US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM MadLax Lacrosse

We can argue which team is better all day, but what we can agree on is both teams would be a TON better if they added the top players from those other four 2020 teams in NOVA. Right now we are fighting over which team is a little above avg. This sucks for NOVA lacrosse. The Madlax and VLC 2018,2019 teams have been and will be making the NOVA lacrosse world look good for years. Both these 2020 teams are so weak and the Cavs,3d, BattleLax and others are no where close to good at this age.

You have no perspective, which is why you keep posting the same stupid "We need to combine into one SUPER TEAM" drivel over and over again.

It is not about who wins a league or tournament. It is about finding the right team that improves your son's skills and gets them the exposure they want. When these teams go to HS, more and more kids will come to their tryouts. They will all be fine. Some will come from other clubs. Others will be trying to play club for the first time. There are plenty of great athletes and players who will be added to VLC and Madlax.

Stop stressing. Not a big deal.

[quote=Anonymous]You have no perspective, which is why you keep posting the same stupid "We need to combine into one SUPER TEAM" drivel over and over again.

It is not about who wins a league or tournament. It is about finding the right team that improves your son's skills and gets them the exposure they want. When these teams go to HS, more and more kids will come to their tryouts. They will all be fine. Some will come from other clubs. Others will be trying to play club for the first time. There are plenty of great athletes and players who will be added to VLC and Madlax.

Stop stressing. Not a big deal. [/quot
Well if no one cares about these 2020 teams winning and being a great/good team then why do we see all these post about who is better and which roster is better. And as for the kids being seen Madlax and VLC are going to start to be left off these elite tournament rosters if they do not put together elite teams to play in these elite tournaments. There is a push in the club scene to make these super packs and only play in tournaments with these super pack teams. So NOVA does need to put elite teams together or they will be left off soon. Might not be this year but if VLC and Madlax 2022-2025 are as mad as 2020 and 2021 Nova will not have a single club able to play in these super pack tournaments.

I don't think that's the case. VLC just starts putting these teams together later. For example last spring 2019 played in the NPYLL A division, this fall they competed favorably. VLC 2020 has all the tools, big middies, natural lefties at the appropriate positions and a very effective/talented attack. Coach Lewandowski and his team have just gotten started. The coaches are responsive to the parents input for more practice and events. VLC 2020 will share in the success that the older boys have had without a doubt.

Ok so this is one large Vote that VLC is the team to play for. All we can do now is see if he is correct. Like I said I want it to be Madlax but VLC is a fine choice to be the elite team from NOVA. I just want to point out that VLC is owned by the Crabs so if you want to be on the moral high horse about Madlax and the owner. You can not then play for the a club owned by a club with as many or more black eyes as Madlax.

It's been several years since the Crabs purchased VLC, VLC's management seems to be able to stay on a path of their choosing while leveraging the relationship with the Crabs to their advantage and not needing to get bogged down in all the back office necessities of running a lacrosse club. All of the VLC leadership seems to be in this for the love of lacrosse and not trying to make a living at it. Your point is well taken, but up to this point appears to be a non issue. As I recall the whole reason VLC exists is to provide a legitimate option to Madlax. I'd say they are delivering on that.

VLC 2019 played in the 'A' division and went 6-1
Madlax 2019 played in the 'AA' division and went 6-1

I think that gives the plus to Madlax

Perhaps that wasn't stated clearly. The point was they don't have 5th and 6th grade teams and they played the 2019 team at the appropriate level and they are getting better.

I have a question, where are all of these 2020 kids going to high school?

If you look at the vast majority of commits from 2017-2019, most of them go to the privates. Is MadLax all public school kids? Is VLC all public?

Is the real question- where has the private talent gone to play club? Maybe we should ask that question.

I see the logic in your thinking, but I think the reality is that the NOVA families in general (there are always exceptions) are not opting for the hold back route the way the some of the elite teams that are outperforming our boys are. Just change the channel to the 2020 discussion and you will see what I mean.

This is true....very few hold back in Va

It is almost all concentrated on the Bethesda and North Baltimore clubs.

There are plenty of holdbacks in VA. Many on Madlax's 2017 team, for example. 2020 kids are in 8th right now. Some of them will become 2021s in the summer/fall.

MATER DEI!

yeah Mater Dei is poster school for holdbacks--basically every incoming 6th grader is a repeat when the school adds a 2nd 20 boy class in 6th grade....

True, there are kids that live in VA and go to schools like Mater Dei, the 2020 boys I know of that go to Mater Dei aren't playing for VA teams and aren't going to go to HS in VA either.

Mater Dei is ridiculous in this regard. My son plays middle school football and lax against them for his school team. They are all a year older and bigger, like all of them. Its a joke. There are Virginia kids at Mater Dei, but most play for Club Blue not Madlax or VLC. Some play for Crabs, go figure, and yes they are holdbacks.

I've always been surprised that 2020 CB isn't better considering the number of holdbacks, guess it doesn't always work out.

That's because by 8th grade, kids can play or they can't. Holding them back doesn't always make a difference.

Best players from 2020 Mater Dei play for Crabs or another team. Ever since Giblin left Mater Dei the pipeline to CB has started to clog....

