Playing down had a huge negative stigma when I was a kid. The cool thing used to be playing up. The grade based system in lacrosse is there to accommodate a demographic that will pay a lot for an expensive sport that will broker back some advantages for those who can afford it. Club lacrosse is a great business model because of that. In other sports a kid needs to stand out on his own. In lacrosse you can broker it.
pretty sure that Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, hockey all play age based in competitive "club" non-scholastic settings. Just about all of the scouting and recruiting is done in through the non-scholastic or club circuit in the sports mentioned.
