US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Girls Tryouts 2018/2019

Any news from the early tryout season

tournaments are not done yet..there are no tryouts yet

Tryouts are starting to get released. Today, the Jesters Girls United & the LI Top Guns published theirs and I would think more will follow as I would think most of the teams are offering tryouts in the mid to late of August.

That’s great. But this is the Mid Atlantic forum.

Remember good ol' days when we at least had to late August/early September to have tryouts?
Now the race is on to be the 1st one to have tryouts before travel tournaments are even done...smh

I liked the early tryouts so the stick skills were still there and then summer trips with family. These younger groups should not be playing into 3rd week of July--$$$$$$ and then burn out.

BOTC will be posting some of the Clubs in MD/VA by next week. If there are any particular organizations you are looking for, please write down club names so we can reach out to them. Thank you

Bay Area Lacrosse is next week

Let the drama begin. When my D played Club -you only had a few choices and you stayed loyal. Now club hopping. poaching are norm-its a shame.

How sad that a very large m n d parent hover and watches other 6th graders and blatantly states we will recruit x player next year
Glad our parents told him to please go away sicko

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What are you babbling about?

In my opinion, it's one thing to have girls from a club encourage their friends from another club to tryout for their team. What I find a bit underhanded is when a club director reaches out personally to girls on another team and tries to get them to switch over. The first scenario is acceptable. To me, the second is not.

Sadly this is becoming more and more frequent and can put the girl in an uncomfortable position of having to decide between playing with friends against promises that may not be realistic.

Real world problems. Don’t think for a second this doesn’t haven in high school, college, and th pros. Wake u.

Pros
Are you delusional? Girls lacrosse should be for fun. There is no future in it. Save your money and get a tutor.

You know exactly. Stay away from the donuts baltimore shark

New to the club seen -6th grader D-how much is club lax per year-estimate. Hard to tell online-a lot of clubs charge per tourney and season . I would rather have upfront #.

All in around $2,000-2,500 not including hotels for away tourneys. Beware of the clubs that ask for a nominal fee upfront that does not include all tourneys, training and coaching etc. Be careful of "for profit "clubs with mandatory fund raising as well.

Add roughly $500 more per away tournament for hotel stays, gas and food. Also fees will be added if the team ends up playing in an indoor league for the winter. It’s an investment. If you are smart, you will budget about $6000 a year for club to play safe.

Girls want to play with friends or in a place that they can make friends . We were phoned at home in the evening and emailed by multiple clubs to switch over. It was uncomfortable and really unethical . We stayed with our club because they really cared about the girls developing and not the wins and losses. BTW she got to play at a top 20 program and is now in Medical School-not to brag but to prove a point.

Some clubs are about the social life, some are about the development of its players, and some are about nothing more than making money. Do your homework. In the end all that matters is that your daughter is getting better as a player and having fun and making memories doing it.

Truth is there are only a few clubs that are worth the money. And playing on a B team no longer makes any sense. It used to be that M&D Red, SW White, Hero's White were better than most A teams. This is no longer the case as there are so many options now. But take a look at the G8 divisions. If you aren't playing on one of the teams in the top 2 divisions you are wasting your time and money. And if your daughter's team wasn't invited to G8 that should tell you something too.

Agreed completely. It would be great to get some personal experiences good and bad with different clubs to help new parents and girls looking for right fit.

Cannot agree with this post whatsoever. Our daughter is in her final season with one of the teams mentioned above. 10 of her teammates are Division I recruited to great schools, the others are attending a mix of Division II and III schools. They have beaten numerous "A" teams, however struggle against some of the top tier A teams. We would witness 25-30 DI coaches on the sidelines during their freshman and sophomore seasons and most girls were recruited before the rule changes.

Teams that have strong "A" and "B" teams show that they are viable. Teams that have only 1 team per age group sometimes don't get invited to larger tournaments, such as LFTC, G8, etc. Definitely agree that there are more options, but you don't have to be in the top 2 divisions of a tournament to be "seen". Good luck with finding a great club that has knowledgeable coaches that will push/challenge your daughter to be the best she can be.

The most stressed-out, blank coaches I have ever run across in girls lacrosse are coaches of B teams who are forced by their program to play in A. This bill of goods ("our club is so strong even our B teams play in A") can lead to a lot of pressure on coaches and kids. Every B roster has a decent number of girls who are not A girls or who don't want to be there.. That said, the M&D and Heros B teams are typically excellent. The 2020 Heros White just made it to the championship game of the Mid-Atlantic Club Championship.

