Parents may continue to hold their kids back - but the advantage of playing against kids who haven't gone through puberty will be significantly diminished by their Jr. year.
I agree that you are in essence correct, however, it will take 10 years for people to figure that out.
I think that the early recruiting being behind us, it give less of an advantage to the holdbacks and reclass kids.
While I agree as it relates to recruiting. It still is an advantage at youth level, And in Maryland with all the private school kids held back. It will be hard to get the clubs to change. Top clubs are associated with MIAA schools in some ways. In MD that is where the best lacrosse players want to end up...In the MIAA . Rest of the country may not be as unique with holdbacks like MD..so I guess there is hope.
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Just for your information... my son is back from school and we are enjoying our thanksgiving vacation together. He plays on a top 20 DI college team and he tells me that out of a class of 17 Freshman, he is the only freshman who is 18 years old (on age for his grade). He is generally a year younger than every other Freshman on the team.
Some were held back when they were very young. Some were held back in 8th grade and some took a PG year or decided to wait a year between high school and college because of the availability of scholarship money.
To his knowledge no one is getting a full ride. Most are getting 25% scholarships or just $10k or $15k and many will not be receiving them next year. Receipt will depend upon their performance.
Know that each family has to 'donate' money to the team and so far this year we have been asked to donate to several charities the team sponsors.
While neither I nor my son I wouldn't change anything, there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow here other than the friends he will make and the experiences he will come away with.
Thank you for sharing. Nothing we don't know but everything rarely summarized so cleanly. College sports such a business now. Inflated rosters hurt more then help. Difficult to use more than get used. Compete against your teammates more than opponents.
Great post. I have a college Junior who hates Lacrosse and would love to quit. My son is a hard worker and starter on the team. It is even worse for the othe boys who don’t even have a shot of seeing the field and are getting very little money. All the coaches are nasty bastards, they are not at all what you see at the recruiting visits. They are unreasonable with their expectations. We have encouraged him to stick it out, although he insists that Lacrosse is ruining his like. The one good thing is the friendships he has made, they will have that bond forever.
Its tough now, but once he is done, he will look at it a lot differently. There is so much to be said about the perseverance it takes to complete 4 years of college athletics. I used to hate getting up and practicing on frozen grass at 6am in February and March. It felt like the worst job ever at times, but we pushed through it for our teammates. If they are going through it, we cant stay in bed with a clean conscience. When I have to do things I hate doing for my job or any other aspect of my life, I always remember dragging myself out of bed at 5am, breaking into a sweat in 15 degree weather, then standing and listening to our coaches talk while freezing our [ChillLaxin]es off for the remainder of practice. Everything else seems easy compared to that stuff. Wasn't overly excited about it back then, but would not trade the experience for anything now. Once every man gets to the age where they can no longer compete at that level, your appreciation of the adversity you pushed through increases 10 fold. Then you try to help your kids understand how important that commitment and work is later in life.
I agree - I didn't play lax in college but played football. Kind of the opposite heck - 135° on the astroturf for the first few weeks of practice, and cold and snowy practices and playoffs games at the end of the season, and 6+ days a week for the better part of 4 months. You definitely have a better appreciation of what you were willing to go through then when you are looking back. And for those that haven't experienced it, it's hard to begin to appreciate the time, effort and the competitiveness that is involved - it's a huge jump up from HS, even from a large program.
I agree with everything you guys are saying. One major regret I have was quitting lacrosse in college after two years. I had a serious injury but not career ending. I wish I had someone, should have been myself, to tell me to go out there and finish what you started. Not that I was a super star but I did love to play.
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