US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums National Premier Youth Lacrosse League - Spring 2014

Why are you counting beyond the four AA divisions? Nobody cares about the kids/teams in the American (or A) divisions.

Not talking about tournaments, that is a different discussion. I'm curious to hear a real answer as how the Hawks have an east way to the finals in the Spring Season.

The A divisions are primarily the next grade level aside from a couple kids playing down as limited by NPYLL rules.

It works out like this.....

U9A 2024
U9AA 2023
U11A 2022
U11AA 2021
U13A 2020
U13AA 2019
U15AA 2018

WOW

Two of the best players on Madlax top U13AA team played on the U13A white team the year before which is the third team at a age level. Point being that A level on NPYLL has tons of value and there is tons of talent.

The Madlax U13AA team is pretty marginal, so the fact that some B/C level kids moved up doesn't say much.

Nope. The really good kids who are a year younger are usually playing up at the AA level.

Nope. The really good kids who are a year younger are usually playing up at the AA level. [/quote

Not true, the majority of clubs are basing their teams by grade, so the original post would be correct. The only exception would be 15-U A and it looks like a majority of those teams are 2nd teams in an age group.

For really good clubs, it is rare for younger kids to play up at AA. It usually only occurs when clubs have a weak turnout for tryouts. For well attended tryouts, there are typically older, bigger, faster kids with 1 more year of training and experience taking almost all of the AA spots.

Apparently NPYLL has made it official that they are following HoCo in how the divisions are made up for 2015. They are going to "scheduled" Graduation year for Divisions. (No more U9A, U9AA,etc.). This essentially doubles the number of teams clubs can field.

The 2015 season Divisions will be:
2024 AA
2024 A
2023 AA
2023 A
2022 AA
2022 A
2021 AA
2021 A
2020 AA
2020 A
2019 AA
2019 A

As a parent of two young youth players at the bottom of this school grade list I am sickened by the notion that the repeat a grade game goes earlier and earlier down into elementary grades. The club owners have a story and are sticking with it. This makes it easier to field more teams. No, it does not. Do more U13 and U-11 teams or do U13, U12, U11, etc. This makes it easier for college coaches to evaluate players by grade. No, it does not. Girls soccer players and boys ice hockey players play U-15, U15, etc. NCAA coaches in those sports don't seem confused about who they are recruiting at tournaments. And is there a point somewhere that this is making it easier for NCAA coaches to evaluate 4th graders? As a parent I find this pretty disturbing. If my kid is a great player, I can at my discretion risk playing him up with older kids. Have it this way, and my kid is thrust out there with kids much older and physically developed at a safety risk and I cannot have any discretion to manage that except for pulling my kids out of youth lacrosse. This is a horrible precedent for HOCO and NPYLL to follow and the club owners pushing this grade scheme are putting youths at risk. Please write to your NPYLL or HOCO club owners and coaches if you have issue with this. Don't wait for a kid to be seriously brain damaged before caring. These are your kids too.

With HoCo and NPYLL both going to the same grade based format, do you see a lot of clubs switching from HoCo to NPYLL or vice versa?

Do you think most of the clubs will add A teams to go along with the AA teams? or will some of clubs that did not do that well this spring drop down from the AA division to A?

It's hard to believe we are already at try-out time again.
It looks like most of the try-outs have moved up a month since last year so far. Clubs must be either playing in fall leagues or just trying to get the jump on other clubs. (There were some clubs that had early try outs then required quick offer acceptance or rejection last year.)

Here are some of the clubs that have already released dates.

Team Try out dates
API Select Aug. 24, Sept. 7
Cannons Aug. 10, 24
Crabs Aug. 17, 18, 24, Sept. 7, 9, 14
Diamondbacks Aug. 3, 10, 24
Hawks Aug. 9, 10, 17 (tentative)
Lionheart Aug. 24
Looneys Aug. 24
MadLax Sept. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Zingos Aug. 16, 17, 23, 24

Wrong again. Madlax u13aaa has lost 2 games since t was formed in September. Lost NPYLL championship by 1 goal to the Crabs and lost today in finals of Young Gunz to the Dukes HHH. They have racked up at least 5 championships along the way, and hold a 2-1 record on the Crabs. Awesome team, and great boys. Very significant that boys can join program at A level and move up to AAA level as they improve. Little politics, best play because they play to win.

Madlax has its issues like all clubs but the parents know that the best play and it doesnt matter who your Dad is.

As opposed to VLC. Ouch.

not sure why the fuss about grade-based leagues and teams. unless you are advocating for single year age groups -- u11,u12,u13,u14 etc -- the age based format leads to plenty of mismatched competition in tournaments since they are always u11, u13, u15. For the record I'm not defending holdbacks. My kids are in the grade they're supposed to be age-wise and my 6th grader is on a 2020 grade team with just 1 kid who was held back when he was 5. when we play in u13 tournaments we play as a B team and we always end up playing teams made primarily of kids in their 2nd yr of u13. Maybe they aren't a u13 A team so they play B. skill levels might be similar but the size difference is huge. When we play grade the size differences are not as pronounced. Someone mentioned on of the crabs 5th or 6th grade team having 7 holdbacks. My guess most if not all of those kids had spring or summer bday. SO i'd rather play a team with 1/3 of the team a little bit older vs. a full team of older players. Now if tournaments and league went to single year age - that would be the most fair. But I have never seen any that do this.

