Its a grade based system and college coaches actively recruit 8th graders. Should we really expect that there would be no holdbacks? I know we all want to blame Crabs but they didnt create this system. I also dont see how its relavant as to which team has the most holdbacks. You either have them or you dont.
Not so. Ryan M created the holdback crap when he was doing it to his HS team players, getting them to repeat a year, in order to gain an advantage. He was one of the strongest proponents for the grade base system in other age brackets so he could further his cheating ways. It is very relevant as to the number of holdbacks. Most club teams have a few, Crabs has a sh*tload of them, especially on 2020 and 2021 teams, just outright abusing the sprit of the grade base system. Maybe college coaches are recruiting 8th grade players, who are usually 14 years old. Crab players in the 8th grade are 15 and some will be 16 by this summer, plus 2020 has two double holdbacks. Go check it out, Crabs and Ryan M created this bullsh*t and he struts around like it is nothing. He and his organization are a total embarrassment to youth lacrosse, in Md and in other areas of the country. Would I like to see teams boycott playing his 2020 team, I would love it but it won't happen. If it did and he had no one to play from Md just maybe he would wise up. Until then, he will just be the master thief and manipulator of youth club lacrosse. Sickening.
So the fact that the other big name clubs have taken on holdbacks is ok? Ok because they only have 3 or so? Is there a magic cutoff number? Not sure what your argument is? Is it ok to have 3 or 4, but not 5 or 6? I believe you can't single out the Crabs if your own club is playing with holdbacks. Trust me, I'm against it, and my son plays on a team that has some. However I feel it would be Hypocritical for me to call out other teams for doing the same thing my son's team does.
I agree, all club teams have "some". I don't think/feel there is a magic number, most clubs probably have 2 or 3 on average. The problem I have with Crabs, as do many others, is the way their leader exploits this and creates teams with +7 or more holdbacks on many of their teams. This is done solely to gain an advantage over other teams, like their 2020 team, with much older kids playing 13 and young 14 year olds. This is wrong on so many levels, the entire lacrosse community knows they do it but this does not stop that organization from continuing this. It is not a level field. The worse that could happen is that other clubs start loading their rosters with 8+ holdbacks. This, in my opinion, would have a very negative impact on youth lacrosse. My sons team has two.
