In ALL the HUGE number of conversations about holdbacks, I have yet to see anyone make a case for why it's a good system. The best folks can do is insult the parents and their kids who play on-age ("Hit the wall" "Get better").
No rational person who cared about the kids would design a club system with holdbacks. The ONLY reason it is done is to make it easier for college coaches to attend recruiting events.
You are forgetting the primary reason this system was created and the largest benefactor. Private schools. This does not apply only to sports. Private schools have a small pool if parents that can pay 15-45K per year for K-12. Over time that is serious money. Many of these parents are encouraged to do so at a young age. This way they get an extra year of tuition. If they hold back another year that is one more year. As the best lacrosse programs collect these students at private schools, lacrosse is impacted even more by this. It is not good for the development of the sport, it does not improve the college game or make it easier on college coaches to get older players. THE reason it grows is the extra year of tuition payments. I do not know of any public school holdbacks.
