Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
So back to actual 2029 lacrosse conversations.......................

Analyisis after 3 weeks of Elite and AAA Divisions:

ELITE DIVISION

Front Runners: Madlax & Hawks....everyone else seems to be in a race for 3rd through 9th. Madlax gets the slight edge over Hawks in my opinion, but will be a great match-up after we get back from Easter break. Definitely the two tops teams in HOCO and two of the top teams in the country.

Middle Pack: Bethesda, Next Level, True Annapolis, VLC, LTLC. I'll keep LTLC in this group because I think they do have some talent, but have had to play top opponents out of the gate. Bethesda, Next Level, True, and VLC are all extremely talented teams. Will be interesting to see if Bethesda and Next Level moprh together over the next few years. Will CRABS get a 2029 team back next year, or is VLC the only one. Who will they buy out to have a 2029 team in Baltimore.....they have to be thinking ahead. This is just a loaded bracket.

Bottom Feeder: Team 91 - Feel bad for this team as they probably got placed in the wrong division. Lots of new families came in and now you are having supplemental tryouts during the middle of the season looking for players???? The schedule only gets tougher. Long road ahead.

AAA DIVISION
Front Runners: FCA, HOCO, Carrol Manor - FCA might get the slight nod out of the gate, but should have a tough test with Carrol Manor after the break. Is FCA the real deal? One of these teams will definitely get bumped up to Elite next year. Carrol Manor has great coaching and very organized. HOCO looks to still hang for another year, even with the loss of a couple stud players.

Middle Pack: Team Maryland, Wolfpack, TRUE KP - Thought Team Maryland was playing well till they ran into FCA. Wolfpack has some great talent, but poor coaching and oranization on the field. Can someone please explain to be TRUE KP??? Still confused by the True / Kelly post org chart???

Bottom Feeder: Team Money & VLC - Team Money getting used to what Maryland lacrosse is actually like, vs. Central PA lacrosse. They have some athletes though and I give them credit for wanting to play tougher competition. That's a long 3 hour round trip communte each weekend though. Assuming this VLC 2029 team will fold, now that Crabs purchased Cavalier.

Closing Thoughts / Predictions............
1. So crazy to see that Looneys, Rough Riders, Breakers, Blue Claw, and CRABS don't even have 2029 teams at all. What happened to these programs?
2. Predicting Madlax vs. Hawks in the ELITE championship and FCA vs. CARROL MANOR in the AAA.



Interesting analysis..........agree with most of the Elite Division analysis although I don't think LTLC will be able to hang with the big boys long term. It's the overally difference and commitment from CLUB to REC-CLUB. I predict Madlax to win it all.

For the AAA Division, I think FCA is the favorite from the games I saw thus far. Watch out for TRUE KP....improving and training hard.

My questions are:
1) Is the 2029 age group as a class weaker because of COVID or the starting effects of "rec-club"
2) When does "Daddy Coaching" end? Seems like all these younger aged teams have Dad as coaches.

HoCo 5th grade level (2029s) has about 1/3 less teams than 5th grade last year (2028s). I think there are fewer "club-capable kids" to be honest, as the years go on. Peak was probably 2023-2026 classes. Lax is pretty saturated in MD-DC. The bottom half of the 2028 teams (shown as HoCo AA and A this year) are abysmal, and should be rec only. 2029 teams are looking the same way. Look at the awful product that some of the 2029 "elite" clubs are putting on the field. Unless your kid is in the top half of teams, you are getting worked for $1500 - 2500 per year.

As for the dad coaching, it is a question you should ask when your son tries out for a team. Some clubs love it because they can pay dads less money, in exchange for a guarantee their son makes the team. And then you'll see that the offense or defense works through their son almost exclusively.

Some clubs have a "no dad coaches" policy and that's where I focused my $$$$ with my older kids. Ask at (or before) tryouts.