not sure why the fuss about grade-based leagues and teams. unless you are advocating for single year age groups -- u11,u12,u13,u14 etc -- the age based format leads to plenty of mismatched competition in tournaments since they are always u11, u13, u15. For the record I'm not defending holdbacks. My kids are in the grade they're supposed to be age-wise and my 6th grader is on a 2020 grade team with just 1 kid who was held back when he was 5. when we play in u13 tournaments we play as a B team and we always end up playing teams made primarily of kids in their 2nd yr of u13. Maybe they aren't a u13 A team so they play B. skill levels might be similar but the size difference is huge. When we play grade the size differences are not as pronounced. Someone mentioned on of the crabs 5th or 6th grade team having 7 holdbacks. My guess most if not all of those kids had spring or summer bday. SO i'd rather play a team with 1/3 of the team a little bit older vs. a full team of older players. Now if tournaments and league went to single year age - that would be the most fair. But I have never seen any that do this.

[/quote]

age based teams by calendar year makes sense. clubs are planning on going to grade based down to 4th grade so they can field more teams, make more money. should not be a concern to them to do it by calendar year d.o.b. for same. $$$ is still more and it is fair to the kids.

I don't understand your logic - most clubs already have two teams per age (typically older/younger) so how does going grade based change anything?

Most now have two per age group (e.g. U9A and U9AA). Now they can have two per grade. (2023 A & AA as well as 2024 A & AA will make up what was U9A and U9AA.)

Lot of kids repeat grades for sports in elementary and the sometimes again in middle school. that is what changes...held back kids are much older and bigger in the elementary ages and if two years older sometimes in middle school.

Good luck with that - not sure how many clubs will be able to have an A and B team at each grade.
One "feel good positive" is if a club is able to field 2 teams for a grade - it will keep little jhonny from getting his feelings hurt when he is placed on the B team instead of being cut and playing rec league

Good grief - a broken record with the hold backs.
I hear mothers are keep their babies in the womb an extra week so that junior will be born 4 oz heavier

Doctors at Johns Hopkins now working on a pill that will allow a mother to carry her child for 21 months, this will put a scientific end to all of the whining about holding children back. calling it The Year After Pill, other names under consideration The Baltimore Bullet, The Charles Street Cube, The Timer Off and The Delay of Game.

typical 2:31 AM comment.

How about "The 12 month non-releasable"?

USL guidelines:

Leagues and associations should organize competition by age, and consider physical, cognitive, and emotional maturity when grouping players. For leagues or associations in which some local programs choose to organize their teams by grade, those teams should play in the age division determined by the oldest player on their roster.

Teams organized by single birth year or single grade are suggested, but if a league needs to group two years/grades together, it should strive to limit the maximum age difference between players in a youth game to no more than twenty-four (24) months.

Code of Conduct

Only head coaches are permitted to address the officials; coaches are expected to do so in a courteous manner. Adults involved with the game are not permitted to openly or maliciously criticize, badger, harass, or threaten an official. Derogatory comments are unacceptable and subject to discipline, including ejectment.

Has anyone seen an official release that NPYLL is going grade based?

Bethesda just released their tryout schedule for next year and they still have it age based

I heard Under Armour was sponsoring another club league in addition to the NPYLL and HoCo leagues. Anyone have details?

True

FCA U15 Blue wins NXT Cup in Philly. Big 7 - 4 win over Team 91 in semi's. Blowout win in championship game.

Nobody cares. The field in that tournament was weak.

Keep boasting about winning a youth tournament, though.

I heard Under Armour was sponsoring another club league in addition to the NPYLL and HoCo leagues. Anyone have details?



Any clubs already on board?

It would not surprise me if UA did a national club league with regions like what currently is NPYLL and HoCo. They are doing the same thing at the high school ages with the UA high school and club team shootouts. Several sessions each, tons of $$$$ and it feeds the apparel and shoes machine. Might be a welcome change. UA runs very organized and professional events. If HoCo and NPYLL did that, we would not have this 27 page thread with lots of complaints. I would trust UA more than the DMV club lacrosse overlords.

Weak tourney

The complaints mostly stem from age/grade cutoff rules and how they are enforced. I doubt UA has the answer to this problem either. And while I don't believe all of 'Lacrosse Vigilante's' accusations, he does have some disturbing things to say about how UA runs their teams and tournaments.

Most of the criticism of UA teams/events is that they are rigged. Well, no kidding. The evaluators are usually the same club / prep school pimps -- oops, I mean coaches -- who get to be the "objective" evaluators for the "anonymous" kids in three digit pennies. In the DMV area if you look over to the sidelines and see the usual suspect there to pimp their kids out, you already know the roster. It might not be bad to go UA league because the more power the usual suspects have over the leagues like NPYLL the more control they have over your wallets in the coming years. UA just wants you to buy their shirts.

And there you have it.... FCA U15 Blue??? YOU SHOULD BE PLAYING 2017, that's why you won! MD team playing down, yet again.

You are a dummy. I am not a FCA supporter, but the kids on their U15 team all fit the age eligibility for a U15 division, and none of them are in HS.

God, you LI dads are obsessed.

And there you have what???? A lifetime of breathing in exhaust from the Belt Parkway or LIE has really turned your brains to mush. You idiots have absolutely no clue.

Oh wait. I don't want to confuse anyone. Maybe I should change it to read "you're brains".