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

Top High School team in Virginia (Riverside) played Gonzaga this past spring. Gonzaga had an off year, and they were up 8-0 in the second quarter before putting in the JV. Riverside was like undefeated the rest of the season.

Public schools literally can’t stay on the field against these elite private schools. It’s just a fact. Take the best public school in amd and match them up against BL, McD, etc, they’d lose by 15+

Yet here you are.

A combine?? They’re in 6th grade. Let’s just not worry about who is best at each position, let’s get back to bashing Madlax and taunting Long Island.

When height is the best qualifier you know you e lost the argument.
BTW - my son has played against several of those. The Hawks goalie is easily the best he’s faced.

I’m not buying 6’2 at 11 y/o. That would be way off the growth chart.

Sure, MadLax has a player who was held back so many times he’s actually a father of one of the other players.

It makes car rides uncomfortable.

Is WSYL back?

I have a kid in private school, so I'm not bashing it. But if you're gonna have the public vs. private debate please be real. The reason elite D1 teams have so many private school kids is because private schools pluck the very best players and give them free rides. The average rich private school kid isn't out there dominating because they attend a wealthy school and are getting more reps in on their lighted turf field. The best prep schools recruit top players and those players tend to start in public or parochial and then end up in private.

I would bet the lists are from APEX.

Yup.

Powered by US Club Lax

Of course they posted a TikTok of the attack on us club lax

Has a little to do with spending , but much much more...

Washington DC spends 22,406 per student, NYC spends 25,139 per student. Both Great school systems ????

The number of "scholarships" is pretty high, but relatively few are "full rides." I think Niche and other websites point out what the average financial aid package is, and if there were 12 full scholarships for lax, 30 full scholarships for football, 5 for basketball, 6 for baseball, etc, those numbers would be MUCH higher than the typical "25% average financial aid."

Most of these schools want to see parents demonstrate that they are committed/invested in the kid's education and athletic development, partly because the aggravation over 9th & 10th grade transfers is sky high.

It also speaks to the importance of academics for lax. Much as D2/D3 don't have "athletic scholarships" but they have "academic scholarships for athletes who performed in the classroom." Same is very much true for prep schools and boarding schools.

Exactly. Baltimore spends $20K+ per student, and about 5% of students can do math and english on-age. "Resources" is not just money.

The (well documented) single greatest factor in educational attainment is, by a long shot, the educational attainment of the parents. It's why Gilman's SAT numbers are so similar to Centennial's SAT numbers.

And that's why it's hilarious to hear these same dads complain about "buying your way into lax at private school" or whatever. What does a standard 2500sf house cost in a good school district in MoCo? I believe it's about $1.1M. What does the same house cost in Severna Park? About $700K. What does it cost in the best districts in HoCo? About $900K. Is the argument really that those investments don't provide fundamentally unfair advantages and resources to your kids? Cmon.

If investing in your kid's education is so elitist and unfair, why don't you move to Dundalk, Lake Barcroft (Fairfax), Jessup, Laurel, Bowie, etc and keep up this idea that all schools are the same, and money has no impact on education, and you are 1000% in support of equity and fairness in your kid's lax and educational opportunities. Drop the expensive lax club membership and trainings w Deemer Class, and just place hope in your local rec team getting your kid ready for HS lax at Jessup HS or whatever.

Because if it's just about real estate (ie you are kidding yourself), sell the $1.5M split level in Bethesda and buy 2 miles of waterfront in Charles County, or a developable farm in Talbot.

The complaining about "fairness" and "buying your way into schools with full scholarships!" from guys with $5M in their portfolio, flying their kid all over the country to play lacrosse, and sitting pretty (with real estate holdings) in some of the nation's most privileged public school districts is a hoot. So unfair you guys!

Most boarding schools have aid out of necessity. Some are merit-based, some are exclusively for demonstrated need. Most would blow away the MIAA schools' lists. If you're choosing a high school based on lacrosse you are a stunad. Send Johnny to the best academic school possible, make sure they work hard, and they'll earn their way into a great school.

I realized how little I cared about lacrosse when my oldest son was being recruited for High School. BK and other coaches would not be reaching out without him playing lacrosse, I know that. But I chose the best Academic school for my son and thanked them all for their time. Please don't choose a school for lacrosse. There's enough dreamers trying to make a buck off the sport who sunk their life in to it and realized it's worthless.

