I'm not trying to give you a hard time but if you don't think that this is a significant issue in youth lacrosse then fine, that's your opinion. You should just recognize that a lot of people disagree with you.
In the example you gave where your 7th grade son competed against Varsity athletes, that was a conscious decision and everyone at the event knew what was going on. You and your son went into the event with the knowledge that older boys would be competing. There was no competitive advantage there, in fact it was probably looked on as a good thing: check out how well this 7th grader is doing against the varsity team!
That is a much different scenario than when you have a boy who turned 10 years old in June competing against 8 and 9 year olds at a 2023 tournament. The biggest issue I have with it, frankly, is from an evaluation standpoint. How do you know whether the 10 year old is doing well b/c he is legitimately talented or if he's really just an average player but he is older and more experienced? And vice versa for the 8 year old, maybe he is a better than average player but looks less than that b/c he is competing against bigger, stronger, faster boys.
As far as the $$$'s are concerned. Look at the list of team's on the right of this board. I don't think a single one of them cost less than $1,000 for the season. I'm not sure where your son is playing lax but it sure isn't on this Island.
