US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Crabs Lacrosse / Baltimore Lacrosse Club

In addition to RC gaming the system with holdbacks, tweaking his tournaments to make sure his teams skate through the early games his behavior on the sidelines is sight to be seen. Next time I am at a game I might take a video and set to music. Thoughts on an appropriate song?

Cheater Cheater
Cheatin
Cheating
Everbody's Cheating

A**hole by Dennis Leary

I can't speak for all Crabs teams but I can tell you the majority of 2019
and 2020 teams are not hold backs. The 2020 team has 23 kids and 5 are hold backs. 3 are impact players. The majority of MD families don't believe in holding back but it's a decision that the parents and kids make. Crabs doesn't encourage or push this. It's been going on through the MD private schools in all sports for years. All high level AA club teams in Maryland have hold backs..FCA, Loonies, Breakers, Hawks, etc. Is it an advantage for some..sure, but good athletes rise too the type despite age. It all equals out in high school. If your not fast at 13..your not going to be much faster by 16. My son has played for Crabs for 2 years as a non hold back and it's been a great experience. They are an extremely organized and professional club that provides excellent coaching to increase lax IQ and teach the boys to master the fundamentals through a proven system. Their are many wonderful and dedicated people associated with Crabs as I'm sure there are with Team 91, Rising Sons, Edge, LI Express, NH Tomahawks, etc. We love playing LI teams and others because they are incredible young lax players that are battle tested. And remember Crabs players compete in football, soccer, basketball, and wrestling as well. We are not a year round, no other sport kind of club and we like it that way. We don't believe that 12 and 13 year olds should specialize. Not a knock on Team 91 but it's a different philosophy. So maybe a couple hold backs actually levels the playing field considering some LI teams have considerably more practice and competitive time. At the end of the day you should visit the Crabs website and scroll to college commits. Those are real top d1 schools, giving real lax scholarships to many Crabs athletes. Do you really think college coaches care if you are 18 or 19 when you graduate. The proof is in the pudding. If your son is a strong laxer he would enjoy playing for Crabs...hold back or not. They are a great Club.

I can't speak for all Crabs teams but I can tell you the majority of 2019
and 2020 teams are not hold backs. The 2020 team has 23 kids and 5 are hold backs. 3 are impact players. The majority of MD families don't believe in holding back but it's a decision that the parents and kids make. Crabs doesn't encourage or push this. It's been going on through the MD private schools in all sports for years. All high level AA club teams in Maryland have hold backs..FCA, Loonies, Breakers, Hawks, etc. Is it an advantage for some..sure, but good athletes rise too the type despite age. It all equals out in high school. If your not fast at 13..your not going to be much faster by 16. My son has played for Crabs for 2 years as a non hold back and it's been a great experience. They are an extremely organized and professional club that provides excellent coaching to increase lax IQ and teach the boys to master the fundamentals through a proven system. Their are many wonderful and dedicated people associated with Crabs as I'm sure there are with Team 91, Rising Sons, Edge, LI Express, NH Tomahawks, etc. We love playing LI teams and others because they are incredible young lax players that are battle tested. And remember Crabs players compete in football, soccer, basketball, and wrestling as well. We are not a year round, no other sport kind of club and we like it that way. We don't believe that 12 and 13 year olds should specialize. Not a knock on Team 91 but it's a different philosophy. So maybe a couple hold backs actually levels the playing field considering some LI teams have considerably more practice and competitive time. At the end of the day you should visit the Crabs website and scroll to college commits. Those are real top d1 schools, giving real lax scholarships to many Crabs athletes. Do you really think college coaches care if you are 18 or 19 when you graduate. The proof is in the pudding. If your son is a strong laxer he would enjoy playing for Crabs...hold back or not. They are a great Club.