Oh Lord are you arguing for lax dads to have perspective? Fainting couch please!

The fact is that you have no control as a parent whether your private school (or public school) brings in 3 new studs in 9th, 10th, 11th grade at your son's exact position and relegates your kid (by default) to the practice/9th grade / JV squad. And if your mindset is all "VARSITY LAX OR NOTHING" it is going to be a long 4 years.

There's 50 kids playing for FCA 2028 whose parents (if you ask them) generally believe their kid is going to get one of the 4-6 freshman varsity spots at Calvert Hall. "BK says he has big potential!" To say nothing of the 25% of 2028s playing for Crabs, 91, KP, Claws, Preds, Team MD, etc whose parents also think their freshman kids will be playing varsity at CH in Spring 2025. Sorry, but 194 out of those 200 boys will in fact NOT be playing varsity as CHC freshmen.

If you want to be "My son's transferring out!!!!!" parents, then God speed, because guess what, the coaches at the "new school" will see you a mile away, too.

Lol just send your kid to Curley - problem solved.

I can think of one FCA 2028 player that will be on CH varsity in 2025!

Making varsity and playing varsity as a frosh are two entirely different things!!!

LOL you don't say! Hahahaha.

LOL you don't say! Hahahaha.
A half dozen 2025 parents at an MIAA-C school pulled their kids last spring when they didn't make varsity as freshmen. #doingitwrong

Right, so honestly, that is one less varsity spot available that year.

If they didn't make varsity as a freshaman at a C school, they must really be bad.

Many Hoco A-B players should be able to make MIAA C teams as freshmen.

Is MIAA-C really that bad? That seems harsh. I don't know though.

Question for the Baltimore/Annapolis parents out of curiosity, do the teams mostly sort at this point with current or future BL kids at Crabs, future Calvert Hall players at FCA, and a mix of St. Mary’s/Severn at Hawks or does it not split along school lines like that?

Maybe the Water Boy

In very general terms that could change completely by end of 9th grade. Posted with no judgment of teams or schools:

FCA: Mostly public/charter school kids who plan to attend Calvert Hall, along with a few Loyola and St Pauls hopefuls. Some 2029s/30s moving to Gilman.
Crabs: Mostly Boys Latin kids, a few Loyola and Gilman kids, along with some public school kids.
Kelly Post AAA: Several players are already at Loyola or Boys Latin. Most are public school, half of those will stay public @ Towson HS.
LTLC, Predators, Forest Hill, Blue Claws: Several players are ALREADY at Loyola, St Pauls, Concordia (Baltimore Lutheran), other Catholics, probably 50% public.
91: Primarily Balt County and HoCo Public Schools. Some BL and McD kids (Millon has not started recruiting McD or St Pauls ringers at this age group.....yet)
Hawks: Someone else should chime in, but they have such a large "service area" I think it's like 91, tons of schools represented

Historically:
MESA MD (disbanded): (If I understand the history) was supposed to split kids between Severna Park and Severn School
Koopers (no 2028 team): Usually a mix of St. Pauls, Loyola, Dulaney & Towson HS kids
Looneys (no 2028 team): Usually primarily Loyola kids

I meaaaaaaaaaan...........nothing is set for 9th grade for sure. There will be coaching changes both at clubs and at HS in the next 3 years, you can bank on that, and those relationships have an impact on who gets funneled where.

For anyone reading those who doesn't know what direction to head, and your kid can kind of play ball, I have two recommendations for things you must address before September 1 this year.

First, get your son's grades up

Second, get your son on the best-coached team where he gets substantial playing time.

Saint Pauls School is 50+ miles from Hawks or Madlax workouts but the Saint Pauls coaches have heard of the Hawks and Madlax lol.

That being said, it would be insane to send your kid on a >60 minute commute to high school in this area. There is an OK private HS and an OK public high school each with an OK lacrosse program in every county east of Hagerstown and west of Easton. Not counting Saint Marys and Charles County perhaps.

The above list is super not accurate.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

Fairly close on teams.

