US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM MadLax Lacrosse

Look, if you have a high school son hanging on to the status of being on a good club team, sorry to burst bubbles but that means nothing to kids who are playing to get reps and get better. Our son plays 1 event last summer with Sweetlax as well. 3D has some top guys coaching and very good players who will also be very good college players want to get reps and want critical input from top coaches. We get both at 3D for a good price when our son wants to or can fit in tournaments with them.

Frankly he used to be on one of the three clubs debated here as the #1 for his class. Being on a good club team is fine until it isn't a fit anymore. 3D has a model to accommodate that. We're ok going home without a tshirt or a ribbon saying you won the Aloha or the Autumn tournament. Different needs is all. I

Thank you! You made my point for me. I see 1 or 2 kids just like you described playing for all the clubs not called VLC or Madlax. And this is a shame. Those 1 or 2 kids are missing out playing at the highest level and the kids on the bottom of the VLC and Madlax rosters think they are better players then they are. I am just pushing for a real gauge of the best to worst NOVA clubs and begging people to put their kids where their skills deserve to be. I am also asking for the public high school coaches to push the best players to the top clubs not the clubs run by their friends. We all want the NOVA lacrosse seen to be better and this is the formula to make it happen. If AA kids play AA and A kids play A and B kids play B they all get pushed and get better. My dream is one day a club owner of a low A or B club goes to the parent of a stud player and say you should go play for VLC or Madax he is to good for us. I would respect that man above all others.

3d and the guys running it are the biggest scams in the country. They are raping parents all over the nation with overinflated fees, and the 3d Blue Chip thing is beyond disgusting.

3d raised $7 million in venture capital 2 years ago. Their model is keeping those VCs happy, not the parents.

Thanks for sharing stuck in high school Rob Lowe.

I realize this is a club lacrosse board, but two things. #1 agree on the Jamie Munro corporate sales mentality...but locally the guys here run a good program and are flexible with people...which is appreciated and is not the case with most other clubs. #2 I personally root for the demise of club lacrosse past 8th grade. I disagree on doing a couple super teams. So many kids play and the summers should be all comers tournaments where 200 kids that sign up are allotted onto teams and just play round robin for 2 days.

Great players are just that, and they are not that because of their club teams. And the strongest players should be playing a lot of game situational volume when they are not training, and being able to play on reshuffled rosters. A lot of early commits in this area haven't gotten any better with their clubs for precisely this reason. When a player among familiar players he can glide and hide. The best middie on Madlax is the best middie on the field of he switched pinnies and was the best middie on the field while playing on the other team. Elite basketball is like this. The best players go to events, get shuffled around on new combos of teams and then play. What rises to the top then really is cream.

From 3d Pacific 2020 Madlax Fall Fest Recap . . .

“We stood up to the challenge and earned victories over ML-Maryland-2019 (8-4) & ML-Capital-2020 (9-6) again, and witnessed some clear frustration from the ML-Capital 2020 coaching staff, as they chose NOT to shake our hands after the game (at least their players did!)”

Anyone at the game and aware of Madlax coaches snub? What gives? Not much leading by example.

Boorish and uncalled for in youth sports, but if true I am not surprised.

My son's HS team played in the Madlax tournament on Sunday and I talked to a guy from outside the area whose son played in the Showcase on Saturday and on a Showcase team in the Sunday team tournament.

He said Madlax is a complete scam. Said there were no coaches at the games except the ones paid to give a short speech. Competition consisted of a few really good players and mostly average to bad ones. Again, no coaches were watching their games.

On Sunday, he was one one of the 4 free agent teams made of up kids who were at the Saturday event. Those teams went 0-12 against DMV HS teams. The website says those Madlax free agent teams were outscored 153-15.

He said he paid $400 plus airfare, hotel and food. He was not happy.

w0w.. He said a lot, huh?

Well once again please give a better option when you talk crap about something. If you could not get in the Philly showcase this weekend where else would you be at. There was coaches watching I saw them all. They said 35 or so on Sat this is true i counted close to that. As for sunday they did not want to have 4 showcase teams but the Hun school dropped out last week which made 2 slots open. So they wanted the top 44 they had to take 88 from Sat. to fill the slots for Sunday. So blame Hun school for dropping out of a tournament 4 days or so before it happens.

We were at Leigh two weeks ago. The tournament announcer came on over the loud speaker and said over 40 college coaches were there but according to NCAA rules they are not allowed to talk to any kids or parents. LOL. I started laughing as the tournament director can get a few of his buddies together with a few college sweatshirts and a clip board and look legit. Pay each friend $200 to $300 cash and a case a beer to stand at the field and look important for a few hours. Done deal. Tournament a success. I would bet dollars to donuts this is going on all the time.

