My son is on a Maryland team with a late September birthday. He is 11. Maryland public school cutoff is 9/1. So on our team we have 10 boys born before 9/1 and 10 boys after. So technically we have 50% holdbacks. We are a middle of the road 2026 Elite team.
Just over half our boys are in private school. There you have it. Long Island teams at a disadvantage until 9th grade.
From Maryland public schools website
AGE & ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS: 2018-19
Age
Children age 5 by September 1, 2018, and not age 21 on the first day of school are eligible for enrollment in MCPS for the 2018-19 school year.
Prekindergarten, age 4 by September 1 Kindergarten, age 5 by September 1 First grade, age 6 by September 1
I’m not a big fan of LI parents but they are correct. Until we move to BIRTH YEAR youth lacrosse this is the reality. I don’t like it either but any Maryland parent defending the fact that their 12 year old fifth grader is not an intentional or unintentional holdback is wrong.
Now that the no contact before 9/1 junior legislation is in place there is NO reason for youth graduation year based lacrosse teams. Blame it on the Howard County league that has always been in the back pocket of the Baltimore clubs that feed the MIAA conference.
So when the Hawks parents claim there are no 12 year olds on their team I call BS on that. When any Maryland Elite level team claims there are no 12 year olds on their team is it definitely BS.
And yes, that is why no team from our club has been to WSYL since our 2021 team did back before WSYL changed their cutoff date. And we will never go again.
On age Maryland kids that want to play in WSYL need to jump on an eligible team with in 100 miles that is looking for more good kids to attend. That is how it’s done.
BBL in New Jersey has a specific WSYL tryout in the spring. So they slap their 2026 and 2027 teams together and hope to attract a few more good stragglers.
Last summers Next Level team had several really good kids join after the tryout dates. You can do that as long as you play with the team in two spring tournaments and the club is within 100 miles of your home. Obviously there is room for abuse there as well.
So it is a testament to how skilled the LI boys are since they are younger but can still hang with these older 2026 teams.