To fill in the Hawks blanks… primarily St. Mary’s (maybe 8 kids on the team are already there). Lately a bunch have gone to Spalding but that’s a recent thing. Then usually a couple to Severn, Severna Park etc.

Predators appear to draw all over Baltimore County. Because of the coaches, I assume they are kids looking at St. Paul’s and McDonough. But I think the 25 team has kids from BL, CH, Loyola, Dulaney, Towson, and Hereford too. Who knows what they will become.

Rock is another St Paul’s product that also has kids from all over Baltimore County and Towson- Ridgely and St Joes MS. They went to many random HS teams. But not sure if they will be fielding any teams this year.

Forest Hill and Blue Claws teams are up in Harford Co. Mostly St. Margaret and Bel Air MS kids so I assume John Carroll, CM Wright and Patterson Mill.

I think Koopers absorbed Fallston Club Lacrosse (FCL) a few years ago so it has kids from Harford Co. too. I believe the 25 kids ended up at John Carroll, Fallston and the other local publics.

Koopers will be OK and they do have some Fallston kids who came over when the geniuses from True swung through Balt & Harford Counties, blowing up well established youth clubs.

Hot take, the 2028 and 2029 classes of lax players in MD/DC are smaller than the 2024-2027 classes. Upper level lax seems unaffected at the 2028 level but AA, A, and B levels are feeling it. No Koopers team. No Looneys. Breakers is done. Zingoes kids are really rec players, The Sidewinders B team was actually 28/29/30s if you can believe that. The Loudon Tribe team is 28/29/30. True Baltimore's A team collapsed (so they ate Kelly Post's A team). This is partly why I've said in other forums that the 2028s will see fewer "HERE I AM" surprise 9th grade lax standouts who didn't play serious club ball before 8th or 9th grade. I think very few talented 2028s are just hanging out in rec at this point. Why would they?

I think if you and your 2028 only attend Madlax, FCA, Crabs (etc) tryouts you might not notice this because there's still 60-80 kids at those tryouts.

And at the 2029 level, it sure looks like the numbers are lower too, and it's affecting higher level clubs. 2029 Crabs had 9 total players commit, and folded the team (obviously a new one will pop up in 8 months). I believe FCA only has a single team at 2029 instead of Blue/White. The FCA 2028s have had two teams since 3rd grade (def since 4th). 91 tried to field individual teams for 29, 30, and 31 and about 50 kids tried out for all three.

I think the final "X" factor will be that a lot of the rec clubs basically shut down after 8th grade (but they might not always do that. given the recent success of KP, Claws, Forest Hill, HLC at the middle school level) AND other random AA-AAA clubs like Rock don't start until 9th grade. It will be interesting to see the sorting.

Interesting take. I suspect this 2 year Rec hiatus due to COVID has had a real impact on drawing in/developing players at the Rec level for 3rd and 4th graders. Limited or cancelled spring seasons has had a big impact. It’s too bad. It’ll eventually swing back, as these are the feeders for the good clubs teams, at least in the DMV. Madlax is full of kids from Vienna, Mclean, Great Falls, Arlington and even Loudon/Algonkian. They all came up in the NVYLL, which is very competitive at the upper level.

Meh - Teams come and go.

FCA, Hawks, Madlax, Kelly Post and Next Level (and now blue claws) all have two 28 teams.

The kids from the aforementioned mentioned folded clubs are still playing they’ve just moved.

Cavs A team goes away - VLC starts a 28. HoCo Pink folds - preds starts.

The kids are still there in increasing numbers. You are just describing the instability of club lacrosse.

While the Rec clubs compete at this younger age they will ultimately fold once parents realize their directors cannot get them into top tier tournaments the traditional blue blood clubs play. They can still play aloha, trilogy and hogan tourneys but will not be able to play in the more competitive tournaments that the top clubs from around the nation compete in.

Rec/club is great while kids are young but for those looking to play the best you will need to seek a more established club program.

Any educated guesses on who the final 2 teams will be in HoCo Elite 2028? Prob 2 of the following teams: BLC, Kelly Post, VLC, Blue Claws?

BLC for sure. Then probably Kelly Post. Blue Claws is close to KP so could be them too. VLC isn’t close to these teams yet. They will be mid to bottom of AAA.