Agree with this. He may be bigger, but other players are hitting growth spurts and the gap is closing, and it will all be irrelevant in a year or two. (My son defends against him and reports that he’s a nice kid, fwiw, which is not always the case).
99% of the kids are great kids. I'm sure he is an awesome kid.
The issue is with the parents and the team, not the child. He is just a child playing a game that he loves. In fact, he is one of the true victims in this.
The boy is getting a false sense of his ability, playing against such small opponents, and not being challenged like every other kid. In a couple of years, when it actually matters, this will work against him, since he won't have the size advantage that he has enjoyed in his youth. Then what?? When he gets to High School, he will have been playing EXCLUSIVELY against little people for the past seven years, without any real challenge, while all of the players he is competing against have been busting their butt's, playing against actual opponents... and getting better, as a result!!
If he were my child, I would have absolutely had him playing up, since day one. My guess is he's a hold back, based on the extraordinary size difference, the team he plays for (a known hold-back abuser) and the fact that the team isn't going to participate in the WSYL (there's only one reason why that would happen). However, the hold-back conversation is irrelevant, here. He should be playing at the next grade, regardless whether he is a hold back or not, for his best interest.
Of course, this is all on the parents for allowing this to happen, as their dream of D1 slowly disappears in the next couple of years.
It's also, of course, on the greedy team. They obviously benefit in a big way, by having him on the team now, as he is helping them sell their brand and make $$$$'s. Could you imagine where that team would be without him right now?? I probably would never have even heard of Madlax, if he had not been on the team the past few years. Sure hope the parents are getting a free ride!
There is another important side to this issue. Yes, it is bad for the player, it is unfair to the competition, but it is also extremely bad for the rest of the Madlax team. We all know that everything goes through this boy. All opportunities go to him and all big plays go solely through him... nobody else, with the exception of one attackman, because the team only cares about winning. His teammates around him are not growing as lacrosse players due to his presence on the team. These parents are extremely aware of this, but I'm not sure why they put up with it. They are paying a lot of money, for their kids to be nothing but role players for their entire youth. Some of these players are undoubtedly very good, but never see any significant opportunities, as they would on a different team.
Believe it or not, the ones that get most hurt in this whole scenario is the child himself and the child's teammates. Those are the real loses here.
Madlax, the brand, is the big, greedy winner!
That loss to Madlax must really be killing you to write all this. Remember it's only 6th grade lacrosse. Let it go and worry about your own life.