I can't speak for all Crabs teams but I can tell you the majority of 2019
and 2020 teams are not hold backs. The 2020 team has 23 kids and 5 are hold backs. 3 are impact players. The majority of MD families don't believe in holding back but it's a decision that the parents and kids make. Crabs doesn't encourage or push this. It's been going on through the MD private schools in all sports for years. All high level AA club teams in Maryland have hold backs..FCA, Loonies, Breakers, Hawks, etc. Is it an advantage for some..sure, but good athletes rise too the type despite age. It all equals out in high school. If your not fast at 13..your not going to be much faster by 16. My son has played for Crabs for 2 years as a non hold back and it's been a great experience. They are an extremely organized and professional club that provides excellent coaching to increase lax IQ and teach the boys to master the fundamentals through a proven system. Their are many wonderful and dedicated people associated with Crabs as I'm sure there are with Team 91, Rising Sons, Edge, LI Express, NH Tomahawks, etc. We love playing LI teams and others because they are incredible young lax players that are battle tested. And remember Crabs players compete in football, soccer, basketball, and wrestling as well. We are not a year round, no other sport kind of club and we like it that way. We don't believe that 12 and 13 year olds should specialize. Not a knock on Team 91 but it's a different philosophy. So maybe a couple hold backs actually levels the playing field considering some LI teams have considerably more practice and competitive time. At the end of the day you should visit the Crabs website and scroll to college commits. Those are real top d1 schools, giving real lax scholarships to many Crabs athletes. Do you really think college coaches care if you are 18 or 19 when you graduate. The proof is in the pudding. If your son is a strong laxer he would enjoy playing for Crabs...hold back or not. They are a great Club.

...So maybe a couple hold backs actually levels the playing field considering some LI teams have considerably more practice and competitive time. At the end of the day you should visit the Crabs website and scroll to college commits. Those are real top d1 schools, giving real lax scholarships to many Crabs athletes. Do you really think college coaches care if you are 18 or 19 when you graduate. The proof is in the pudding. If your son is a strong laxer he would enjoy playing for Crabs...hold back or not. They are a great Club.

Nice reasonable comment but way off base. If you think Ryan doesn't encourage holding your child back, you have never met him or heard him speak on subject. At last years youth tryouts he talked directly about it along with the disadvantage of having a younger child. That was from the horse's mouth!

If what you say is true and 2020 has three impact players on team that is one third of starting players excluding goalie. Got it ONE THIRD. Still leaves two more (according to you) to have a minor impact when subbed out there. Did you even think this reasoning out?

Crabs are gaming the youth system due to knowing that private school kids love to play for them. They get the majority of these holdback/pre-first children along with the public kids with private school aspirations. Very simple concept.

Crabs along with a couple other clubs have soiled YOUTH lacrosse for the majority of teams that play it. This talk about holdbacks will not go away as long as Crabs keep encouraging it at youth level. High School teams have always been grade base as they should be, get your advantage there. YOUTH should be age base. Not that hard to follow except for the select people that want an advantage over others.

By the logic above....all age appropriate kids that play for Crabs (many r more impact players then the hold backs), Loonies, Breakers, etc are cheaters and ruining the youth lacrosse experience for others. Wow...you people would die if your son wrestled. Many tournaments are straight weight...no age groups. Meaning a 10 year old can wrestle a 14 year old if they weigh the same. In Age group tournaments there can still be a 2 year gap. Toughen up a bit...your raising a bunch of excuse seekers. Summer Club teams are consistently different then Spring League teams and adding kids from different areas. Where have you been. Loonies 2020 has a FOGO from Florida. Breakers has 5-6 hold backs..FCA has same amount of hold backs. Go high jack there forum and tell them how they r ruining little Johnies lax experience because they are 13 and how they have to compete against a 14 year old.....imagine the horror.

