Once again, not a dad of any club kids yet. Just a club/HS coach trying to help the otherwise under-informed. You are only proving the point I continue to make.
There's 2 sides to this: 1. the ones that complain their kid has to play older/stronger/better kids. I've gone to some length on this already so I will keep it simple: Your sone is a 7th or 8th grader. You WILL see this for the rest of your playing days. The earlier you get used it, gain some experience with it, the better off you will eventually be.
To the parent of those kids: Stop trying to plow an easier path forward for them because you are doing them far more long-term damage than good. I see this all the time when these parents hit HS they can not handle the fact their son is not yet prepared to take on kids that are older/stronger/better.
2. The kids that are playing down against younger/weaker/lesser kids: You aren't helping yourself either because in the next year or two, instead of dominating weaker players and teams you are now getting the ball stripped from you before your third step and you have no skills to deal with it because you've been used to running through 3 defenders with ole' checks and scoring 7 goals a game.
Parents of THOSE: See point one. It isn't helping your son develop. I see THIS all the time too. You've dominated youth and club ball in 7th and 8th grade and you play the same towns and teams in HS and get your rears handed to you because - you haven't been challenged and you haven't grown past this stage.
In summation: within the next 1-2 years you will NEVER play against only on-age players ever again. So, quit the whining, accept the reality for what it is - no it should not be that way, but it is - and develop yourself into a better player equipped to handle the challenges you are 100% going to face for the rest of your playing days.
Coach,
You are a major part of the problem. The fact you come and here and try to justify 13 year olds beating up on 11 year olds (you are not saying that directly, but that is where your thinking goes) is laughable before you even say it. Again, do not ignore this point, high school sorts this out with freshman, JV and varsity programs. Every other sport in the US has figured it out but somehow lacrosse cannot. Could you imagine a bunch of AAU basketball 11 year olds trying to compete with 13 year olds? The only reason players are held back is to gain an unfair competitive advantage.[/quote]
Ummm......a lot of AAU and rec basktball leagues ARE grade based. There are also some youth Football leagues that are grade based. There are some age perimeters with these grade based leagues but they are pretty liberal and allow 1-2 year variances.
