Every region will have excellent players come from it. Great athletes are every where. But what makes Long Island, Maryland and yes Virginia (mostly northern, most people consider that part of the greater Maryland D.C. area) so much "better"? I can't really say, maybe dedication, familiarity, or history? What makes Tom Brady so good? Why are the best football players so consistently from Texas, California, and Pennsylvania? Who knows, but it's been that way forever and probably will never change, and neither will the strong hold Long Island and Maryland have on Lacrosse
I'm not sure about that. Texas, California, Florida have more than just the best football players. They have the best baseball, track and field, soccer, swimming and just about any other sport they focus on. I think it just comes down to MD and LI having a strong tradition in the sport and therefore the best athletes view it as the sport to play. As the sport grows in popularity in other places (something I think we all hope will happen) the LI and MD dominance will naturally diminish. Just my opinion.
When I look at overall athletic prowess of a region, LI and MD wouldn't be anywhere near the top of the list. In fact if that were what we were looking at, and wanting to evaluate smaller areas/states, I'd put Mass ahead of almost anyone when you look at the number of high level athletes that come out of there across many sports. So I think it will be whether the sport takes hold as a "tradition" as you put it. And you will be right if nowhere else embraces it the way LI and MD do. I hope that isn't the case in the long run because I think it is the best girls/women's sport on the planet.
