US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2022

My kid is 12 and plays at this competitive 2022 AA level. Plus I didn't have to hold him back to do it. A better athlete would play up not down

Right off of the crab feast website:

2021 - If your son was in the 9th grade this spring 2017 and is repeating/reclassifying for 9th grade fall 2017, he is NOT eligible to play 2021 division.

I guess there are some rules for hold backs. What a joke.d

Wait, so I wish my son who plays very competitively on age and sometimes up was as good athletically as the 14 ( or almost 14) year old who plays against 12 year olds? If I had to have my 13 yr old play against 12 yr olds to look good I would definitely not be bragging about his athleticism. That has got to be the funniest excuse yet. Yes, we are all wishing our kids sucked so bad they had to play younger kids to look good athletically. You are the best!!

Cool

My oldest son is an August birthday who we decided was not ready to start Kindergarten 8 days after he turned 5, we also didn't think showing up on a college campus a week or so after turning 18 would be in HIS best interest. We made that decision with zero thought about him gaining an advantage in youth sports. In fact when that decision was made and until Club lacrosse changed years later he always played with the Class of 2020 where his BIRTHDATE dictated he play in ALL sports. Emotionally, socially, and academically it was the correct decision for our son, but he is technically a holdback. For much of his youth career he actually paid the price being the youngest kid on his teams with none of his friends from school on his teams.

My second oldest, has a March birthday, is a true class of 2022 player, but has been playing 2021 since he was in 3rd grade and continues to play 2021 this year. Using him as an example, he is a strong player in 2021, would be a very good player in 2022 with his classmates, he might look like an All American if he stepped into a 2023 game.

The point is this, for all the debate about holdbacks, I'm not sure the current class of 2021 or 2022 parent's foresaw the change in rules and leagues that allowed for grade based lacrosse. I hope it's a stretch to say anyone looked at their son or daughter at 5 in the year 2007 or 2008 and thought, I'm going to have them repeat a grade so they can gain an advantage because they may go to grade based club lacrosse in 2014.

Clearly kids repeating 7th or 8th grade fall under a different microscope, but let's not forget we all as Parent's are or should be making decisions that are in that child's best interest. Furthermore, while this is a great sport, at the collegiate level being a recruited player often amounts to little more then admissions preference and a slight reduction in tuition and costs.

FYI - most of the holdbacks, as you call them, play Varsity, or start on very good JV teams, as they enter High School as Freshman. There's no birth-year-buddy system in life, stand to reason we are teaching the kids to pair by skill within a reasonable range of age now. What's next, two groups per birth year, because 11 month'ers are rigging the system.

Your exaggerating to make your point but it doesn't really have the affect your looking for. Also, using high school to make your point also doesn't work because of this small thing called puberty. But that was a good try at logic!

Leaker, he's a leaker!

What would your kid accomplish today if we had a strict birth year bracket system? Would he be better, or seem better? Who would really win, the kid, or the helicopter parent? Get to cheer a little louder, and little longer while they are little kids, then HS hits, and poof, they either have it or they don't. Now, how to you stack the deck in your advantage to get better, other than great coaching? A) Play against the best kids possible as a youth? or B) make sure some of the best kids have to go away because mommy and daddy don't like the bracket system?
Signed,
Non-holdback parent

You have a rational reason for your Aug son. I along with hopefully everyone has no problem with whatever decision you make for your son.

Yes there are some that do make their decision to hold their child back in prefirst for sports. I know of several. But I would suspect for the majority it is what is best for their child. But once again..who really cares what you do with your child. Hold him back ten times if you think that is right. It is your responsibility.

The issue most have is that your August child gets an advantage other same EXACT birthday children dont receive in YOUTH sports. Youth sports is not for carving out and letting select children get an advantage others dont.

Youth sports is about some resemblance of fair play. Age based seems to be the best solution and generally stops any shenanigans that parents and Club do when basing it on other parameters ( grade) . While your son if played 2021 would generally always be in top 5% of oldest kids playing due to birthday only a few days from cutoff, there would be some grade based holdbacks who are born 6 months to 10 months from cutoff , These kids are older by 6-10 months minimum to over 18 -22 months older than some kids?? . And that advantage is for the entire time they are in YOUTH sports?? Doesnt seem right.

Yeah! Hence! Quid pro quo MFer!

At the Millon Championship (http://youthlaxchampionship.com/index.html), there are no Philly area teams. Reason?

Everyone who is voicing their opinion on here knows the team their son plays on has a holdback. It might be 1, it might be 3 or 4. Player might miss cut off date by 1 day. That is the law of MD lacrosse.Remember the WSYL also changed the rules after teams were set.Which is why every team has a holdback.Lets stop with the hypocrisy and calling young boys cheaters. Calling out a pacific player on a team is absolutely crossing the line . People on here acting like someone else and commenting on kids is also crossing the line. Everyone does know that 1 person can start a quote and comment about a that same quote like he is someone else just to start something.Then all the idiot haters just jump in and act like fools.If you state something about a player at least have the courage to post your name behind it.That way his family can confront you the next time you are standing next to them on the sidelines.

