This response is hilarious. “When their holdbacks”. Dude, give it a rest. More like other teams start holding back and in some cases double holding back in 7th and 8th grade. Crabs are the most notorious. Still, I think hawks teams are literally all in the top ten except maybe one and most top 5. Could be wrong. I do not see madlax consistently in the top ten though.

Also, rec is still really strong in LI so I think club teams get better in middle school for them. Especially since most are summer clubs for the most part. Tourney teams. The Maryland and dc teams are year round and replace rec. so naturally they are better at earlier ages.

That’s why I say all the time, doesn’t matter how good your team/kid is in 3-7th grade. The holdbacks and LI teams who become more dedicated will be the great equalizer.