Originally Posted by Anonymous
The HOCO league was set up originally as a "pre-season" league because everyone knows the summer tournaments are the main season for club lacrosse. The league was set up to give teams a few good competitive games, which is why they spend so much care setting up the brackets for teams, in the spring and judge where their team is before tournaments start. That is why the league goes by grade divisions and NCAA rules. If the local tournament directors got together and said that they wanted to do age brackets and NFHS rules, I am sure HOCO would listen


Somebody has to take the first step to correcting the mess that lacrosse has become and HoCo with their claim to put youth first is currently in the best position to do it since they have a monopoly on all the clubs in Maryland right now. If HoCo put a June 1st date in like some tournaments have, that would be showing support for the tournaments that have taken that first step. There is no valid reason HoCo should not do this unless they have a vested interest in keeping certain Club owners (RM - Crabs tourneys. Hawks - Hogan Tourneys Breakers - Aloha tourneys) happy. In the end there is no room for vested interests in a COUNTY GOVERNMENT sponsored league. Do the right thing and put the age restriction by grade like other tournaments have done and begin to correct what HoCo helped break. Why does HoCo feel the need to wait for others to tell them to do what is right? They will still be preparing legitimate grade based teams (with a sprinkling of summer birthdays for the summer for kids who were not held back) but instead are buckling under the pressure of their own vested interests and that of other clubs who promote these holdbacks. Howard County as an entity has no allegiance to the private schools so why are they bending to them? They should have no motive to make a profit so why not turn away those that manipulate the system? Their own school district (which they share elected officials with) say that students can not hold back for non academic reasons and need special permission to enter kindergarten late yet Hoco is agreeing to allow these kids in their program. This is the organization that requires those of us who play football to prove age and get id cards and used to force their travel teams to get id cards - what gives?