Back of THE CAGE Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM Age Group Conversion Table

Several threads have been asking about age group eligibility and BOTC wanted to bring the table that we have constructed to its own thread to make the information easy to find and understand.

This table is structured with the Class of 2013 as the starting point. Once the new seasonal year (a soccer concept) begins in the August timeframe, the entire table will roll forward to a new year - hence, the U-groups will all be +1 from their current standing.

It is very important that readers look at this data since those October/November birthdates tend to create most of the controversy and this example helps you to see why!

12/01/94 - 08/31/95 ... Class of 2013 ... 12th Grade ... U/18
09/01/95 - 11/30/95 ... Class of 2013 ... 12th Grade ... U/17

12/01/95 - 08/31/96 ... Class of 2014 ... 11th Grade ... U/17
09/01/96 - 11/30/96 ... Class of 2014 ... 11th Grade ... U/16

12/01/96 - 08/31/97 ... Class of 2015 ... 10th Grade ... U/16
09/01/97 - 11/30/97 ... Class of 2015 ... 10th Grade ... U/15

12/01/97 - 08/31/98 ... Class of 2016 ... 9th Grade .... U/15
09/01/98 - 11/30/98 ... Class of 2016 ... 9th Grade .... U/14

12/01/98 - 08/31/99 ... Class of 2017 ... 8th Grade .... U/14
09/01/99 - 11/30/99 ... Class of 2017 ... 8th Grade .... U/13

12/01/99 - 08/31/00 ... Class of 2018 ... 7th Grade .... U/13
09/01/00 - 11/30/00 ... Class of 2018 ... 7th Grade .... U/12

12/01/00 - 08/31/01 ... Class of 2019 ... 6th Grade .... U/12
09/01/01 - 11/30/01 ... Class of 2019 ... 6th Grade .... U/11

12/01/01 - 08/31/02 ... Class of 2020 ... 5th Grade .... U/11
09/01/02 - 11/30/02 ... Class of 2020 ... 5th Grade .... U/10

12/01/02 - 08/31/03 ... Class of 2021 ... 4th Grade .... U/10
09/01/03 - 11/30/03 ... Class of 2021 ... 4th Grade .... U/9

12/01/03 - 08/31/04 ... Class of 2022 ... 3rd Grade .... U/9
09/01/04 - 11/30/04 ... Class of 2022 ... 3rd Grade .... U/8

12/01/04 - 08/31/05 ... Class of 2023 ... 2nd Grade .... U/8
09/01/05 - 11/30/05 ... Class of 2023 ... 2nd Grade .... U/7

Why doesn't lacrosse go to the hockey model - kids play in their birth year.

Less confusing.

hockey parents are not bright enough to figure out grade year so they have to go by birth year because it is less confusing

In all honesty, given the errors in tournament placements and arguments between parents and clubs this summer, it is not clear that the lacrosse world is handling the current situation very well. This is a glass house situation if ever there was one.

Rolling the Age Group Conversion Table forward to cover the upcoming academic year now that August has arrived.

12/01/95 - 08/31/96 ... Class of 2014 ... 12th Grade ... U/18
09/01/96 - 11/30/96 ... Class of 2014 ... 12th Grade ... U/17

12/01/96 - 08/31/97 ... Class of 2015 ... 11th Grade ... U/17
09/01/97 - 11/30/97 ... Class of 2015 ... 11th Grade ... U/16

12/01/97 - 08/31/98 ... Class of 2016 ... 10th Grade ... U/16
09/01/98 - 11/30/98 ... Class of 2016 ... 10th Grade ... U/15

12/01/98 - 08/31/99 ... Class of 2017 ... 9th Grade .... U/15
09/01/99 - 11/30/99 ... Class of 2017 ... 9th Grade .... U/14

12/01/99 - 08/31/00 ... Class of 2018 ... 8th Grade .... U/14
09/01/00 - 11/30/00 ... Class of 2018 ... 8th Grade .... U/13

12/01/00 - 08/31/01 ... Class of 2019 ... 7th Grade .... U/13
09/01/01 - 11/30/01 ... Class of 2019 ... 7th Grade .... U/12

12/01/01 - 08/31/02 ... Class of 2020 ... 6th Grade .... U/12
09/01/02 - 11/30/02 ... Class of 2020 ... 6th Grade .... U/11

