BackOfTheCage Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND MAIN FORUM Boys 2018

It's the start of the Fall 2016/Spring 2017 season. Use this thread for your posts regarding this age group

Anyone care to rank the top area club teams for 2018?

Madlax, VLC then BW?

Well if your son is not on any of these 3 he should be attending all threes tryouts now. Or in BW case you should be emailing them begging for a spot. No reason to say who is better, Tryout for all three and go with the one your son can start or play a lot with. You are late to the game if you are not already on one of these 3 teams. Hope this helps.

Is it true that Next Level is trying to field a 2018 team?

Not even close--Madlax won 2 summer tournaments, beating such teams as Crabs, Laxachettes, LI Express etc....

Yes if we where to rank them Madlax would be one. But my point was at the 2018 age they are really not looking at the team record at all. You need to be on the D1 radar and talking to the coaches. Heck you should be talking to the D2 and D3 coaches by this age this timeline. They will be coming to see you play so if you win or lose the game it does not matter.

Madlax has the most number of studs, but all three 2018s are very good.

Who is the best 2018 club team in the country?

Crabs

Madlax

Madlax 2018 college commits looks strong. VLC not so much at this time. Who knows about BW, but the fact that they aren't advertising numbers problably says all you need to know.

Are you that photographer guy or something? I counted 12 guys for Madlax. I think VLC has something like 8 and BW probably has 10 or more.

All three are good options. No need to diss other people to make yourself feel good.

Can anyone guess how many times any of these BW kids played in a real game wearing the BW uniform. I would say 9 times is the highest number and most around 6. How can any org take credit for a player who plays in a real game for the team 9 times ever?

VLC 2018 does not have 8 commits.

Madlax has 12 commits. VLC has half as much right now. Numbers may jump in November, but it's pretty clear that by this metric, Madlax wins hands down.

Well, if you're going by commits (not the right metric to use, but everyone seems to think it is), it's not Madlax - it's Sweetlax, hands-down. Crabs has several more than Madlax as well.

I don't think of Sweetlax as a team. It is at any age just an all-star squad of players developed elsewhere. West Coast Stars are similar.

IMHO, A team practices together, and stays together over a number of years...

So what does that say about BW with 18 commits?

Agree - BW would be on top. If you cast out Sweetlax, you should cast out all of the regional teams that use partner programs and such, including Madlax. If you're looking at teams that picks and fields one consistent team per grade, Madlax goes out the window too. You're left with BW, VLC, Crabs, etc.

Which Nov tourneys are BW playing?

BW's "18" number (if that is really accurate) is very misleading. They have guys who show up one day of a tournament, play a few games, and never come back. They may have committed before or after that event - nobody knows. The people most in the dark are the guys on that team. Since they are not allowed to have a tent, they simply roam around and toe the party line that it doesn't matter who their teammates are. Weird culture.

You are so right, 18 commits wondering the parking lots with no tent to go to and only college recruiters to talk to. Man, you gots issues.

Dude, let your hate go and start harassing the 2022 thread.

It would be great if we could ever get these teams to play each other in a local one day round robin (BW, VLC and Madlax)...but will likely never happen

They should! Two years ago the 2018 Crabs, FCA and Team 91 played each other at Hopkins in front of a lot of coaches. At this point most of the good players have already committed but I am sure there are plenty of 2nd tier players still looking to be recruited! Don't be scared!

Well if all three really had the players true best interest at heart they would. The tournament would need to have tons of college scouts and who would make money off it? All three or no one?

It is not as easy as you think. You have to schedule during the recruiting windows where coaches can evaluate talent off campus. If coaches aren't already in the area for a big event, you risk just getting coaches from the DMV area only.

At this point, an event for three 2018 teams only is really only going to attract D3 coaches (even though all three teams are excellent). This kind of playday is only going to work for rising 8th grader and freshman teams (which is ridiculous, but where we currently are).

haha..this should be one of those tournaments where all 3 teams pitch in towards refs and field space - no big promotion or fanfare, just an opportunity for three of the areas top teams to play one another for bragging rights:)

Maybe most of the hold backs or early puberty kids were recruited 2 years ago. Not sure they are still the "top tier" kids. Our team played sweet lax, leading edge, madlax etc.. this summer and a lot of other teams annd kids you would consider second tier, and there were plenty of players not commuted that were just as good or better than all the early commits listed in ty zanders top 100. there will be a lot of parity in college lax in the coming years!

Pay Ty $500.00 and he will write whatever you want him to write....

Dude, the #1 gripe among current and former BW families is how weird the culture there is. It's almost like they go out of their way to promote "look out for #1". Weird how a kid shows up to a tournament and sees 10 new teammates who may or may not be there next week.

Can you confirm this in anyway? If not please do not bash the one and only site to get information about high school lacrosse talent. Football and Basketball have several sites that do the same thing. These sites are good for the sport like it or not. People like lists and write ups. And how come his write ups and list tend to mirror the commit list. Is he talking to the colleges and writing about who they tell him to? Or are the college reading his list/write ups and picking those kids? But his write ups and list are pretty darn close to who the colleges are picking. Please explain how this is sir?

seriously, just stop this discussion--Madlax won several national tournaments last summer, beating the top teams in the US (Crabs, Laxachuesettes, Team 89+2 etc.)...it is not close with BW and VLC.

If you are not in close contact with several college coaches you should never go to BW. They have great players but they are true definition of Cherry Picking. They are prefect for the kid from a top high school and who will be recruited no matter where they play club.

He has literally taken $200-$500 cash on arrival to 'cover' prep school games. The write ups tend to involve a flattering review of kids whose parents seed the pots. Yes, there's a going rate for the exposure.

We played madlax this summer and lost by a goal. In my opinion they were not the best team we played. We beat Patriot by a goal and lost to leading edge by a goal and I would say they were both better, Patriot being the best.

And you can get recruited playing for Madlax as long as you pay the Recruiting Service fee. That is the only club I've ever heard of that charges a monthly fee to talk to coaches on your son's behalf.

BW, VLC and Madlax are all excellent clubs with excellent 2018 teams. Stop trying to pit people against each other. How about supporting all the kids from this area who are trying to get better?

I have to come on here once a month and talk about this darn monthly fee Madlax charges its not a recruiting service charge its what pays all the coaches salary's. They offer a recruiting service to kids that do not play with the club mostly kids from out of the Madlax area. I would guess there has been 10 kids in the history of this to ever use it/ pay for it. The Madlax players do not pay to have the Madlax coaches help them with recruiting. They will answer any question at anytime about your son and what they think he should do. You just need to call or email one of them. No coaches baby your kid in the process its up to the kid/parents to be proactive with it. If a college coach calls Madlax they will tell them the truth even if your dues are late.

My son played for Madlax (he's at a D1 school now). When we asked about recruiting help, we were absolutely told to join the Madlax Recruiting Service, which was a monthly fee that included junk like a "sit down discussion" and a certain number of calls a month. Again, we played for Madlax. It absolutely was pushed onto us and we said forget it.

Well what year was that. I have not heard of this anytime my last 5 years or so.