Crabs roster and every other team's roster with birthdates will be public before the start of the season - guaranteed. The County Executive is aware of the issue. Ultimately it is the county's responsibility to ensure the safety of the children playing in this league. A signed waiver by a parent won't save the county from a lawsuit when some 16 year old crab holdback plows over a 13 year old.
We can only hope there are some adults over in the Howard County Recreation Department or Executive office. The County is disgraceful in their going grade base league when every other team/league in Howard County is age base. They will go down as one of the main reasons that youth Lacrosse is a disgrace now in Maryland. Wonder who was the tool who facilitated all this grade base league in County.
Some HoCo management personally believe in holdbacks and have relationships with the clubs who push it. Their kids are not the receiving end. They have the capability now with everyone in their league to affect change and they have the structure already in place to do age verification and cards as they do for football but they won't. The County Executive is not aware of any issue, or involved with, the lacrosse league.
Maybe some Howard County residents should write the County Executive and let him know what a mockery youth lacrosse has become. And Howard County shares a large portion of the blame. Maybe the County would like the reputation of enabling only select kids to get an advantage in their youth sports.
Howard County does not have barriers to participate in their lacrosse programs-they encourage participation to the diverse population they serve . Equipment is supplied to any player who can not afford it or does not want to buy it. Everyone is guaranteed a spot on a team based on playing ability. The cost is substantially less than any club in the area and the non club is even less. There are no holdbacks to gain an advantage because the hcpss does not allow holding back without a valid academic reason and the majority of players are hcpss students because they are residents. HOCo teams are placed in their proper league brackets with no favoritism because they know they do not share the same training advantages as the higher level clubs but you do not hear them whining. They have no desire to train all year round at all hours and anyone who does not like what the county offers or wants a higher level of training etc. pursue other clubs. The majority of Howard County residents are quite happy and realistic about what they are offered and have no reason to write the County Executive. It is the outsiders and private school attendees who perceive themselves as the "Lacrosse gurus" that are causing issues. And reality is they are the ones that origianlly broke the system and started manipulating the rules to their favor. If you would like to write or call the County Executive do it yourself as the HoCo community is not complaining about the hand they have been dealt by the elite Clubs.