If only there were a league that was age based for all those that don't like grade based. Oh wait, every county in MD has one.

To be clear, in 2 out of 3 sports my 2021 Holdback participated in he was the youngest kid on his team EVERY year of youth sports. In Lacrosse he was the youngest on his team every other year and middle of the pack the other years coming up through rec. He gained an advantage, by days, not months for the past two season of club lacrosse because of how the league and tournaments began to structure it. He did not play Club until Fall of 2015. To be certain he gained no advantage for the vast majority of his youth sports career because he was in rec programs with strict Birthdate requirements. We never complained, he never complained, we never cheated, we play by the rules. We didn't change the club lacrosse rules, even 3 years ago most tournaments had U13 and U11 divisions, now they are virtually ALL grade based.

And my 2021 son who played 2020 most of his career is not an elite level player, no sideline fan would ever pick him out as a holdback. He is also headed to a public High School in the Fall, where if he is lucky he may play varsity as a Junior and may see the field as a Senior.

My post above was actually anti hold backs, my 2022 aged son plays 2021. If we held him back he would look like an All American, but he wouldn't get anything out of it either. I do think families shouldn't be crucified for making decisions way back in 2007, well before the landscape changed in this ONE sport.

You are obviously a reasonable person and I understand your personal reasons for your decision but unluckily the school system is being manipulated to create a situation that is not safe for youth sports. And I do think, because I know some of them, that people make decisions early for athletic reasons as well as academic. It does not sound like your older boy is a safety issue but in many cases it is a problem and the only solution is to go to an age based system.

Make youth lacrosse age based across the board per USL recommendations and sad scheme of reclassing your kid to look like Paul Rabil will go away. Club coaches who make their money off selling the dream of a college scholarship are the last bastions of keeping this scheme alive.

Make youth lacrosse age based across the board per USL recommendations and sad scheme of reclassing your kid to look like Paul Rabil will go away. Club coaches who make their money off selling the dream of a college scholarship are the last bastions of keeping this scheme alive.

Predictions for this weekend:
T9-1MD takes Capital Classic
Rough Riders take Hilgy's MD Lax Tourney

I've held my son back for two years. Suck it

He is the best player on the field at all of tournaments and I think it's great.

For you or him?

Who is winning bay bridge brawl?

I had my boy do a prefirst ( 1 ) , held him back in 4th ( 2 ) ...reclassed in 8th ( 3 )... plus I intend to do a PG year so am playing him one grade down now ( 4 ) , well its only fair as he wont go straight to college after HS....

Your boy doesnt stand a chance against my boy of 4 years heldback !

Lol. I have two more years to add to my sons holdbacks. I think I'll hold him back again for seventh grade. He might have missed something in the class room this past year. PG year is a must now.

Can he move down to the 2023 team now?

Will the polo fields be swamped again?

Will the polo fields be swamped again?[/quote

Probably. Especially with the thunderstorms coming through late Friday night. Gonna be a swamp with tons of bugs.

Don't try to stir it up. The real question is will the crazy RR daddy get pitched before nightfall?!

Roughriders again playing a weak tournament. All the teams are A teams. So Roughriders playing down to trophy hunt.

Playing Thunder again. Think the coach will be tossed again?

Not true.

There are a few REALLY good teams in that bracket.

All the local tournaments are not strong this weekend. 91 and Madlax in the Capital and RR and not sure who all the other teams are in that tourney. Bay Bridge is a bunch of nothing. Leagues should play longer schedules. In the HOCO league you could play every team twice and get much better comp over a longer period. Then have like 2 or 3 major summer tournaments (1 in NY , 1 in Philly and 1 in MD) and that would be a great season of lacrosse.
When people say teams are "Trophy Hunting" I do not think that is the case for any elite level team. You sign up for tournaments blindly and when the final teams are released you get what you get. Organizers try and say we have AA , A , B but with no real direction from US lacrosse on what classifies what it is all a crap shoot. You know certain tournaments do drawl better comp so you want to try to go to them but when you try to fill your schedule with other tourneys then you get what registers. Next weekend will be a great tournament at young guns and then 2 weeks later the national champions will show who has improved. Good luck to all the teams playing this weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Team Carolina over T9-1MD at Capital Classic . Not as easy as everyone thought.

Team Carolina is good. They have easy games left and will walk into championship vs. Madlax who had the easy bracket.

Per usual, the Madlax tournament is a total joke.

Madlax vs Carolina in championship
Rough riders vs thunder in championship

Actually I thought the Capital Classic was good this year. It really helped that the weather cooperated. Well run tournament. Nice tight schedules. Didn't have to move around much. The fields were in good shape and there were plenty of shady spots, and places for teams to put their tents. It would have been nice if there was a deeper field. But there were enough good teams to make it interesting. In most age groups, the Madlax, T91MD, Team Carolina, and Sentry teams were all good. So there were at least four good teams in every bracket. While some of the games were blowouts, most of the finals looked like they were exciting games. Hopefully some of the better teams that skipped this year will return next year.

Madlax wins Capital Classic
Rough Riders win MD Tourney at McD.

How did the Hawks do this weekend? Haven't seen anything new.

At young guns next weekend.