By the logic above....all age appropriate kids that play for Crabs (many r more impact players then the hold backs), Loonies, Breakers, etc are cheaters and ruining the youth lacrosse experience for others. Wow...you people would die if your son wrestled. Many tournaments are straight weight...no age groups. Meaning a 10 year old can wrestle a 14 year old if they weigh the same. In Age group tournaments there can still be a 2 year gap. Toughen up a bit...your raising a bunch of excuse seekers. Summer Club teams are consistently different then Spring League teams and adding kids from different areas. Where have you been. Loonies 2020 has a FOGO from Florida. Breakers has 5-6 hold backs..FCA has same amount of hold backs. Go high jack there forum and tell them how they r ruining little Johnies lax experience because they are 13 and how they have to compete against a 14 year old.....imagine the horror.

So...you believe that Loonies, Breakers, FCA don't have hold backs. It's a fact, we know who they are. You keep telling yourself it's a Crabs thing if it makes you feel better.

Crabs game the system - the stunt they pulled at Beach Lax proves it. I hope they get their clocks cleaned on National TV by 91.

So...you believe that Loonies, Breakers, FCA don't have hold backs. It's a fact, we know who they are. You keep telling yourself it's a Crabs thing if it makes you feel better.

Please check out the Instagram account LACROSSEPOPO. Someone has clearly tired of the Crabs antics. Hilarious

The whole "holdbacks cheating" argument is ridiculous. First of all, whether you have the $$ to burn or not, you'd have to be an absolute idiot to drop an additional $25-$50K for an extra year of school so your son can get bigger/stronger/faster and play against younger kids to look better and hopefully get a D1 offer and a $5K a year scholarship if he's lucky.

However, with that said, no one is "cheating", like it or not. It's simple - if the league/club is GRADE-BASED (grad year 2020, 2019, etc.), and the players on that team are ACTUALLY GRADUATING IN THAT GRAD YEAR, it is what it is - whether they are 14 or 24. Does it suck? Absolutely! Is it fair? No, not really, but neither are a lot of other things in life, unfortunately. When my son, who's already big for his age, steps on the field and there is a 6'3" 13 year old out there with a beard, I just tell him "play your hardest - it will make you better against kids your own age". Fact is, though, even though it's ridiculous to hold kids back, they're not cheating if they are using kids of that grad year, no matter how old they are.

The whole "holdbacks cheating" argument is ridiculous. First of all, whether you have the $$ to burn or not, you'd have to be an absolute idiot to drop an additional $25-$50K for an extra year of school so your son can get bigger/stronger/faster and play against younger kids to look better and hopefully get a D1 offer and a $5K a year scholarship if he's lucky.

However, with that said, no one is "cheating", like it or not. It's simple - if the league/club is GRADE-BASED (grad year 2020, 2019, etc.), and the players on that team are ACTUALLY GRADUATING IN THAT GRAD YEAR, it is what it is - whether they are 14 or 24. Does it suck? Absolutely! Is it fair? No, not really, but neither are a lot of other things in life, unfortunately. When my son, who's already big for his age, steps on the field and there is a 6'3" 13 year old out there with a beard, I just tell him "play your hardest - it will make you better against kids your own age". Fact is, though, even though it's ridiculous to hold kids back, they're not cheating if they are using kids of that grad year, no matter how old they are.

Perhaps, but when the tournament rules say "placement on a grade-based team is dictated by the highest grade of any player on that team" and the team enters eighth-grade kids in the seventh grade age group, that is cheating.

Breaking the rules? No. Manipulating the system - absolutely. Crabs are no better than FCA, Breakers, Hawks etc. without holdbacks. In fact they barely squeak by them with Holdbacks.

