Originally Posted by Anonymous
So, we are talking about 12, cough, 11 year olds and let's open up this "relevance" argument that 99% of Hawks v ML Dads have over here every.single.day. It is 100% about who, even at this age, is virtually guaranteed to play D1 ball in college. It's a statistical lock (until the local Hawks kids get booted by new kids from TX and FL in 9th grade, anyway).

If your son plays lax at any one of MD's decent private HS programs...scratch that....if he is even on the VARSITY ROSTER and he impresses the right coaches on the right days, he will have a shot at playing lax "somewhere" at college. Maybe no money, maybe it's a horrible D3 squad IDK. If you are the #3 goalie at St. Marys and you impress at a showcase, guess what (for full tuition) you can play for Northern Western Rocky Mountain Mining College of South Colorado, the Fighting Trainwrecks. Achieving that modest goal is beyond what most players (esp if you include public school) in MD are willing to work for at age 14-16....to say nothing of age 10-12. So mark that data point. Can you and your (decent but not amazing talent) kid force in that life goal of "playing in college?" Yeah you can. It happens often.

The relevance is here. Your upper A, middle level B, or even low end AAA club will have a few college commits. If your kid plays that level ball, which most boys on HS rosters do (by the numbers), 2-4 of 22 kids will have a chance to move on. Most won't be motivated to, though, at this level.

Your High AA, Good AAA and Low End Elite clubs look different statistically. The entire first line will play college "somewhere." See "NWRMMCSCU Fighting Trainwrecks" above. A few D1 kids........maybe. 2nd and 3rd line players....may play for the Fighting Trainwrecks in another sport. "Your mileage may vary."

Hawks, ML, and to a lesser extent Crabs rosters are different. A quick google search shows they are sending THE ENTIRE ROSTER TO PLAY LAX IN COLLEGE and 10-12 of those boys are going D1! This is why these same 5 dads stay up all night and all day pontificating about these programs. As long as their boys make the cut, their trajectory is a lock. If they don't burn out and quit of course.

Fun stats, if your kid plays on a A-level club, he has the same chance at playing for a poor D3 school, as an average Hawks kid has of playing for Harvard or USNA.

This is the data the ML and Hawks dads are looking at. I'd be talking about it all day too, maybe.

Might want to stay away from the liquor cabinet .