Peak for CB was when 2018 was in 8th grade. many of those boys are now committed to great schools and tearing it up in HS

Mater Dei is ridiculous in this regard. My son plays middle school football and lax against them for his school team. They are all a year older and bigger, like all of them. Its a joke. There are Virginia kids at Mater Dei, but most play for Club Blue not Madlax or VLC. Some play for Crabs, go figure, and yes they are holdbacks.
**********

Big defender on Crabs from Mater Dei, is a hold back. Going to Georgetown Prep.

That's my point. VLC and MadLax used to pull in private and reclassed kids and have success. Now the 2020 teams and below are full of on age public school kids and we see how that is going. Next Level 2020 is an elite team in HoCo, they never would have been able to pull that off with their 2017 or 2018 teams back when they were in 8th grade.

There isn't a 2019 commit from VA that isn't age appropriate for 2018.

Why the exodus from VA teams? No private school kids? What's going on?

What are you talking about? I can think of two 2019's who live and go to VA public schools that are committed and are on age. My son played youth football with one of them. One is committed to Ohio State, the other to Maryland.

Price is right if you are going to a good middle school. Many of the kids will be in private schools next year.

EHS' Navy committ is on age, and a public school kid prior to EHS. Not sure what the deal is with some of the other IAC kids in VA.

Yeah but they are playing sweet lax. And have serious lax pedigrees.

Madlax 2019 goalie is on age too. I'm not sure that some of these posters are in the know

Correct, but the poster stated there were no on age 2019 players committed from VA. Patently false.

There are numerous stories of VA kids going to privates for one reason or another. There are also many VA kids attending public schools who went on to have success (e.g Rowlett @ UNC, played at Robinson).

I think the numbers where higher for the private size on these club teams. I think Madlax 2020 and VLC 2020 have a higher number of public school kids then the older teams

You guys have no idea what you're talking about. This is an 8th grade team. Many of these kids will be playing for private schools in the fall.

The poster is correct, all three "sweetlax" kids are age appropriate for 2018. Easy to confirm when they start driving! I think where they are going with the private vs public is the right question. How many private school kids from MadLax and VLC 2020?

Added note, I love when the EHS parent chimes in with his son's commit even though it has nothing to do with what we are talking about. He's in private school, that goes with the argument the older teams were either private/older or both.

Well with my older son who played Madlax. Most of the kids where already in Private middle schools. Most people who pay 30K for high school are the same people who pay 22k for k-8th grade. But if Madlax has gotten these Public school kids into Private high schools that is a gold star for the program.

I don't know about Madlax, but there are several VLC 2020's going to privates next year that attend public school this year. I think the parents recognize that the schedules for the privates are much more inline with the level of lacrosse the boys need to be playing to show they can compete. Even if you are at Robinson, Woodson or Chantilly, how many games do you have on the schedule that are really worth while? Not many and even those are questionable.

I agree with this post. I am 99% sure all D1 public school kids got there through there club or showcase team. I am sure they talked to his public school coach but I can almost guarantee he was scouted playing for his club team.

Of course the majority were scouted playing for their club team. There aren't enough coaches, assts. etc to visit high schools to watch kids. This isn't big time D1 sports (despite what many parents think it is ...) Just enrolling in a private means nothing if you never see the field and practice your celebration skits on the sidelines.

Top talent is obvious to college coaches, whether you're playing in public or private high school.

Top talent will get noticed, if you are in the top 5% of players, you can go to public school. For us in 2020 you already know if your son is top 5%, and for most of us our kids aren't.

Besides those, there are very few public kids going to top 20 lacrosse schools. The odds go through the roof when you look at the privates. Why? The college coaches believe like the poster said above, the private kids will play better lacrosse for 4 years at a prep school than they will at public.

How many kids at Robinson, Chantilly, Langley, Woodson etc. are going to a top 20 D1 school?

I don't disagree top talent gets noticed no matter. But if you can swing it, and your child can benefit from a private education. Why not have a more challenging spring, and oh yeah for sure you take the risk of not playing. More than one pvi kid playing public as a senior, players want to be on the field not watch. And yeah, the coaches feedback during the "process" of getting into private and the results you see on the field should let you know where your kid stands. But, lots of kids improve a lot, and we are still talking a small amount of early commits compared to the opportunity to play D1. Your kid can definitely catch up with hard work and great coaching. If it's what you want, chances are better in private IMO.

Added note, I love when the EHS parent chimes in with his son's commit even though it has nothing to do with what we are talking about. He's in private school, that goes with the argument the older teams were either private/older or both. [/quote] Hey added note guy, wrong! I posted that and it's not my kid. I am a public school parent with a decent player who is a good multi sport athlete having fun playing lax. No D1 aspirations. It is totally relevant if you have half a brain. The kid is on age and didn't go to a private middle school. You are just pissed because he left Madlax. I see he's still listed on theroster on the Madlax website though even though it's been almost a year.... and yeah his dad got the [lacrosse] emails too.

There have to a lot more examples (Rowlett is the obvious one) of VA public high school kids who are committed to or playing for D1 schools. Rowlett played for VLC but started getting noticed by college recruiters at individual showcase events. I agree playing club is a way to get noticed but not the only way.