Originally Posted by Anonymous
I am so tired of this conversation .....

if you're child turned 12 before August 31st 2018 and is playing in the 25's ....... they are playing "DOWN".

If your child turned 13 before Aug 31st 2018 and they are playing in the 24's ..... they are playing "DOWN".

If your child turned 14 before Aug 31st 2018 and they are playing in the 23's .... they are playing "DOWN"

If your child turned 11 before August 31st, 2018 and the are playing in the 26's ..... they are playing "DOWN"

etc, etc, etc... this applies through every graduation year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only kids born in 2006 that should be playing 25's are kids with birthday from 9/1/06 to 12/31/06. Anyone born in 2005 or from 1/1/06 - 8/31/06 is playing "DOWN"

Your child who was 12 years old over the season was playing against some kids that were just turning 11. My nephew's team had a boy on it who turned 13 last September and some of his teammate had just turned 11 that summer (July & Aug birthdays). That made him 22 months older than some kids on his team. That's a huge difference. Not all kids playing down have that much of an age advantage - but it is still an advantage to be older than most of your teammates/opponents.

Apply that all the way up and down the graduation years/age groups. The difference isn't as evident when the kids are in 2nd,3rd,4th grades but it really shows in middle school - especially for the girls. Eventually all kids that continue to HS Lax need to play with kids other than their graduation year - that's undeniable. But - as long as club continues to play by graduation year only regardless of age this problem will persist. And I don't even know that I consider it a "problem". It's just how it is.

The are many reasons why kids are started late/held back/reclassified, etc.. And all of those reason are valid and ok if they work for your family. But no matter what the reason for your child not being in the same grade as everyone else their age ---- for lacrosse purposes your child is playing "DOWN" - don't deny the fact that kids playing "DOWN" gain an advantage.

I think thay's why people get so riled up about it. No one is blaming or picking on kids who are playing down. But - the parents of the kids who are playing "DOWN" won't admit it is an advantage.


Again - it all evens out heading to high school but for the younger kids/teams it is definitely an advantage. Maybe the discussion needs to be held about going to calendar year age groups like soccer but no one in lacrosse seems interested in that.





Did you take a deep breath once you were done writing all of this? Do you feel better? 🙄