There are many of kids right here in MD that are thought of to be the best at this age! Many of them should be 2021 and have been playing their correct age or year up 2020. Now they must fall back to where they actually are grade wise. Like it or not these select few will always receive the highest honors . Everyone in this class , and I mean EVERYONE will always know exactly how they got to where they are. They will never be able to hide from it.
Yawn.
As a parent of an on-age player, who cares? The "on-age" 2022 players are in 9th grade now. Many of the best on-age players will play varsity this year against players 3 years older, maybe more. I don't know any of those kids who are complaining about it. Most are looking forward to it! The only people who are still complaining about it at this point are the parents who pay way to much money to watch their kids sit behind an entire team full of playbacks at a private school, or parents who spend way to much to watch their kids sit behind playbacks on certain club teams. There are plenty of on-age players who are still the top players in Maryland despite the hold-back crap. Stop complaining and just PLAY! You are teaching your kid to make excuses by example now! If your kid is not playing, then stop approaching lacrosse like it is a popularity contest and move to a club or school where they will play! Legitimately complaining about hold-backs ends when they all can grow a mustache.
Discussing hold backs is passe in high school. Focus your son's attention on his stick skills, strength and endurance all of which he'll need to succeed in his upcoming tryouts. Some kids peak out in 8th, 9th and 10th grades and never process further. Others don't peak until they're upperclassmen in high school. A couple are real late bloomers and explode in college (usually multi sport athletes that are relatively late to the game of lacrosse). The bigger issue is getting on the field and not being a practice player. Don't let your freshmen be talked into being a non front line reserve on a varsity team. Development for underclassmen is 75% game time PT not practice reps no matter what the HC tells you. Plenty of freshmen who starred on a JV or F/S squad have ultimately lapped some player who made varsity his first year in high school.
Reality: If your son is good enough (tough to tell as a parent), make sure he has a great head and position coach and has a reasonable chance of PT (don't put him in a situation where he's behind a D1 AA can't miss recruit.
