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.
You leave out the fact that the holdbacks aren't breaking any rules. I know, I know. "The Spirit of the Game"
Being that the league is grade based, there are no rules being broken by them. However, the league does explicitly state if you play on a high school team, you can't play in the league.
Here is the exact wording from the HOCO rules/guidelines: "The Conference follows a grade based system based on the player’s current grade level and assuming normal progression of school to graduation."
The argument can be made that a 16 year old 8th grader is not normal progression of school to graduation. That is violating and breaking the grade base rule/guidelines. Plus, a play with words regarding a player who plays HS while playing in the HOCO league: "should not be eligible for 8th grade/U15 competition in the same season." Notice is says "should" and not "is not eligible" or "you can't play". Was this written in order to allow some wiggle room? Same can be said for normal progression, that could have been worded better. I didn't write these, have no idea who did or who had input but the argument could be made on both, as they are weakly worded.
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