Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
I tend to think that although there may be some coaches at events for 2021/2020 kid this summer, attendance will be down for sure. Because it just doesnt really matter if they see a kid that plays well this summer. (Because with no contact, unless your kid looks like a stud the summer before their junior year, it won't matter). This is a bitter pill for some to swallow, especially the directors of all of these "exclusive recruiting" events. Their cash cow is coming to an end very quickly.
My suggestion, take the money you would have spent on those events and use it to hire a tutor, get SAT prep halo and make sure you kid is taking as many Honors/AP courses as they can handle. With some of their free time, they can also do some type of community service, so leading into their Junior year they will be a complete package! Heck, with a little hard work they might even get into college on their own!!!
I really don't understand why anyone is upset about this, if a kid is really that great right now (as a 8th or 9th grader) they will still be great as a junior, why all the fuss?


2020 parent here.

Yes, there will be a few less coaches and players at 2020 events this summer but I doubt this will amount to the devastating economic blow to showcase organizers that everyone here hopes it will be.

Kids don't suddenly have oodles of free time just because they are skipping a showcase or two. If a kid is not already doing the other things that you mention I doubt that will start now because one weekend has freed up.

Why are people upset? Well for every 2020 kid who has committed there is another who is talking to coaches, doing vists and probably close to making a decision soon. With 80ish 2020s already committed, telling the rest of them that the door is now closed seems like a knee-jerk response and shows that this is not about the kids at all. The NCAA is punishing the kids who have not committed because of the ones who have.




Agreed, this should have started with the 2021 grad year. Lacrosse loves to make arbitrary rules, change rules, not make the rules they really should. A joke! If there was one good thing that should have been done for the sport, it should have been age enforcement. Who cares when a kid commits!


Yep. US Lacrosse is so concerned about this while the age problem goes unchecked. Stenerson thinks this will somehow reenergize rec Lacrosse, I don't see that at all. As long as you have 14 year olds playing against 12 year olds youth Lacrosse is fundamentally broken at all levels.

Fixing the age problem will stop the holdback nonsense and level the playing field, potentially making early recruiting less useful.


My son is 12 and plays on a U13 rec team. There are kids on his team and other teams that are 14. Lacrosse everywhere had been set-up in U11, U13, U15 for decades in which kids competed in 2 year gaps. Prefirst, holdback,reclass whatever you want to call it was not invented in the past 4-5 years. Rich people who send their kids to private elementary have been doing this forever. In the past the holdback kids just got a second year of u15 while most were off to 9th grade. Having you been saying lacrosse is broken for 30 years?

What Stenerson is hoping for is that by pushing recruiting back to junior year it curtails the "need" to be on the "right" club in 6th grade so that you can be "seen" in 8th. And the to get on the right club in 6th you better get in the system in 3rd. This is the mentality that has killed rec/town. The whole youth game has shifted to club from rec/town and very few of the kids will ever benefit from the added cost and expense.

BTW - US Lacrosse does not dictate the age rules unless they are running the event. Teams, leagues, tournaments decide on their own rules. Not sure why but this whole grade thing started when Long Island teams went to grade. When the LI clubs started traveling to what were rec tournaments in MD - Lax Splash, Beach Lax etc with names like LI Express 2019, Crush 2020 and killing teams the tide turned here in MD. Club directors realized they would have an age advantage by going grade - just because of the different school cut-offs. Before then all MD clubs (even Crabs) were age based as where all the local tournaments. Then all the clubs changed to grade and the tournaments followed so they wouldn't lose revenue. NY has by far the most teams and are the most willing to travel far and wide. If they were to change back to age, the tournaments would change again and other regions would have to follow.