Which club are you referring to with all the "B team" college recruits? What colleges are they attending?

Maybe thats not the reason B teams play in A divisions. Maybe its because the coaches of said teams want their players to get better by playing the tougher, stronger, faster competition. Don’t think it has anything to do with believing their B teams are just as good as their A teams. If that were the case, then wouldn’t they just have two A teams? Ding Dong. I have B player whose team played in the A division this year. We didn’t go into it thinking were an A team. We went into it hoping we would come out a better team. We did just that. Our players got better by playing better.

I am very happy it is working out for you and I hope your daughter continues to improve and enjoy the game.

The point I was trying to make is that in 10+ years of coaching girls club lacrosse in Maryland the two biggest jerk coaches I have witnessed were both middle-aged male coaches of B teams playing in the A brackets (screaming at officials, loudly disparaging 12 year old girls on the other team, knucklehead behavior before and after games, etc...). My post probably just should have left it at that rather than adding the additional analysis and hypothesis (and a compliment!).

I am very happy it is working out for you and I hope your daughter continues to improve and enjoy the game.

The point I was trying to make is that in 10+ years of coaching girls club lacrosse in Maryland the two biggest jerk coaches I have witnessed were both middle-aged male coaches of B teams playing in the A brackets (screaming at officials, loudly disparaging 12 year old girls on the other team, knucklehead behavior before and after games, etc...). My post probably just should have left it at that rather than adding the additional analysis and hypothesis (and a compliment!).
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Wow-for a club coach you may want to evaluate your moral compass.

Not sure how this got hijacked to a discussion of A and B teams in tournaments and who is wasting money on "lesser clubs". There are many fine clubs that never win a " tee shirt" but the girls go on to get substantial scholarships at great colleges. And also many "A " girls who take small scholarships at colleges and never make it thru fall ball freshman year. Check the stats on transfers and scholarship money- and keep your judgment in check.

I think that’s hunk, sorry. I’d think a good month off to let stick skills drop off shows true colors. Player takes 10-14 days off in August knowing day Sept 7th tryout and Player on their own or in training sharpens skills proving at tryout they dedicated player. Don’t need to make it weekend after School Lax followed by Travel Lax and then on couch till February again. No bueno!

Thanks Momma Bear

I also agree with the earlier tryout. First of all if your daughter is no bueno after summer tourneys -a few weeks of individuals isn't going to help. Plus if they don't make that team -they can tryout for another. Eggs in one basket-makes for no club in fall especially for suzy superstar.

Teams play up to get better, not for entitlement. We just played the M&D red 23’s in the MASC and the ball was on the ground 80% more than it was when we played black.

I have more of a problem with A teams sandbagging and playing in a B bracket to win a tee shirt and post on the website.

Name an A team that has done that. I can’t think of one.

I witnessed this many times as well. If you really want names PM me. I don't think you watch much club lax.

Save the PM me crap. You post anonymously. Name an A team that you have witnessed playing in the B division. Just one. While we are at it, if you can name just one, tell me their record in the A division.

How about your "B" team is actually a "C" team or just a weaker "B" team. Name your tournament that this happened in. Lots of weak "B" teams, that kick a@@ in subpar tournaments and lots of strong "B" teams that get their a@@'s handed to them playing "A" crossovers. Consider the tournament and watch an actual "A" team, play in a real tournament. Perhaps your "B" team is actual not that good.


With that...if I had to name one, it would be a team from Maryland: Maryland United.

MDU in their younger groups because they are getting waxed in NGLL must appease the parents . Skywalkers, Redshirts , LBC , Heroes . BTW some clubs have years that teams are A and teams are B within the same club.

You are a clown. Name the grad year and tournament where a Heros A team played down in a B division? You can’t.

darn, what is going on with club lacrosse. we have tryouts for 2028/2029 teams. that will kill rec lacrosse...

agree on MDU, they are all about appearances and winning t-shirts. should be playing A level, but will stoop to B level to avoid losses.
don't agree on Skywalkers - Blue always plays A level
Redshirts - hard to tell, numbers are always low. 2025 won NGLL B level, but got hammered playing A level over the summer. 24 team was thrown together. i think owner only cares about his 2020 team (daughters team)
LBC - not sure,
HEROs - has got like 3 teams for each level it seems. They will girls play up 1-2 levels for experience, i expect the 2029 team to have 3 year olds.