12/01/02 - 08/31/03 ... Class of 2021 ... 5th Grade .... U/11
09/01/03 - 11/30/03 ... Class of 2021 ... 5th Grade .... U/10

12/01/03 - 08/31/04 ... Class of 2022 ... 4rd Grade .... U/10
09/01/04 - 11/30/04 ... Class of 2022 ... 4rd Grade .... U/9

12/01/04 - 08/31/05 ... Class of 2023 ... 3nd Grade .... U/9
09/01/05 - 11/30/05 ... Class of 2023 ... 3nd Grade .... U/8

12/01/05 - 08/31/06 ... Class of 2024 ... 2nd Grade .... U/8
09/01/06 - 11/30/06 ... Class of 2024 ... 2nd Grade .... U/7

The problem is the whole Summer Tournament Season is driven by the college coaches and recruiting. They want to see games played between specific graduating classes so they dont waste time looking at kids they dont need.

The soccer world manages to handle recruiting based on birth dates.

Who cares, It's soccer. This is lacrosse. There are millions of kids playing soccer and only a few get noticed so let soccer do whatever they want. Lacrosse is a much smaller community, with a higher chance of getting seen so lets drop the soccer/lacrosse comparison. If I wanted my kid in a soccer structure she would be playing soccer.

We can try this another way.

"Sport A" is well organized at the top, does not have sideline participants complaining about age group violations, trusts that the underlying system has proper enforcement, believes that the tournaments are matching properly aged teams, and has a single structure (U-age groups) governing leagues, tournaments, and recruiting.

"Sport B" is lacrosse. Accusations of age group violations abound, enforcement is left to the discretion of tournament organizers (subject to scrutiny from sites such as BOTC), tournament mismatches happen more often, and there are multiple age alignment structures contributing to the problems without a resolution in sight.

So, what is BOTC doing about it? We are meeting with US Lacrosse and local LIMLF representatives on Thursday, August 15th to discuss these points along with many others. Whether change is afoot remains to be seen.

What Cage said.

reading through these posts it seems that there are some unhappy people with the U designation also. It seems to me thst some people are complaining that there is a huge gap in the grad year and in the U system also Cage and Powder are both soccer first people, trying to force there will on a sport that is not wholly there first love. In the U designation. as we saw this year in florida with top guns, we had 3 players from a 2015 grad year, rising juniors. playing against moastly rising sophs and frosh, basically we had girls that were days away from being 16 playing against 14&15 y/o .both are flawed, so lets stay with the devil we know

You're missing CageSage's point above: no one is bitching on the soccer end of things because the rule is unilateral across all soccer organizations and tournaments. In the soccer world there wouldn't be an argument about the U15 tournament. US Lacrosse created the tournament rules so they are not in line with club/team standards. Blame them for this mess.

Furthermore, forcing my will on lacrosse? How much power do you think I have? I'll tell you: none. If I could make a change the first thing I'd do was institute a personal foul rule like basketball, five fouls and you're out of the game. Clean up the dirty play. So what is my first love: soccer or basketball? ;-)

Stick with grad year, those who bend the system are cheaters and we'll all know who they at the time. I'd rather that then always play boys or girls in a "U" situation that skips a year. U9 U11 U13 U15 U17.

Understanding around the country many towns may not have enough kids at an age group, and if that happens you play up / at the oldest grade level on your team (regardless of one player on the team). The unfortunate thing here is an older player who is less skilled than the younger ones. Well when I was growing up they had cuts for travel.

In supporting class year graduations, you are saying that :

• you are fine with players being held back or left back for one or possibly two years based on academics and playing with those potentially one or two years younger,
• the need for birth certificates at tournaments should be waived since you cannot do anything in terms of the player's age, and
• you are willing to trust the club coaches in designing their graduating year classes since there will not be any school administered documentation confirming a graduation year.

Effectively, you are saying that what is in place right now is just fine. Seriously, I do not think that folks are thinking through the implications of their statements.

As for the opposition to the U-age groups, why do these groups have to be every other year? Clearly, there are enough players to form teams based on class year. U-age groups only shifts the calendar window for grouping student-athletes by a few months.

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