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

I said club/showcases if you look at the earlier post. But Rowlett. Is so good he would of been found if he was playing in the park at 8pm with no lights on.

Is Madlax enjoying success at any level at this point?

Well the 2019 team is top 3 in the US hands down and 2018 is top 10 for sure. 2022 and 2024 are good teams and we will see if they can build up to great. 2020 and 2021 are the weak ones at this time 2020 can only hope these summer tryouts bring some talent out to help. And the funny thing is when people talk around about Madlax being down it makes more people decide to tryout. 2019 year had smaller and smaller tryouts because the word was out they where to good and there was no spots.

The 2019 team is very good right now. The 2018s used to be very good as well, but many kids have either quit or moved to other clubs. They struggled this past fall. 2020 and 2021 is definitely weak.

Not sure your other statement is correct. 2020 was down the prior year, and both NL and VLC saw stronger turnouts.

To be honest with you what is hurting Madlax is the rise of Next Level. They have kids that would of played Madlax 1-4 years ago.

3D coming to town didn't help either.

I can see they took 1 or 3 players an age group but those team are not very good. The NL teams 2019,2020, 2021 are pretty good. 4 years ago NL was the starter club for the young kids. Now they have solid to really good older teams

I have a call to all Madlax Parents. We as a group from 2017 down to 2024 need to do something to clean up the image of our owner. I was at a college game the other day and was talking to a Dad of a U9 age player. He asked me about my son and who he played for in the summer. I told him Madlax and we have played there for a number of years. His first sentence was "is that the club with the owner and the email." I spent the next 5 mins in line talking him down and explaining why this story is still out there at all times. At the time of the email when the owner decided to say nothing and hope it just went away I new it was a bad idea. And now what 4 years or even 5 years later its still on the mind of a U9 dad. I explained to him that the other coaches in this program are all great guys who know the game as well as anyone. And I explained the other side of the email story that was not posted on the site. All must remember that the deadspin article only had the emails from our owner to him. They left out all emails and phone calls from this father back to him. But I move on. This issue needs to have a end. How it ends I do not know. I am aware this gives a opening for the others to chime in and call the owner all kinds of names. But us Madlax parents need to be proactive in talking up letting people now we are still the best option in NOVA emails or not.

Good luck Madlax parent trying to clean up the image of your owner. Its too late. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. The word is out on what "could" happen to a player on Madlax regardless of who's right/wrong. Probably both sides are a little to blame. But what parent would want to risk exposing their kid to such craziness. The better players (2020/2021/2022/2023/etc.) at most of the local prep schools (Landcon/Mater Dei/St Albans/Sidwell) are all choosing other programs such as Next Level, Crabs, FCA, BL and probably 3D as they build a base in the mid atlantic. Without participation from these schools, kids who practice/play 5 days a week as well as play for their club team Madlax will continue to slide. Guess its a good lesson for young kids and social media, once its out there it out there for life.

Agree with this post and the movement to other clubs, but what is happening to Club Blue?

Parent of a middle schooler at Landon. No middle school kid there that I know of plays for any Capital team. The reputation among the Landon community is that the Madlax owner is poison, and the parent group think is that they want no part of it. By saying this, I am not saying that Landon is anything special, I am just saying that the school is hyper-lacrosse aware, and there is a strong anti-Landon bias that I don't see going away. The email is part of it, but only a part. That owner does jerky things over and over again. It is really ironic because it is clear that the Madlax owner really wants an association with Landon, tries to get the Landon fields for his program, but the middle school community just wants no part of him or the program. BTW most Landon middle schoolers have chosen Next Level, Bethesda and to a lesser extent Club Blue.

I must agree there was several Landon kids on Madlax in the past. I hate to say it but NL stepped right in after the email and jumped all over it and got those kids who would play for Madlax. I would love for the owner to find a real partner and give up control and apologize for all the dumb things he has done in the past. I think he is a great coach no matter what some say. He just should never be aloud to write a email ever again.

Wasn't the kid the email sent to a kid going to Landon. That might have something to do with the rep. Reap what you sow.

"But us Madlax parents need to be proactive in talking up letting people now we are still the best option in NOVA emails or not."

Obviously you are entitled to your opinion but this is a really strange statement to make (and I'm not talking about grammatical and spelling errors). In my opinion, it sounds very dated to say that Madlax is the best option in NOVA. Times have changed, and there are other options that are looking more and more attractive every year. The best advertising for a program is word of mouth from kids and parents who have experience with the program. You shouldn't have to start a campaign to convince people that Madlax is the "best option" - word of mouth should take care of that, if that's the case. In my opinion, the key is to find good coaching for your son, wherever that may be. If your son is a good player and has a positive relationship with his coach, good things will happen.

