How many holdbacks do BLC, VLC and Next Level have that they need to combine to form a WSYL team?
As with the Hawks, or any team, nobody knows how many holdbacks a team actually has. But my guess is that the 2026 VLC and NextLevel teams have few or zero holdbacks, and BLC probably has more, due to the fact that BLC tends to get players from Mater Dei, a school that encourages/allows athletes to repeat a year.
If I am wrong about any of those three teams, I am sure a parent from that team will chime in.
But the implication of your question is wrong - those programs are not joining forces to plug holdback holes, but rather because they do not enough elite level players to fill a 25 man roster. Very few teams do.
Here's your chime in. Almost 1/3 of those rosters are born prior to 9/1 (6-8 out of 22-24) and BLC does skew even higher.
The purpose of WSYL wasn't supposed to be all star teams but it was supposed to be a club team championship which is why they have rules regarding geographic distance and registered rosters for tournaments. It changed a little as the years went on with the NY teams adding players who were born before 12/31 and the DC/Balt teams deciding it wasn't worth the trouble and expense to field qualifying rosters. The last 2 years of WSYL did not field competitive teams beyond NY.
Because the WSYL has moved to MD, the local clubs are skirting the original spirit and are definitely adding a layer of $ to their programs to try and win. That's okay and I don't think they'll have any shortage of good players for the all-star rosters.
That's what I expected on those teams. I agree that the WSYL rules allow for the tournament to be more of an all star team competition. Draw a 100 mile radius from the center of LI, they can pull from all of LI, the majority of NJ, the majority of Connecticut, Southern Mass, eastern PA and White Plains NY area. If all you need to do is play 1 tournament, and the qualifier then covering that distance is certainly doable if they want to. Same goes for Baltimore.
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