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If we play the Crabs next summer (2018 teams), our coach is going to suggest that we play half of the game with the teams as they are and the other half of the game only with kids born after 9/1/99.

Do the kids crave being held back a grade, or is it something parents decide for their kids to get them noticed in a sport?

If your son is a goalie, this may seem contrarian but it is best to have him with a program that has goalie position coaching. How good the team is in front of him can also be a liability. Some club teams are so dynamite the goalies only see 3-4 shots a game and that makes nearly impossible for them to develop in game situations and to show out well when they get to a recruiting age. Being on the best team can in some ways be the worst thing for a goalie.

it's the parents of course

The new rules will protect your 2019, even if the Cascade R won't......

Settle down. It's not that big of a deal, dad. Get some looser panties.

Why are the Crabs allowing the Edge organization to play in Young Gunz this year knowing that this is what they do with their teams especially 2019, 2020 and 2021? Sure way to bring the tournament down.

Not sure it is fair to isolate criticism against Crabs when pretty much all the tournament vendors like Adrenaline, NXT, and 3d are equally ambivalent. And whomever the idiot is who posted he watches 100s of games and there are few "big hits" in terms of checks, yeah, we all know that. What you also see is a lot of physical contact on GBs, face-off wing play, and picks. Picks can be vicious collisions when a shrimp sized 13 year old runs his helmet straight into the chest padding of say a 6'4 220lb 18 grader who is 16 years old. Maybe you're getting older and your attention span isn't holding up so well watching those 100s of games because I can't make it through a Saturday tournament without throwing up in my mouth over the size and age inequities on the field. If these Canadian kids are so farm tough, what are they afraid of exactly? Playing kids their same age?

LOL at the ubiquitous sightings of a 6'4", 220lb 8th grader on this thread.

Hyperbole much?

Ok do we know this kids birthday or are we just assuming he is a re class kid? I would of hated to be Shaqs parents, they must have to carry his birth records everywhere they go. Which I would do.

I have played them and I do recall them being older now you mention it. They beat us pretty good. But I am a learn more from losing kind of guy. And as long as all the teams we played that day where not bigger and older I was cool with my kid getting beat around a little.

It's all cool until someone gets a concussion . . .

I think this is more of a safety issue than a competitive one. I have one son who was always a strong player and was played up whenever possible, so we made that decision. Our next son isn't nearly as early advanced in terms of size or his skill, and we have never pushed him to play up or has he ever been invited to play up. When his team takes the field against Edge, and this club and Canadian clubs fully advantage the system and EVERY kid on the team is older because that is their overt strategy to gain an advantage. Now, Canadian kids are generally ones who do not apply to American colleges with competitive academic credentials, and it is nothing new that sports is a passport to get a degree from an American college. I do believe that with Canadians the dream is an Amercian college degree and scholarship first, and then the prestige of an NCAA sport second, so I am less brutal on them as a herd of older kids than this lame Baltimore way of doing it only for sports. Just my opinion. Also my opinion is I am bothered one of my sons plays on a field with kids who are so much bigger and mature that is is a safety issue for my wife and I. That is the thing I do not like. Give me the discretion to put my sons out there with older kids if they can hang and are not at an unacceptable safety risk. Do not take that discretion away from me and force me to put a son out there with kids who are unacceptably bigger and more mature because there is this new discretion to "play down". I like all of the life lessons in sports, and competing hard and sometimes losing, and losing with the grace of a sportsman is very important. Frankly, playing down to me is just cowering and showing at some level a lack of competitive spirit and respect for the sportsmanship that should be a part of lacrosse, but is lost now in the club game. Another issue is a kid who plays up grows a confidence a kid who plays down can never attain. At some levels your held back kids will eventually -- and should -- feel their accomplishments are lessened because of the playing down asterisk. In sports there has always been a disgust for drug cheats. The age gaming is becoming a second loathed thing and I do not see that as unfair. If my kid asked me to reclassify I would say no. I would tell him college lacrosse like high school lacrosse is a fun thing to do and say you did, but it in reality it only adds a few more years to playing a kids' game. Most lacrosse parents crazed on this never played a sport in college, and if they did at a high Division 1 level I doubt they would be this irrational to push it.

I guess this is another question for everyone who loves there club owners and they all can do no wrong. If they have your kids best intrest at heart why are they not pulling out and saying we will not play these older "cheating" teams. I think that might be the bigger questions. As for your kid at risk of getting hurt you should pull him from the game and or team. You are the parent and its your child. So they might be cheaters but you are all chickens for not pulling your sons if there is a real fear on your part.

I think this is more of a safety issue than a competitive one. I have one son who was always a strong player and was played up whenever possible, so we made that decision. Our next son isn't nearly as early advanced in terms of size or his skill, and we have never pushed him to play up or has he ever been invited to play up. When his team takes the field against Edge, and this club and Canadian clubs fully advantage the system and EVERY kid on the team is older because that is their overt strategy to gain an advantage. Now, Canadian kids are generally ones who do not apply to American colleges with competitive academic credentials, and it is nothing new that sports is a passport to get a degree from an American college. I do believe that with Canadians the dream is an Amercian college degree and scholarship first, and then the prestige of an NCAA sport second, so I am less brutal on them as a herd of older kids than this lame Baltimore way of doing it only for sports. Just my opinion. Also my opinion is I am bothered one of my sons plays on a field with kids who are so much bigger and mature that is is a safety issue for my wife and I. That is the thing I do not like. Give me the discretion to put my sons out there with older kids if they can hang and are not at an unacceptable safety risk. Do not take that discretion away from me and force me to put a son out there with kids who are unacceptably bigger and more mature because there is this new discretion to "play down".

Well said!

I guess this is another question for everyone who loves there club owners and they all can do no wrong. If they have your kids best intrest at heart why are they not pulling out and saying we will not play these older "cheating" teams. I think that might be the bigger questions. As for your kid at risk of getting hurt you should pull him from the game and or team. You are the parent and its your child. So they might be cheaters but you are all chickens for not pulling your sons if there is a real fear on your part.

Not trying to criticize Crabs but this is a Crabs thread. All promoters do seem to allow it but Crabs holds itself as being a premier tourney sponsor - not one of the take all teams tournaments. They could easily set an example and then fill that spot with a talented team but instead they are choosing to allow Edge to play when they know the deal. Agree 100% that when you watch these huge kids setting picks and headhunting etc., you could do nothing but agree it is a safety issue. Hoping Crabs takes the first step and says no and takes it a bit further and does real grade/age verification for their tournaments.