Who is talking crap? Those things happened and those kids got a pretty awful experience. My son's team played one of them and it was the worst collection of kids I've seen in a long time.

Do you get paid every time you run here to defend this club? How can you defend four teams getting killed like that? If they were going to go from 2 to 4, they should at least refund the Sunday fees. And if one HS dropped out, doesn't that mean there were going to be 3 teams originally?

Well during the coaches speech at the Madlax showcase they talked about how you have to reach out to them with a video and say you want to play there. I think at this thing they really only looked at the kids who reached out to them and they saw the highlight tape and just wanted to compare in real life. I am sure they where not really looking at every kid unless they really stuck out. And they are not aloud to talk to you in this setting. The NCAA is crazy with their rules

Hun was bring two teams

I do not get paid but when you say things bad about something they do without giving a better option it gets on my nerves. And everyone who signed up for sunday new what they where getting into. The teams where there for everyone to see. Small town kids and public school kids got to see first hand what that level of ball looked like. Did they get killed yes they did but they will go back to work knowing what top level lacrosse looks like. I bet those kids will think about those 3 games when they think they practices hard enough or worked out hard enough to play in college. And once again this was a Fall showcase tournament not summer.

3D pays coaches $400-$500 to attend. Balt Summer Kickoff does same, I am sure NXT does as well. It is a money making venture for all except parents...but where else can you get seen? Pick your poison and deal with it

A better idea is this: skip the drama and drivel over who is watching. Get 6 local prep and public teams and do a round robin with two three team brackets, then a seeded third game and go home. A lot I don't know but I do know this: the going rate for turn fields is about $110 an hour. Schools like Landon and Prep will also host at very accommodative rates when their teams are involved.

There. That's something better. Or get the clubs all together for a one day fall event under that same condition: Madlax, VLC, Blackwolf, FCA, then round our with 3D and maybe Annapolis Hawks. All those are nearby.

Oh but wait...I forgot, the clubs are all too petty and scared to play each other because then there is a risk they and the kids they are selling might lose and look bad.

Hun was bringing one team and cancelled a month ago. I know the coach and that is accurate.

Last fall the 2018 Crabs, FCA and Team 91 played each other at Hopkins in front of coaches with no expense at all. Two games, top flight competition, no cost! Now not every club gain garner the attention or have the clout of those three teams, but I don't know why that is not done more often without padding someone's pocket being the only motivation.

I will agree lots of things are done for profit. But I also think the top teams do play each other in the fall and summer. I do think they try to keep out new comers when they first start no matter how good the teams are. But the top teams play a good bit in my eyes for sure. How many times has Crabs played Madlax in the last 12 months. I would say 3 times. How many times has Madlax played sweetlax or Hawks or WCS or FCA I would say they all played each other 1 to 3 times if not more. And these top teams need to go out and crush the smaller clubs once and a while to show the parents what they are missing. LOL

All day long kids want to play their local rival clubs. Seems idiotic to me that these club guys can just be civil with each other, rent a field and just do a round robin like that. Do it often, 2-3 times in fall, again in summer. Game reps are great for the kids and for team morale. We have so many strong club organizations locally, it is just a disgrace everything needs to be a hit and run showcase event. As prior poster noted, I doubt the NCAA coaches are too enthralled with the product they are seeing like the Landon event yesterday. Judging from the body language, these NCAA coaches just seem to be trudging through just because this crap is all that they are being fed. The only game in town argument is a bad one in support of this.

Is this a serious post? You really think the tournaments have people impersonating coaches from colleges? You obviously have no idea how this process works do you?

Why would it "get on your nerves" if someone pointed out that those kids had a crappy experience?


Not all of those kids came from non-hotbed areas. Some play against great competition with their club or HS teams. Some live in the DMV. I'm sure none of them were happy with their experience, which wasn't what was advertised.

I can agree if you where a soph to sr. and on a showcase team it must of been a really hard day for you. But when i looking over the coahces shoulder and read their notebooks I did not see them write down a single score of a game. They are looking at it play by play. Kid by kid. So if you are winning by 20 and walk after a ground ball you still look bad. And if you are losing by 20 and you bust your butt and run 100 miles a hour through a ground ball you will look great. The coaches are not dumb they can see talent if its there no matter the score or who your teamates are. You just have to be in front of them to be seen. Also looking at the clubs the kids in the showcase play for. These kids would be locked out of any play day with the top local clubs. So when you save 500$ playing for a low A or B club you will be stuck paying the 250$ to be seen at more showcases. Pay the club to be on the team or pay the showcase guy to play in his showcase. And you are going to say I saw Madlax kids all over the list. And you are correct but 90% for from the state teams not the Capital teams.

There were maybe two coaches there on Sunday. The couple that were there were not watching any games that were 15-0.

