US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Maryland, D.C., Virginia Fall 2015 Summer 2016 Lacrosse

Thanks for the info. So the 2020 team has lots of new players and they are still at 24. I know they carried a lot last year. Where did they new players come from and where did the old ones go. Also by reading your post there does not seem to be any open spots on either team 2020 or 2019? This is a hard age to change clubs. I think I will have to ride it out with my club.

VLC holds tryouts for the whole year in the Fall - that being said, I know they entertain individual tryouts depending on the circumstances. So, for instance, they need a 2nd goalie or an extra pole, etc. I would inquire with the coaching staff at VLC.

It is true the team needs to gel - on both sides of the ball. Lots of new kids, very limited practices. I'm not sure about Next Level, but kids came from Club Blue, Cavs and I believe Madlax. A few kids who played up on 2019 last year remained as well. Overall, a good base of talent, just have to get reps in.

I will be very interested to see how this spring works out I think the top of the 2020 class in NOVA is way to spread out. Most years 10 of the top 15 players find there way on to one team. But it feels like the top 15 kids in NOVA are spread out between 5 or 6 teams. So my guess would be that no team from the NOVA area will win anything at the 2020 class. Just look at the success of VLC 2017, Madlax 2019, These years the top players found a way to end up on the same team.

I agree. Good analysis on all points. Northern Va is tough....very few choices for youth to get quality lax without a myriad of undesirable factors. There are very few quality rec programs, but there ARE a few in the area which complicates things because a quality rec program is an exceptional value....about $250 vice $2000+. Madlax is comprehensive, but is a LOT of $$$ and Maddux's issues don't help, both of which hurt the club at the high school level. VLC just does not have the coaches at the youth level to provide a quality club-only model like one sees in Maryland. They DO excel at the high school level though as witnessed by their 2015 and 2017 teams, mostly because they are very consistent, they get kids good quality looks in front of quality college coaches, and they put a very good face on their organization (website, Facebook, quality coaches, etc). I think 2020 VLC may very well follow that model. One can never count out Trig though and you are right, he is not for everyone....some kids respond well to that and some don't. Madlax just seems to have a hard time in that year group, probably due in part to the unforgettable email and partly because it's a thin year group. Time will tell, but those 3 are really the only game in town in northern Va for club lax.

I agree. Good analysis on all points. Northern Va is tough....very few choices for youth to get quality lax without a myriad of undesirable factors. There are very few quality rec programs, but there ARE a few in the area which complicates things because a quality rec program is an exceptional value....about $250 vice $2000+. Madlax is comprehensive, but is a LOT of $$$ and Maddux's issues don't help, both of which hurt the club at the high school level. VLC just does not have the coaches at the youth level to provide a quality club-only model like one sees in Maryland. They DO excel at the high school level though as witnessed by their 2015 and 2017 teams, mostly because they are very consistent, they get kids good quality looks in front of quality college coaches, and they put a very good face on their organization (website, Facebook, quality coaches, etc). I think 2020 VLC may very well follow that model. One can never count out Trig though and you are right, he is not for everyone....some kids respond well to that and some don't. Madlax just seems to have a hard time in that year group, probably due in part to the unforgettable email and partly because it's a thin year group. Time will tell, but those 3 are really the only game in town in northern Va for club lax.

I don't think it ever hurts to tryout and see. Sometimes it may impact your kid's confidence and/or well being, but it's always good to take a look see. Leaving is more complicated because the aforementioned "brand loyalty" is a factor. Your kid has friends and is comfortable in a given situation and the coaches know him and he is getting quality playing time. Why mess with a good thing? You should also factor in the clubs involvement with HS teams/schools and colleges if that's a concern. It would suck to switch and go from a being a starter to a sub behind an equal or lesser player who has simply been there longer and has the coach's trust (or will play for that coach at his HS team). On the other hand, if the kid would shine in higher play and better competition, then that would be great. It just depends. Club wise, there are no Blackwolf tryouts....he wil find you...part of the "mystique". VLC is pretty loyal to past players and is tied in pretty close to Paul VI....they are also less instructive than the others. Madlax is a known quantity, but I get the sense that there is at least some loyalty to past players as well. I don't think any "rule" applies....it just depends on the kid, his goals, and what grad year team he is on.

