The fact that there are players flying in to play an 8th grade spring game is beyond comprehension. WTH is going on?? I mean seriously wth is going on.
Well, for one some of these players are extremely good and do not get the broad exposure in their home state so they play up here in Md. The FOGO everyone is yelling about is an 8th grader who plays varsity for his HS team, he is that good. He has played for a Md. club team for the past two years. What has he gotten out of that, a sweet deal with a MIAA school, which he will be attending here in Md. this fall. He is already on the radar of many top D1 colleges. If the parents can afford it (and this player can) and the kid wants to do it, why is it anyone's business. Seems people always have something to say on things that do not concern them.
But he still needs to follow the rules in place . Dont care who has him on their radar etc. Follow the rules and play with some integrity. Hoco should not allow Looneys to be breaking the rule - why is okay for some to break the rules and others not? There are alot of kids who could play high school lacrosse but do not because there are rules in place that do not allow it. They apply to this boy too.
There are very few 8th graders in the HOCO league that could play high school lacrosse. Every team in the HOCO league probably has holdbacks, so all of them are breaking the rules. No, two wrongs do not make a right, but they are all guilty.
There are actually several 2020 kids that easily could play high school - including private and public school kids. The do not because MIAA and Maryland Public schools do not allow it - it is explicit in their rules - and they follow their rules so it does not come up very often. If they transfer from another school having played high school already it starts their clock on 4 years- the maximum they can play in any Maryland school high school ball regardless of where they played the first year.
There is also a rule in Maryland that if you turn 19 before August of you senior year you cannot play. If you turn 19 after August of your senior year you can only play varsity. This can have an effect on some of the double holdbacks who are 16 or close to 16 and in the 8th grade. By the time they are in their junior year they could be 19 or close to 19. I don't think some parents of holdbacks think this through and by the time it is realized it is too late.
If they're good enough at that point they will go to Hill, IMG or another prep school. I'm sure the parents have completely thought this through.
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