If there were just two of those Showcase teams, then maybe they could have been competitive in a game. But dividing them into four teams wasted everyone's time. They should have refunded at least some of the money, but that would be doing the right thing.

I saw with my own eyes the head coach of UVA Don S watching a game with a showcase team. He was all wrapped up and by himself but I said hi to him to confirm it was him. Once again you should of played in philly but our sons are not good enough to get that invite. Sorry

That is pretty interesting, because on Sunday I sat with the Starsias at the UVA women's soccer game.

Sunday sir I saw him sunday

My son played with his HS team. Even if he was bad or desperate enough to pay and attend that weak Saturday event, there is no way I would let anyone play for one of those Showcase teams.

Is there anything Madlax related you won't apologize for?

I do not apologize for them I try to give a counter point to most peoples clear hate for the club because there kid got cut. Also I try to ask for you people who can say this sucks and that sucks but none of you really give better options. Did anyone go to that Maverick showcase last weekend? Anyone want to say if that was good or bad or what. I know I saw people posting about it somewhere else talking about the MEE ball and no one is passing. Same as all showcases events. So if you want to talk crap about Madlax please do but also please give another better option the whatever you are saying is bad.

If an event is terrible or not what was advertised, are people not allowed to complain? Complaining that the Showcase Teams had a miserable experience is complaint about the event, not necessarily about the club. Regardless of what other options there may have been, that event was a disaster and people are allowed to vent.

Are you really that dense?

Please vent and complain but please say where and what these kids should of done. I agree the 4 teams plan failed.

Once again you show that you don't know how to read. If those kids got the experience advertised on the website, there are no complaints. The number of coaches on Saturday and Sunday was nowhere near what was advertised. And nstead of two Showcase teams, they were diluted into 4 terrible ones.

The right thing to do would be to give those families some type of refund.

Well when it comes to what coaches where their. They posted after the event what coaches came with first and last names and school. So I am sure they are crazy but not stupid enough to lie about that. The coaches might of hung back or only watched one or two games or anything. But They did not set up a coaches only seating section like some other tournaments. Maybe they will do that next year so you can count and confirm them yourself. But to the second point I am sure if you caught them in a room alone they would say the 4 teams idea did not work out. So where should these kids been that sunday? So what are your thoughts about Sat?

My thoughts? Those people had an awful time on Sun and Sat wasn't that great. Give the kids on the 4 Showcase teams a a partial refund. The money that club would lose would be more than made up for in goodwill and publicity.

Ok got it but where should they have been answer that question sir. I give you Sunday was a bad idea should give people their money back. What about these 350$ invites I am getting to these colleges. Should these be any better. This one was at least close to me.

You missed the point Frances. This could happen very easily and I am sure it does. Please give us a lesson on how things work in your world. Fairies and sugar plumbs. A lady flying in with her umbrella giving college scholarships to your super D1 7th grader. LOL.

Please for the love of God just give better options to whatever you are calling crap. That is all I ask of any of you. If Madlax suck say who is better. If the showcase sucks say so but say witch showcase you should attend. If a tournament sucks say so but then say which tournament you should attend that same weekend. I like to talk crap as much as the next guy but I also come here to hear all the options and what people think is a better option. And if your option is to just play Rec say so.

You missed the point again. Is this mic on?? My point has nothing to do with Madlax but more to do with showcases in general. The propensity to falsify the college coaches numbers if any exists. Go to all your showcases but I can tell you the likelihood of charlatans running these invitational is high. (just nature of humans and profit seeking) An example of this is the Mount Saint Mary's prospect day. Many kids go but the HC does not know any of them and often does not show up. The assistants drive this as a money maker for the school. The kids are strung along until they wake up. This happens all the colleges. I guess my point is make sure your kid wants to go to these showcases, make sure you can afford nothing coming out of it, make sure you kid knows he may be put on a [lacrosse] team and lose every game, and make sure you going for the experience and not the promise. Just a reality check. Keep the grades up as no money in lax and D1 does not give a full ride. D3 with merit is the best deal. Most hotbed high level kids can walk on. (at least my kid did)

Well the good news is you just got my point. You gave your thoughts and another option. I now know you are not Pro showcase event. I understand your point for sure. But listening to the coaches talk at this last event it really comes down to you picking schools you want to play at and up to you hitting them up to let them know this. Then hoping one of the schools you want, want you. And these play days and showcases are where they can see you play to confirm if they want you or not. But I get for a fact that you can not just show up at these things and hope they find you. Unless you are the best kid at the showcase. I think it comes down to if you are in the top 10% of your class they will find you and do all the work for you. But for the other 90% of each class you have to bug the schools you want to go to until they say they want you or go away.

Agree. I guess now it is time for a Beer. Cheers. (sorry about the language, should have said Crappy team.)