Hey we are talking girls lacrosse right ?

Heros has 2 teams per division, not 3. And they allow girls to tryout and play a grad year up if they don’t field a team at the players current grad year. M&D does the same, Skywalkers as well.

If MDU got “waxed” playing in the A division during NGLL season, maybe they didn’t belong in the A division and reassessed and chose to play B because they were getting so “waxed”. Did they run the fields and win every tourney they played in as a B team? If they did, then you have an argument. Otherwise, be quiet.

Redshirts played up this summer, not down.

Heros, Skywalkers and M&D will never have their A teams playing in B divisions. Their B teams play up in the A divisions, and thats one of the reasons they are the top clubs. So the original poster knows not of what he is talking about.

So much for a thread on tryouts. The usual A team B team hogwash-get over it . The reality is your daughter most likely will flame out of lax in HS because of the parents .

JMU, Colorado, Delaware, Campbell, Harvard, UMBC (2), Villanova, Mt. St. Marys, Longwood, American, Gettysburg, Queens, Denison, Rhodes, Salisbury, and 2 more I’m not sure of. While not all are top 20, still great opportunities for “B” level talent.

This is the original post that brought up “A” team versus “B” team discussion. It’s a relevant point to make when discussing tryouts. Many parents don’t understand, but players peak at different times. Having 2 teams at an age group allows players to move up/down depending on where they are. It also allows for “B” players to scrimmage/practice with better competition on a more frequent basis.

Don’t be a “Negative Nancy”! Yes, players burn out, but guess what, others continue. How about be positive and provide guidance and reinforcement.

I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!

Some teams play up a year as well. This is not boys lacrosse.

Just noticed on M&D site tryouts for 2029's -second graders . Sorry but this is a bit early.

It is a developmental team is my guess, If you look under the coaching staff, you will see It states 2029 Prep.

Robinson money grab - striking fear into parents that they have to start so early. Recruiting rules have already had an impact - if you look at how many teams competed in the 2026 and 2027 age groups for tournaments - way down from previous years when comparing relative age divisions. Parents have hit the breaks just like the college coaches have...

But yet, we need 2029s??? Stick to rec and have fun for a couple of years.

OK I will ask -what club is this

I believe it's Maryland United

MDU is an A level club. Sorry.

It’s most likely SW or Heros. Doubt MD United West has 11 DI commits.

With B teams.

MDU doesn't have true B Teams. They move very few players from the West team to the East team unless someone leaves MDU. They don't want to rock any boats.

Each year the MDU West teams get weaker -they got a big push when they stole(merged) the API girls from East Coast but parents are figuring it out now. The younger groups don't have enough for East and West.

I’m no sure you can call MD United an A level club anymore. The coaching at several levels is suspect, recruiting assistance is subpar, and top girls are leaving rather than joining. The B teams are capable of beating A teams on any given day and frequently do. While it’s a good club, MD United is clearly not at the same level anymore as M&D, Skywalkers, and YJ.

Accept now or lose your spot? What is up with that? What about Aug 21st club acceptance day.

lesser clubs trying to lock in players before the bigger better clubs have tryouts.

"lesser" clubs have to survive too-M&D won't have much fun playing its red team all year. The sad thing is that players get developed at these "lesser" clubs and then bail on the coaches who actaully got them to improve. It does not take great coaching to take an allstar team and put them out there and let them force to goal.

YJ?? Hahaha on that one, took the same down turn as United.

I noticed on MDU website -if you have accepted a position on another club -you can contact them -so they can poach you away if you are worthy. That is why clubs try to lock in players early. It is a lot like decommiting from a college and another team is illegally persuing the player.

MDU is still by far the strongest club in AA County. So if you live in AA County, that's your best bet.

Heros is a short drive

Coaching is subpar at MDU

Green Hornets feeder system has been on decline for a few years. New leadership is needed.

True, that commissioner (hag) is too busy promoting her own business and (brown)nosing up to the MD United director. Hence the reason why there should be no parent coaches.

Naptown lacrosse folded. Hope the parents get $$$ back.

What years did they have? Anybody hear if other teams will absorb them?