US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2028 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

Good numbers. Over 20 , some players are getting little playing time.

Some fun pool play matchups in Orlando over New Years. Express North vs Nations Best (3d National team), Madlax vs Premier National (Philly Freedom, Dukes, Brotherly Love and other Philly kids), West Coast Starz vs LI Express Chucks, and Express North vs Team 91 National.

Potential bracket games could be Madlax vs WCS (rematch from Delaware in November), Express North vs 4th seed. If Madlax can get by WCS (tough task), could get a rematch from Delaware— Madlax vs Express North.

At the very least, some good fodder for the BOTC.

Bored lax dad needs to be there watching!! Especially to gauge which teams are bringing in ringers

My boy is on a team with 18 kids everyone has fair playing time But I heard that BLC Blue has like 32 kids 9 middies 3 goalies

Wrong. BLC Blue has 22 on the current roster.

The magic number is 18 to play and to have 20+ to practice with the parents of the extra players being notified their children will not be going to games unless absence or injury demand it. No one does it like this.

Nor would anyone, I don't think. I wouldn't pay fees and schlep to all of the practices and risk never playing games. I get that you might get good coaching and competition in practices, but going to tournaments with your team is part of the fun and playing in live games is an important learning experience in itself.

There was a discussion on here a while back about AA teams having poles that could play with elite teams -- I think part of the reason is that most (though certainly not all) parents whose kid is the 5th best pole on an elite team but barely plays would prefer to move down a notch or two if it means that your kid gets to play significantly more minutes. So you end up with kids who are good enough to make elite rosters spreading out over time.

Lots of people would and do. Madlax does it every season except for HoCo season. They have 2 rosters with multiple names on both rosters. They tell the parents they can come to a tournament or not but playing time isn't guaranteed. Next Level has a roster with 31 players. Their bottom 5-6 players never see the field in a tournament much less a single game. Same goes with Crabs as all their teams, younger ones included, regularly have 25 kids and they don't see the field. If your roster has more than 20, you are schlepping for your kid to play about 2-3 minutes a game.

A better way is to have 20 kids and the number over 20 pay less and are told up front more fees are expected if their kid makes a tournament team. But Madlax and Next Level and many more stuff the rosters with as many players as possible. If you are a lower MoCo player or NoVa player, you accept that reality or go play with a team who might win 10 games in an entire year.

It’s club lacrosse. Playing time isn’t guaranteed.

Try a little harder. The question was asked "what is the optimum roster size?" If the roster is over 20 and your kid isn't in the top 20, your kid will see little or no playing time because playing time isn't guaranteed. Must be a coach at Madlax.

If there are 24 kids on the team and 4 are riding the bench - that means 20 are playing right?

What’s difficult to follow about the concept of playing time not being guaranteed?

Should club teams get rid of tryouts also so everyone can play?

Maybe dad and mom picked the wrong team?

If someone has an A team and a B team and pulls kids up as necessary or lets some play down so they get playing time, that makes more sense to me.

Madlax 2028 currently has 21 kids on the roster, and that is the highest it has ever been. It’s usually running right at 18-19. One of the 21 is a TX kid that plays occasionally during the summer, so it’s really 20.

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Lots of people would and do. Madlax does it every season except for HoCo season. They have 2 rosters with multiple names on both rosters. They tell the parents they can come to a tournament or not but playing time isn't guaranteed. Next Level has a roster with 31 players. Their bottom 5-6 players never see the field in a tournament much less a single game. Same goes with Crabs as all their teams, younger ones included, regularly have 25 kids and they don't see the field. If your roster has more than 20, you are schlepping for your kid to play about 2-3 minutes a game.

A better way is to have 20 kids and the number over 20 pay less and are told up front more fees are expected if their kid makes a tournament team. But Madlax and Next Level and many more stuff the rosters with as many players as possible. If you are a lower MoCo player or NoVa player, you accept that reality or go play with a team who might win 10 games in an entire year.[/quote]

Madlax 2028 currently has 21 kids on the roster, and that is the highest it has ever been. It’s usually running right at 18-19. One of the 21 is a TX kid that plays occasionally during the summer, so it’s really 20.[/quote]

And yet the 2026 Madlax teams have 50 players rostered on the A and B teams. If you can keep Madlax at 18-20, you will be very happy. Don't you agree 18-20 is way better than 25? No chance Cabel will keep that roster size if he has the chance to collect the $.

