Originally Posted by Anonymous
We know hold backs and reclasses exist in the BDMV lacrosse world, they exist across the vast majority, if not all, of the HoCo elite teams. Right or wrong it happens and is within the rules that BDMV teams play under. As far as I know no kid on the Madlax 2024 team is not in 8th grade this year, if someone is aware of a kid who is in 9th grade and is playing on that team happy to hear about it. In terms of the big FO kid everyone talks about, he is an 8th grader at an IAC school which means he graduates in 2024. Every kid on the HoCo roster where Madlax went undefeated and won the tournament is a 2024 graduate and was in 7th grade during the season (including big FO kid). I don't know how hard this is to grasp. There were some very close games in HoCo, as it should be, but to say this team is dependent on one player or that these kids were actually 9th graders playing on an 8th grade team is 100% false.

I also completely agree that that reclassing/holding back is getting out of hand but also remember that many of these kids were delayed entry/summer birthdays back in K. The reality is that as long as (1) there is no national governing body in lacrosse that has any power to regulate an age based system, (2) most (if not all other than the WSYL) major tournaments at the youth/high school level are grade based, (3) lacrosse in the BDMV is mainly a private school sport, and (4) college coaches don't care how old a kid is just his graduation year then this will continue to happen and likely accelerate. For those on age kids who are playing meaningful minutes at the elite level this likely doesn't have a huge impact as they are playing with older kids and holding their own and getting better. The kids who are hurt by this are the good/average kids at the youth level that are getting pushed down because of this and may not get the opportunities they might have had in an age based youth world. It also provides an incentive for people who may never have though about holding their kid back to think about it. As the parent of two on age kids I firmly believe that until high school kids should be playing in an age based world but for the reasons listed above don't think it will ever revert back. The reality is that as long as lacrosse can provide an opportunity to go to a top private high school and then potentially on to a top college then the incentives and rules of the sport are aligned to make holding back a rational decision for some families.


Holy S.. Ive been on these boards for a long time for entertainment and also guilty of mixing it up from time to time, this is by far the classiest and on point explanation of current state of youth lacrosse. Bravo! (with accompanying golf clap).