Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Most be a Looneys parent jealous [/quote

Why would a Looney's parent be jealous? Crabs and FCA, two of the biggest violators of holdbacks in grade base youth lacrosse and just all around cheaters, mixing teams to suit People just get over the hold back thing for crying out loud! HoCo created the Holdback Division for the 2020's so those teams could all compete against each other. Every single team in that division has them. Accept it. Move on.



Crabs, FCA, Looney's, Team 91, Hawks, Rising Sons - they all have hold backs. That's why they are in the Elite Holdback Division! The good news is now the teams in the AA division, or legit age for the grade division, can't point at the hold back issue as a reason for teams winning or losing.


I do not believe anyone is saying none of these teams in this new division has no holdbacks, all of them do to an extent but not to the extent of Crabs. Their 2020 team is very close to a 2019 team, they clearly violate the spirit of grade base lacrosse and this is the business model of Ryan McClernan. If you are at all familiar with this age group/teams you know Crabs is the most disliked and disrespected team in youth lacrosse. Not because of their record (wins/loses) but because of how the "game" the system. There is a two year age limit in the new US Lacrosse guidelines for grade base, using the oldest player on the roster. Using this new model Crabs would have around 3 or 4 that would not be eligible. 2020 grade base is using U15 and this is where Crabs would and should lose players. 2020 teams should have a roster of 13 and 14 year olds, not 15 year olds or older 14's turning 15 sometime during the spring season.


Ok - so what? That team absolutely has more holdbacks than any other 2020 team. RM is a DB and he games the system. We know that all teams in the Elite Holdback Division have holdbacks. Let them all play each other and have at it. If they all have them and they are in the same division then why does it matter? How does this effect you? If you say the team your kid plays on is in the Elite Holdback Division - well then he's playing on a team that does the exact same thing as RM - so how is that any better?

If he's on a team that is in the AA, legit-age-grade division then he won't have to play the Crabs so you aren't effected by it. This is actually a better situation than any of the summer tournaments where they mix the hold back teams and the legit-age-grade teams so they play each other. That's when it becomes unfair and dangerous.


No, not all teams do what Crabs/RM does. They do not build a team of mostly holdbacks like they do. Most teams, if we had access to dates of birth would probably reveal 2 or 3 per team, not 8+ lie on the Crabs roster. Plus it has been mentioned many times that they have two double holdbacks on the 2020 team. If a 2019 team was introduced into this division everyone would be up in arms, yet here come Crabs with a 2020 team that is very close to a 2019 team and you are saying so what? You mentioned dangerous in mixing AA and holdback teams, and I agree. But there is a dangerous situation in the 2020 Elite group with Crabs present. This team has so many holdbacks and you have older 14 and perhaps some 15 year olds playing against mostly 13 and young 14 year olds. That doesn't lend itself to fair play and it could lead to some serious injuries based merely on the size of these older players. The true meaning and spirit of grade base was not to violate it like Crabs does but RM saw a way to make his teams stronger simply by having much older players. Talk to some of the parents who had kids playing for Crabs and were told the only way they could remain with the team is to repeat a year and be a holdback. This is fact, not fiction, it is well known in the lacrosse community, not just in Md. but throughout lacrosse. Their reputation and how they operate is well known.