Your saying older kids, and in fact that is the issue we are all debating here. Older vs. grade, because there are two situations that a public school player could be playing in a lower grade here on Long Island.
First, the player is held back, or reclassified, and in this case the player will be much older, stronger, and in a place of strategic advantage. This is clearly not a safe way to compete at the early ages.
Second, is a player who has a birth date after September 1st, which results in this player being the same age as everyone in the lower grade, but because New [lacrosse] is one of the only states to have a December cutoff, this player is considered a grade above, when according to the rest of the countries public school systems (September 1st should be the cutout).
Players who fall into the first category should never be allowed to participate in that grade at least until 9th grade. Players who fall into the second category are in a weir position. According to US Lacrosse they should be on the teams with kids with their similar age, not the ones in their grade because those players are a full year older then they are.
So my only suggestion is that clubs all follow different rules, and from what I know there only a few clubs that takes its lead from US Lacrosse which is the national governing body of lacrosse in the United States and I know Igloo is one of them. Everyone else follows a complete grade based program; which allows for kids who are a full year older to be playing with kids a full year younger. However, If you play by Age, then you will have kids who are in a older grades, but they will not be actually older then your son or daughter.