Well besides the jab at my spelling and grammar I agree with your point for sure. Madlax should not have to be proactive about the good sides of there team. But there is a very clear campaign to bad mouth and talk people out of playing for Madlax. I agree a teams play should speak for itself. But its very clear the parents of kids who where cut or upset by our owner are making it there life mission to kill the club

Sorry about the cheap jab - couldn't resist

As someone said, you reap what you sow. Basically what you are asking people to do is to ignore Cabel's past transgressions and sign up to pay him thousands of dollars to teach and mentor their children. Good luck with that. Sometimes people make mistakes they can't recover from. When you run a business predicated on servicing families, trashing your customers is probably not wise.

Anyone that plays for Madlax now gets into it knowing what happened and that is their choice. You aren't going to convince people that feel that he isn't the man to be in any way affiliated with their child otherwise.

I agree it was not a good look but it was several years ago. He has boys playing now he is very miss understood. Those emails where a verbal fight back and forth between two adults. He never tracked down the kid and said anything with malice to him. Go back and read the emails and see how there is large gaps in the timeline and they only posted his emails to the dad not the emails back to him. Once again not a good look but if Barry Bonds has a job coaching I think we can let this die. I think there is some line about he who throws the first stone. I am sure someone can find it for me. I think at this point it starting to say more about the people trying to kill his club then the him for his bone headed choice.

Who cares. All the dominant clubs are down because of market saturation.

What makes you think people are "trying to kill his club"? That sounds a bit paranoid. I think people are probably just moving on and making other choices on their own. I don't think there's any need to have a grand plot to destroy the guy. He's doing it all on his own.

Competing clubs are continuously bad mouthing each other in the Baltimore area - not exclusive to Madlax.

This might be the saddest post ever. Let's tackle it one at a time.



Think about what you are typing. If you have to rally Madlax parents via the Internet in order to disguise/clean up the image of the owner you give your money to, what does that really say about him (as well as you?)



The story is out there because this is not an isolated episode. He has does this via phone, text, email, and in person many times. I know families with multiple kids and chose to withdraw one kid and leave one kid with Madlax because they thought it was the best for both kids, and the owner kicked out the other kid, leaving the family scrambling. You want that person to play for Madlax because it makes you feel better about the choice you made.



I'm sure Madlax has some great coaches; so do other clubs. Does that somehow obscure the fact that the owner THREATENS kids and parents who leave? I mean, who does that?



Even if the family was loathsome, nothing justifies threatening people, encouraging Madlax kids to take it out on the kid, threatening to call Landon (as if that would do anything), etc. Nothing justifies that.



How about you let people reach out to YOU to ask your opinion? Or let people make up their own minds.

Some people apparently are willing to hold their nose and give this guy their money. Everyone should do what they think is best. But in terms of cost, Madlax is 50% more for no reason, so some people don't like that. Some people are focused on clubs like Blackwolf and VLC which have just as good, if not better, college placement, so some people are not going to play for Madlax.

The guy treats people like dirt. Your call if you want to support that.

How about the owner this past spring very actively recruiting the Next Level team players en masse to defect to his 2020 team after he had already selected his 2020 team. Nice commitment to the 25+ kids who stuck with him.

And this my friends is a example of the people I am talking about. They are going out of there way to talk anyone and everyone out of playing for Madlax. Hence why I asked the Madlax parents to be proactive in defending the club. If there was not guys like this guy Madlax parents would not have to be proactive in there support. And to his statement about VLC and Blackwolf these clubs are no where near choir boys with how there owners act and behave on the side lines and on the practice fields. So as a Madlax parent I will own we have the craziest owner but for any VLC or Blackwolf parent to try and say they are playing for the POPE I call full BS. These are the top three programs in NOVA and the best kids should and will play for them. I am fine with Madlax being the third at some ages out of these three clubs. But I can not and should not just let people just bash and bash a complete club because a crazy dad new the Deadspin email address.

Madlax has 3 tryouts a year everyone on Madlax knows they are always and should always be looking to improve the teams. That is why I picked Madlax. They just do not stick with a kid for 4 years because the dad is nice and helps bring snacks for the game. Once again this is all written out on the website no smoke and mirrors.

Madlax also has a dad coaching his own son's team. That is ridiculous.

