Originally Posted by Anonymous
I totally agree! Simple solution, make club teams/ tourneys age based...seems to work well in youth soccer. It eliminates parents/coaches ability to "stack" teams. The WSYL final game was a disgrace last July.

what percentage of 8th graders are getting recruited? 1%? Less? Those few boys are incredible athletes and incredibly talented and will end up at top D1 lax schools no matter what! The other 90 something percent feel the huge pressure to " get recruited", their parents spend $$$$ on ridiculous showcases.

Club coaches now look for the reclassifed kids and hold backs and now double hold backs....the poor age appropriate kid that does well in school but still hasn't hit puberty is screwed!


This is all too true and quite lamentable.

The trouble is that college coaches want the most well developed players they can get. And because there is no upside after college, everyone positions for it.

Some parents and kids would sell their souls in order to be able to say they are a D1 commit.

The clubs have little interest in anything but getting kids committed because that is what drives the hype and therefore the money. And make no mistake about it, the money is the key. They are businesses and seek to maximize profits.

It is kinda sad and personally I'd be embarrassed if my son had to 'play down' to compete, as would my son. We generally laugh at the repeaters.

Some are probably poised to shoot arrows at me and say that my son is probably not good enough to compete. Well that is half true. He is a very solid player who is a bit undersized but doing very well academically at a top high school. His path to college includes good grades, ACT's, and SAT's and perhaps using lacrosse as a hook. Very little chance he is top ten D1 material. I'm OK with that and so is he. He loves the sport and keeps it in perspective.

The frustrating part is that "on age" he is really quite good.