Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Its just incredible, the U Based system, not a 2 yr U, a 1 yr U, can't be used. It will simply keep everyone on the same equal playing field. Kid isn't doing well in school, not mature enough, I agree , hold him back, do what's best for your sons life, like we all would, however the sports aspect should be aged based, plain and simple. Football, baseball, soccer, hockey, they all have cutoff ages, why is it only this sport that can't seem to get it right. This just dosent seem that hard to do. AUG 31st. The age you are on that day is your team. This way 10 yr olds aren't playing 8 yr olds. I don't underdtand how US lacrosse, can't seem to even try to enforce this fair way to play. All this back and forth, he is older, she is older, your team has 3 holdbacks, my team plays up, back and forth. It would be safer and in the best interest of the sport to do this.


Unfortunately here in Maryland I beleive grade base will be hard to change now. If your passion is lacrosse and you have a son, the MIAA private HS league is where the majority want to play. The MIAA league has many players in D1 along with D2 and D3.. Many of the players from MIAA in college along with many current players were held back in school. Private schools in MD have hundreds of held back children in different grades at any one time. Competitive Maryland parents have noticed this along with clubs. and vola..We have age based club league at the youth level now due to this influence. Maryland has no need for this grade base system without the MIAA private schools. The MIAA isnt going anywhere and I suspect grade based youth clubs aren't either here in Maryland. I personally think this is wrong at the youth level . USL should have article after article about the ruining of youth lacrosse and call out the perpetrators of it. School based teams and HS teams should be grade and youth under 15 should be age. Pretty simple concept.


Out here in Colorado some of the high school kids reclassify without changing grades in school. It started last summer, and I haven't seen any success from doing it. There is only one kid with a D1 commit I can think of who is a true reclassify, and he is a big name. To my knowledge every other player from 2015-2017 with a commitment is age-appropriate for their grade, and if some are older they started Kindergarten later.

Teams should follow hockey, birth year and the ability to play UP not down. Players should have the option of specifying grad year and if they are planning to go to prep school after high school on the coach's programs at tourneys. it isn't that complex.

Reclassifying is 100% about club owners wanting to appear better than they are, older teams win games, have been recruited and have been noticed by other parents resulting in more sign ups for the clubs.