Absolutely true - grade-based teams HAVE TO BE grade-based, but unfortunately not age based. Playing an 8th grader, who is enrolled in school in the 8th grade, on a 7th grade grad year team, is cheating and the team should immediately forfeit. That's not what everyone is talking about in these forums though (BTW - there is a holdback thread in every single place in this forum, not just Crabs). What most people are saying here is that "Crabs/Looneys/MadLax/FCA (you fill in the blank) are cheating because they have kids on the 2021/2020/2019/2018 team who are old enough to be in the next grade up but were held back in school so they can play with younger/smaller kids and excel". There is no question that is happening - everywhere. There is no question that it is encouraged by several clubs - it definitely is no matter what everyone says. It's just simply not cheating as a violation of the rules when you're playing with grade-based teams. I think it's complete BS, personally, and I love nothing more than when I see my son's team beat one of those cheating teams with four 6'3" 15 year old 2020 starters in a Braveheart (you know who you are - LOL) despite their best efforts to game the system. Unfortunately, though, even though they'll be driving themselves to practice in 8th grade, they are on the LEGALLY CORRECT GRADE BASED team.

Understood, I've been here for months now so I appreciate the difference. So basically, they have poor character and they cheat.

By the logic above....all age appropriate kids that play for Crabs (many r more impact players then the hold backs), Loonies, Breakers, etc are cheaters and ruining the youth lacrosse experience for others. Wow...you people would die if your son wrestled. Many tournaments are straight weight...no age groups. Meaning a 10 year old can wrestle a 14 year old if they weigh the same. In Age group tournaments there can still be a 2 year gap. Toughen up a bit...your raising a bunch of excuse seekers. Summer Club teams are consistently different then Spring League teams and adding kids from different areas. Where have you been. Loonies 2020 has a FOGO from Florida. Breakers has 5-6 hold backs..FCA has same amount of hold backs. Go high jack there forum and tell them how they r ruining little Johnies lax experience because they are 13 and how they have to compete against a 14 year old.....imagine the horror.

The whole "holdbacks cheating" argument is ridiculous. First of all, whether you have the $$ to burn or not, you'd have to be an absolute idiot to drop an additional $25-$50K for an extra year of school so your son can get bigger/stronger/faster and play against younger kids to look better and hopefully get a D1 offer and a $5K a year scholarship if he's lucky.

However, with that said, no one is "cheating", like it or not. It's simple - if the league/club is GRADE-BASED (grad year 2020, 2019, etc.), and the players on that team are ACTUALLY GRADUATING IN THAT GRAD YEAR, it is what it is - whether they are 14 or 24. Does it suck? Absolutely! Is it fair? No, not really, but neither are a lot of other things in life, unfortunately. When my son, who's already big for his age, steps on the field and there is a 6'3" 13 year old out there with a beard, I just tell him "play your hardest - it will make you better against kids your own age". Fact is, though, even though it's ridiculous to hold kids back, they're not cheating if they are using kids of that grad year, no matter how old they are.

Absolutely true - grade-based teams HAVE TO BE grade-based, but unfortunately not age based. Playing an 8th grader, who is enrolled in school in the 8th grade, on a 7th grade grad year team, is cheating and the team should immediately forfeit. That's not what everyone is talking about in these forums though (BTW - there is a holdback thread in every single place in this forum, not just Crabs). What most people are saying here is that "Crabs/Looneys/MadLax/FCA (you fill in the blank) are cheating because they have kids on the 2021/2020/2019/2018 team who are old enough to be in the next grade up but were held back in school so they can play with younger/smaller kids and excel". There is no question that is happening - everywhere. There is no question that it is encouraged by several clubs - it definitely is no matter what everyone says. It's just simply not cheating as a violation of the rules when you're playing with grade-based teams. I think it's complete BS, personally, and I love nothing more than when I see my son's team beat one of those cheating teams with four 6'3" 15 year old 2020 starters in a Braveheart (you know who you are - LOL) despite their best efforts to game the system. Unfortunately, though, even though they'll be driving themselves to practice in 8th grade, they are on the LEGALLY CORRECT GRADE BASED team.

how about when the Crabs approached parents and asking them to keep the child back a year? is that cheating?

T91 just beat a team 30 to 0 in Denver. Crabs won by 2.

T91 just beat a team 30 to 0 in Denver. Crabs won by 2.

T91 just beat a team 30 to 0 in Denver. Crabs won by 2.