Disagree about VLC's youth coaches. Both of those guys are excellent coaches and role models. From what I see, VLC suffers because they don't have a U9 and U11 team, so they usually don't have strong 7th grade teams because the best players have been locked up. That's why their MS teams usually aren't that great, but their HS teams are strong because the talent pool gets bigger.

Same with Blackwolf.

Re: 2020 Talent Spread

I think there is a combination of issues. A top one is brand loyalty - for whatever reason a few kids have fallen in love (and vice versa) with their club. If so and so is the star of the show and gets what he needs, why move? If so and so does not need to pay full freight for his current club, why move? If I live in NOVA, why go another 20 miles for lax when the training is fine here?

BW is tough. He's a great coach and very demanding. There are parents that are too afraid to even approach him about their son plus the mystique.

BW and VLC suffer from a lack of training and playing (tournaments after the spring). VLC is the step-child for the Crabs but may provide an opportunity for NLF, WYSL, etc. that other clubs cannot. However, without the muscle down here to find fields and invested in improving the teams, the players do not get the repetition they would get at Next Level, Club Blue or Madlax.

Thoughts?

VLC mystique? That is actually very funny. They've had two good HS teams in the past 5 years. For a while in some grades it was easy to poach kids in middle school from other clubs based on rec team friendships or school ties. But that is a hard model to sustain and it is fair to say it didn't sustain at VLC. The lack of resources to hire more non parent coaches for middle school teams and the complete absence of youth teams makes it impossible. I would wager the real competition to Madlax is the revamped Next Level club.

I can understand all of this post. But as a guy who has had 2 sons play for Madlax for many years. They play who they think is the best and keep the kids they think are the best. You can look at the Capital teams rosters and see where the kids go to high school. They keep Public school kids over Private all the time. I have seen kids be there top FOGO for 4 years and if a kid comes along better he plays. I think this is one of the main reasons there is such hate for Madlax out in the other clubs. Along with the Crazy owner we know we know.

Next level is well above Madlax in 2020.

Hate for Madlax because they play the best players? Are you saying Madlax is unique in that respect? Please. Every club plays the best players possible (at least BW and VLC do). That is not something unique to Madlax.

I have an eldest son who played Madlax throughout, a younger son who did both Madlax and VLC and have several friends with kids in the VLC program right now, and your post has several inaccuracies.

VLC has had several very good teams.

2014 - VLC was better than Madlax (we saw it firsthand)
2015 - VLC was much better than Madlax
2016 - VLC was better than Madlax
2017 - VLC is much better than Madlax
2018 - Madlax is the better team (though someone said that team is breaking apart, but no idea if that's true)
2019 - Madlax has a much better team

So in six classes, VLC had a better team than Madlax four times.

Unlike BW, VLC has never poached any kids. Where did you get that?

Do you realize that 3 of these 6 teams are no longer a team. So with the 3 left the one VLC team are playing there last games this summer. So that leaves two Madlax teams as better then VLC. So this tells me Madlax will be clearly better. Also those teams you have listed as better then Madlax have several players who used to play for Madlax.

For 2020 - the year in the thread regarding the BW mystique (definitely not VLC), Madlax Orange/Capital is better than VLC but not by much. The Next Level infusion has not happened as it has previous year to shore up Madlax.

Another factor is that four guys are playing for BW 2019 so have jumped ship earlier than normal.

No. My son plays for Madlax 2020, and even we know that Madlax is third in this area behind Next Level and VLC. For whatever reason, Madlax doesn't have a grip on the 2020s in this area.

Madlax 2021 was really good a few years ago and then just vanished. Odd. They were really great competition for some of the AA teams in the area.

Madlax 2022 is one of best teams in US

They are so good that they came in third in the league last year and got humiliated by newby 3D at their own fall tournament!

2022 discussion best left until after summer tournaments....

Very good point with this age bracket it is best to wait tell after summer. The summer team is the full real team 99% of the time.

HoCo spring season will definitely identify the best in DMV. HoCo has great fields and great refs. You can't say that about the vast majority of summer tournaments. Summer Tourneys also have tons of guest players. You never know who will be in the line up one tournament to the next for a club - especially those clubs that have operations in other cities and can easily bring them in with the uniform already in place.

HoCo spring season will definitely identify the best in DMV. HoCo has great fields and great refs. You can't say that about the vast majority of summer tournaments. Summer Tourneys also have tons of guest players. [b]You never know who will be in the line up one tournament to the next for a club - especially those clubs that have operations in other cities and can easily bring them in with the uniform already in place. [/b]