And it's one thing to always be trying to improve the team. It's another to be texting players (not parents), especially after they've opted not to play for Madlax. Yet another lunatic move by the owner (and it wasn't just NL kids).

Are you serious????

Nobody is going out of their way spreading rumors or propaganda against Madlax. If a parent asks me what I think of the club, I give my honest answer. There aren't parents of other clubs walking around HoCo or rec leagues saying "pssst ... Madlax sucks and the owner is an egomaniac who only cares about furthering his business and interests".

My son plays for a different club, but I know several parents and kids who play on 2020 or have played with Madlax in the past. If you think Madlax is the best fit for your kid, good for you and more power to you. I chose not to give my money to the club, for reasons many have written here in the past. The current actions of the owner also speaks volume, but if you want to spin it as it was better for the club to not play in HoCo cause of these play dates go for it. All I hear is frustration and lots of questions ... I'm sure turnover will be coming in the Fall.

Yeah, Madlax is fond of Instagram and direct messages to recruit ...

He is coaching his kids on a 2024 team. How many Dads on this site have coached there sons team at this age? I am guessing tons. And I am sure the parents on the 2020 team where pushing him to improve the talent on the Madlax 2020 team. So I am guessing they like he was trying hard to full fill his promise of a top 5 Team in the country.

Cabell Maddox is a bad guy. We all get that. HOWEVER...

VLC's owner is the most vile person in youth sports. He's profane, arrogant and vindictive. He's also the guy who single handedly steered the NPYLL league and Aloha/Crabs tournaments to be the first non-US lacrosse sanctioned lacrosse league and events, which opened the floodgates to serial reclassifying. Crabs basically pioneered the holdback game and their owner is a notorious poacher of other club team players and is a ruthless negative recruiter with to anyone after a kid/family leave his organization. Our family experienced watching his overloading the whole Madlax kid defecting to VLC drama...all over what was adding a very average player to a loaded VLC team with a side deal to hype the kid and get him committed.

Blackwolf -- how many Blackwolf parents actually personally like and respect Trig? None I've known and I've known dozens. Most families stay te course with Blackwolf because they promote kids to colleges well.

Next Level -- Dave's good people and he's a good coach. I hope NL parents have the sense to stay on and trust he will get it done.

3d -- love all the anti Spencer and Steven cheap shots. Ya, everyone HATES those guys. Everybody except the 3d families who have had their kids learn from these two guys who are good guys and deal straight with people. They're also the most accomplished and knowledgeable lacrosse people in the area. Try me again, where were Trig, Ryan and Cabell D1 AAs and also MLL All Stars? Kind of pathetic mommies and daddies postin here would talk some smack on them. But wait...Spencer used to coach Crabs and a few moms didn't like it wen he yelled at their snowflakes! My dear, the trauma! The humanity!

Love how you conveniently inter mix coaches and owners just to take a shot at VLC. Nice. Very few people at VLC get to know Ryan, let alone care about what he does with the Crabs.

Ryan only collects the checks from VLC. That club has some good teams, but has faded out. The 2015 team was phenomenal. The 2017 team started out phenomenal until families stated leaving when King Crab's ugly influence started coming down. The better local clubs are developing youth players.

Who said anything about Insta or DMs? The owner texts kids who opt for other teams. It's only thing to bad mouth other clubs via text. It's a really creepy thing to text children trying to convince them to play for Madlax.

I was not there but the only way he could of got the kids personal phone numbers is if the parents put those numbers on the tryout form. So if your child got a text from him is there a chance he thought it was a parent he was texting?

Also kids this age are calling college coaches and talking about this early verbal commits. But a club coach can not text these same kids???

Wow. Are you saying it's ok for a grown adult to text KIDS asking them to come play for him? Especially kids who went to his tryout and decided to play elsewhere?

Now I understand why you have no problem paying/playing for that guy.

I guess I would not judge tell I read the texts. And you never answered the other question about how he got the kids phone numbers. If you give him a phone number the assumption is it will be used to contact you. I guess my opinion will be based on what he wrote and did he know it was the kid not the parents number.

No parent is filling out registrations and putting their kid's phone number. I don't know anything about this situation, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to ask little Jimmy for little Timmy's phone number. Regardless of how the number was obtained. It's inappropriate.

I just realized reading all this that the MadLax parents are caught in a pyramid scheme and they are trying to get us all to buy in. Now it makes total sense.

Well these are all good questions. But until they are answered you can not expect people to kill a guy for something we know 1/3 of the story if that much. And if this is like most rumors its starting with one kid one text and now its 10 kids and 100 texts at 12am.