Originally Posted by Anonymous
What people often miss in this discussion is that there are enough of these older kids to form 1-2 “elite” teams in any age group/region. But there aren’t enough to support a whole top tier division.

So what happens? A few teams dominate the top divisions against teams that have some, but not as many, older kids

And the lacrosse games aren’t competitive.

As a result, kids in the top half of the talent curve simply dont develop as well because they are not challenging themselves or playing competitive games. Both the winners and losers in the elite, AAAA and AAA divisions suffer.

And because of this talent gap, lacrosse continues to be a small, regional-sport. Not growing the way others are.

This is one thing soccer gets right. Age-based is the way to go if you want to grow the game and raise the bar for the sport as a whole, across the country. That only happens with ensuring competitive games for the bulk of the kids and pushing the top kids to challenge themselves by playing up, not down.

Excellent points. I vote for the age cutoff to be my kid's birthdate. All in favor?