Next Level A has 23 and that's way too many when they all show. But Next Level doesn't enforce any kind of attendance and kids come and go for camp along with injuries and illness so the numbers are much lower for actual games and tournaments. It probably only comes into play 5 games or so the entire year when there are close to 23 but never that many in the summer.

91MD literally has a practice team (and I'm almost certain, but can't quite guarantee, that MadLax does as well). It works like this, your kid makes 91, gets the famous schwag bag, and quickly gets wrapped up in his new identity as a 91 player (which is good marketing honestly). Many parents go ahead and pay the full $1900 fees for the year. After the first practice (there are only a few each fall), coach sends out an email saying that he's got his eye on next spring and summer's competition and gosh, it just looks like some of the kids won't play, and need to be relegated to the 91 Practice Team for a few months so little Johnny can Hit The Wall.

And surprisingly very few of those parents flip out and pull their kid (one 2028 did, this past spring, and parents were pretty public about it).

To be fair to ML, 91 and others with this "practice team" nonsense, at least they are fairly transparent about it. I think it's a whole lot better than just showing up to a tournament and "Oh look there's 6 new middies, I guess my kid isn't playing this weekend?"

Having 50 kids across two actual teams that both play actual games is only slightly too many. Having "practice teams" where there are 29 rostered kids, but only 18-19 regularly play, is wack.

There's a lot of smaller issues canned in that statement. One, at all levels except elite ball, is poor substitution coaching. When my oldest son first joined club ball (club since disbanded), kids would be walking around gassed, leaning on their sticks. Team getting beat by 10+ (in other words, game is already over, put in your subs, let the starters rest). And still they would not put roster #19-21 in to play. I have been lucky to not see this on my kids' teams as they have gotten older, and partly this is a product of them working up through the club ranks into spots where the coaching is better (also, we always ask about roster size during tryouts).

And if you have poor substitution coaching, you have one of two underlying problems: 1) not enough coaches on the sideline...insane when we pay $2K+ per year per kid; 2) Politics where the Coach dares not pull The Chosen One. Learn to identify those on the sideline (or in places like BOTC chatter) before you commit your kid to a system that doesn't work.

My sons have been on multiple 91 MD teams. it's never been that way. There's no such thing as a only practice team. Certainly, starters get more playing time and perhaps those parents were not happy with playing time.

They had a 2028 kid join prior to HoCo 2021, and prior to the first summer tournament he was told that he was being switched to the practice team for the summer. Parents blew up over it. I'm not saying they were right to do so, I'm just saying that it did happen.

I have heard from multiple people that 91, especially HS aged teams, will come to you and say "your kid is not going to see the field, but can remain on the team." Crazy that parents sign up for that arrangement rather than going to a club where the kid will play. But it does happen.

Yes, 20 are playing and 24 is too many.
No one said playing time is guaranteed but no playing time means the roster is too big.
Tryouts are a joke anyway. Teams turnover about 3-4 kids each year and most will take a kid any time of the year and more clubs are now going to multiple "tryouts" a year to get the $50-$75 per player.
Correct, If you chose a team where the current roster is over 20 and your kid isn't an absolute standout, move along to the next team.
Practice players absolutely work for the lower end or developing player. You get a lower price; regular schedule and if your kid improves, they'll get to play when the team needs them.

Out of curiosity, is it the same kid as the one that played for Hawks last year?

No. That kid didn’t crack the Hawks lineup. And when he did…. SMH it was sad

91MD literally has a practice team (and I'm almost certain, but can't quite guarantee, that MadLax does as well). It works like this, your kid makes 91, gets the famous schwag bag, and quickly gets wrapped up in his new identity as a 91 player (which is good marketing honestly). Many parents go ahead and pay the full $1900 fees for the year. After the first practice (there are only a few each fall), coach sends out an email saying that he's got his eye on next spring and summer's competition and gosh, it just looks like some of the kids won't play, and need to be relegated to the 91 Practice Team for a few months so little Johnny can Hit The Wall.

