In regards to issues like world hunger or corporations buying politicians, this is a youth lacrosse board so I'm not sure what the relevance of that comment is. How do we know the original poster is not on other boards discussing those issues?
Personally, I would disagree that this is 'miniscule'. As far as youth lacrosse is concerned this is a very important topic. You might not have been at the Express or 91 tryouts but I can assure you that there were a few hundred other people at both of those, spending $100 a pop so that they might be lucky enough to pay those organizations in excess of $2,500 for their children to join their teams. This is a business and this is sports and this is competitive and when you put all of those things together, people will look for any edge they can find. If that edge is buying the latest equipment or taking their kids to private training or, dare I say it, holding their children back a year for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with academics, guess what, they will do it. And by the way, if in the long run this potentially helps their sons not only get into a Duke or a Hopkins or a Notre Dame but also gets them scholarship money at those institutions and a network that will benefit their long term careers and social lives, that is a pretty huge incentive.
I understand the analogy of the child who is held back for academic or social reasons and I empathize with that situation, I'm sure it cannot be easy for the parents or the child to be faced with something like that. However, if we were just talking about a boy or two per team that would be one thing but this is pervasive and has become a part of the culture of the sport. I could name a dozen boys from my town alone who have been held back simply for lacrosse.
Finally, if age wasn’t an important issue then why do sports like soccer, baseball, hockey and football all bother with strict requirements? Lacrosse is the only sport where it is possible to have two children who are as much as 18 months apart competing in the same game. It’s one thing when they hit puberty but it’s quite another when they are 8, 9, 10 years old.
Feel free to bury your head in the sand and ignore it but don't try to diminish it to those of us who think it is a problem that needs to be addressed. If something as 'miniscule' as the Faceoff rule can be changed, then this can and should be changed as well.
