Not sure that I agree, US Lacrosse nationals and NLF have their own inherent problems. US Lacrosse has ridiculous structure to earn qualifying points, NLF is a closed system, and both will be forever plagued by the holdback issue. I am not suggesting that I am for or against holdbacks, but it is the one issue that generates the most debate in youth lacrosse. While far from perfect, at this point WSYL seems to have the most workable formula. Not saying that WSYL is going to last forever, but I do not see it going away so fast.
US Lacrosse nationals is moving to AGE based. Per their rules, for the 2023s it is 1U3 and players must be born on or after 9/1/2004. There is an age exception for this year that allows up to 5 players to be non-compliant provided they are no more than 6 months out of compliance. Basically they must be in 7th grade and up to 5 can be born between 4/1/2004 and 8/31/2004. The rest have to be born 9/1/2004 or later.
Seems to me that US Lacrosse is doing a pretty good job of addressing the holdback "issue".
Here's the age eligibility from the US Lacrosse web site:
1. In 2017-18 at US Lacrosse qualifiers, roster age rules for teams in the US Lacrosse qualifying divisions shall be at the discretion of the event operator.
Roster Requirements for US Lacrosse Nationals Eligibility Rules – U.S. Teams
All players must be US Lacrosse Members and must be age-verified through the US Lacrosse age- verification system 7 days prior to the start of US Lacrosse Nationals. All players must compete with their team or club on a regular basis. Minimum requirements are that players must compete with their team/program for at least two tournaments in the preceding 12 months leading up to US Lacrosse Nationals, or in a seasonal league. If a player is otherwise eligible to compete in US Lacrosse Nationals but has been unable to compete in two tournaments in the preceding year for his or her club due to documented medical circumstances, that player may be allowed to participate in US Lacrosse Nationals at the sole discretion of US Lacrosse. All players competing in the 12U division must have been born on or after 9/1/2005. All players competing in the 13U division must have been born on or after 9/1/2004. All players competing in the 14U division must have been born on or after 9/1/2003. The suggested roster size for boys teams is minimum 18 total players and a minimum of two goalies at all times. The suggested roster size for girls teams is minimum 16 total players and a minimum of two goalies at all times. Rosters may not be modified after submission of the official roster. The only permitted roster modification after submission of the final roster will be the replacement of an injured goalie with another goalie with medical documentation and US Lacrosse approval. Any team in violation of the above roster rules will forfeit all games in which the ineligible player has participated and any title received by the team. Any team that forfeits a game during the tournament will be ineligible to advance to the playoffs.
Roster Age Exceptions for the 2018 Nationals
One major goal of US Lacrosse Nationals is to bridge the gap between US Lacrosse’s age- segmentation policies and the widespread current practices in the lacrosse club and lacrosse event markets. Currently age-divisions at club events are almost exclusively grade-based. Over the next few years, US Lacrosse Nationals will fully incorporate US Lacrosse’s age-segmentation standards, however, in order to accommodate the ways clubs are currently structured, and to avoid needlessly excluding grade-eligible players who have competed with their club teams throughout the year from competing in Nationals, the 2018 Nationals will provide a limited roster age exception policy. The 2018 Roster Age Exception policy is as follows: a team competing at the 2018 US Lacrosse Nationals may field up to five players who do not comply with the birthdate guidelines of Sections B.4-6 above, provided i) that the players meet the previously stated club participation requirement; ii) that those players were born not more than six months earlier than the birthdate cutoff for their division, and iii) that the player is in the scholastic grade that corresponds to their respective division. The Corresponding Grade for each division is: 12U, 2017-18 school year grade six 13U, 2017-18 school year grade seven 14U, 2017-18 school year grade eight A player’s future desire to take a post-grad year is irrelevant to the question of what grade that player was actually in for the 2017-18 school year. The 2018 Roster-Age Exception policy is in place for 2018 only. Is shall be evaluated during and after the year, and changes shall be proposed for 2019 and beyond as US Lacrosse Nationals seeks to move towards full compliance with US Lacrosse age-segmentation policies.
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