And surprisingly very few of those parents flip out and pull their kid (one 2028 did, this past spring, and parents were pretty public about it).

To be fair to ML, 91 and others with this "practice team" nonsense, at least they are fairly transparent about it. I think it's a whole lot better than just showing up to a tournament and "Oh look there's 6 new middies, I guess my kid isn't playing this weekend?"[/quote

Not accurate as it relates to Madlax. ML has a “B” team, aka Madlax DMV, which is an entirely different entity than the Capital team. Parents are under no impression or understanding that their kid is part of the Calital team. They willingly know they are on a B team, perhaps with the hope that their kid could eventually shine and move up to the A team. No false advertising here. Whether it’s worth the fees, that’s entirely up to those parents to decide, but they seem to have a full roster. Sounds like Next Level has rolled out similar, and BLC and the Hawks also have B teams. Sounds like Team 91 MD has a different model, one that apparently isn’t working as their A team is not remotely competitive

There was a kid who left Madlax to play for Hawks last year? Wasn’t from the Capital (A) team, maybe the DMV (B) team? Or are you saying they had a kid from TX who came to play for Hawks?

There are quite a few kids in the older age groups who are “summer” players from places like FL, TX, and the Left Coast. Smart parenting, actually, if their kid can make a mark in the big leagues of NY/MD

I’m so glad I grew up in the 80s

Was it really sad to you? What kind of a hammerhead not only thinks this (about then 5th grade lacrosse), but then actually writes it? Go ahead and "SMH" — you'll be doing what we all wish we could do to you.

Thanks over sensitive MadLax mom… no he meant there was a kid from TX on the Hawks.

It wasn’t a good situation, he should have never been on the team.

Very ironic that the Madlax National event next week in Florida is asking for age and grade verification.

I mentioned this about a week ago and had one of the mouth breathers on here send me to the “holdback” discussion missing the irony that MadLax is asking for grade verification….NOT age. Using a 9/1/2009 World Series age cut off would exclude half the MadLax 28 team (especially their big guy 47). After all, this is Cabell Maddux…there must be some angle.

I agree there has to be some angle. However, I think your off on half his 2028 team, it’s more like 75%.

Possibly the densest post I’ve seen on this board. Literally the densest. This is not the World Series, it’s not an age-based tournament. Like virtually every other youth lacrosse event, it is grade based. Maybe he’s trying to prevent teams bringing down 2027’s like a particular team from Westchester County did at NAL. If they want to roll in 13 year old kids in 6th grade, that’s their prerogative and well within the rules. Frankly, I’d love it to be age based. But it’s not.

For what it’s worth, with the exception of 47, the ML team is younger than you think. But that’s a moot point, until the teams offer up birth certificates, it’ll continue to be a “they mopped the floor with us, they must all be 13 year old holdbacks.”

Is the supposition that express north had ringers?

Most dense

No it’s that MadLax has mouth breathing meatheads with a bunch of Karen Moms and 13 year old holdbacks and a coach who should be in an asylum.

100%

From my understanding express N has some World Series eligible 7th graders who play with them. They were told they couldn’t play vs Madlax at the NAL despite them trying to use those players. Even without those players they still pounded Madlax into the ground. Ironic part of this is those 7th graders but are considerably younger than players in the “Madlax 6th grade team”

Sorry Madlax folks, given you have a 2008 on your roster you have zero credibility and have zero respect from many. You can say well we only have one and the rest of the team is younger but that doesn’t matter! It’s like being half pregnant which we know doesn’t exist. You either cheat w ages or you don’t! One player is the same as 10. Best of luck in your powder puff national team tournament.

It’s not cheating.

Why is that so hard for you to process.

Sorry, you’re right. It’s not cheating, it’s playing down witch is legal no matter how lame it is.