glance shoes that the 4 27s that go to ManValley were there based on rosters, 1 at Stone Ridge, 2 at SJC, 2 at PVI, and 1 at St. Marys. St. Anthonys - the champs - looks like they only used seniors.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/arti...ampionships-rosters-schedules-more/62386

Just saw the results from MD United in the big California tourney last weekend. Is it safe to assume they didn't bring their full roster or most of their top players?

Losing in the quarters (and again in consolation game) in a weak tourney doesn't look good.

Freshman don’t play on IAAM teams in the indoor tourney. They have to make the team first. Very few freshman will even play outdoor in the spring. It’s a big jump

As PP mentioned above, several freshmen did participate and I know Bryn Mawr also had 2 freshmen play as well.

They went 3-0 play and was #2 seed. Lost to 180, they are strong team, Top-15. Consolation games, I mean read into what you want for those. Those National teams that made it to championship are as strong as a top-10 team. National teams nearly always win these tournaments.

My question was whether or not they brought their full team. I would assume no, given that its a holiday weekend and a 6-7 hour plane ride, likely with connections.

Even looking at pool play results, I would have expected them to win each of their pool play games by 10+ goals given the opposition. I actually think only beating Grit and Team 1 by 5 is probably worse than losing to 180.

Nothing wrong with losing to 180 if you had half of your starters. If they didn't have your full team, then it's not a horrible loss. If you did, maybe it's not horrible, but it means that MD United is no longer a top 10-15 team, probably closer to 25 or 30. In the fall, 180 wasn't competitive against any of the top 20 teams it played.

No, full team not there, but also MDU lost two of its top players in fall to season ending injury so they aren't same team this year. Prob not a top-15 team this year with injuries.
You are really underestimating Team 180, who had guest players btw. Pretty clear you didn't actually watch their fall games or know how the games went outside of looking at the score. You don't see a two game loss to ES as a "competitive" game?

I watched 180 play SW at mid-atlantic. Lost 6-3 but were clearly outclassed. Unless 180 didn't bring its full team to midatlantic, they will at best be ranked around 20. The gap between them and the top DMV teams (M&D, Heros, Capital, SW, Coppermine) is still significant.

They had 2 players who could probably start on any MD team, a few other decent players, but top to bottom not even close to a top team.