Back of THE CAGE Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND MAIN FORUM Boys 2030 Midatlantic

Used to be perry hall Rec. Rebranded and raised dues and are now a club.

Decent place for players playing for the fun of the game. Think LTLC.

Swarm is club team for Perry Hall, like Blue Claws are part of Belair

Any other reason to play in 4th grade other than "fun of the game" ?

That should be the only reason any kid plays.

Totally! When kids are having fun at something, they want to do it more! When they do it more, they tend to get better and have more success and accomplishments. It’s So important to make it fun at the younger ages.

Most Parents make it too serious too young, Then, it becomes a job for the kid. I See so many of those kids on the older teams and usually their parents are the screamers in the stands! Kid looks miserable

Baltimore Swarm 2030 team will be having tryouts at Concordia Prep 7/25/22-7/29/22. This year The Swarm 2030 team won MYLA club division and came in 2nd in HoCo AA division.

https://baltimoreswarmlax.com/

My son is fairly new to playing club lacrosse and we are new to the landscape on the boys side in terms of all the teams/levels in the area. Can someone give a general breakdown of local clubs and levels? I know I can look at the GHCL for the 2030s, but as they get older, there seems to be more teams/clubs and what becomes more competitive or is it all age based? Also, are there clubs that don't have parent coaches at some point? Thanks!

At this age there is AAA is the highest level, next one down is AA and so on. Tons of clubs at all levels, just have to decide how far you’re willing to travel. I’m unsure of any clubs that don’t have parent coaches, unfortunately. It’s a shame how much better some teams would be if not for Daddy ball and Buddy Ball.

What position does he play? Where are you located?

Goalie. Howard county area

If he is a goalie and is really good. Half the teams out here will take him.

If he's not that good yet and still developing and shows potential, the other half will take him.

No need to jump on the top level teams at this moment in time. Let your goalie develop. Best thing for him is to play on the worst possible team. That way he’ll see all the shots and work on his mental toughness. A lot of these top level teams will cut all the deadweight by the six grade. By then your goalie should be elite level. And will make any team. Now granite there’s a lot of politics, for example the crabs. And the only reason I picked them is because they seem to be the closest team to you. If you don’t plan on going to one of the powerhouse teams in the area MCD and BL for example then chances are your son will be cut unless he’s one of the best goalies in the area. Part of their business model is to use kids status on private school teams. They make people believe that they had something to do with your Kid going to one of those schools. As if they develop them. Play on the worst team in the elite level that way you develop and you can observe. Take these two years to scout each team. Beware of the teams with the highly social goalie moms and dads. If your son is better and tries out for their team they will turn all the parents against you and make your life miserable until you find another team.

This.

What are considered "top half" and "bottom half"?

When looking for a team I would suggest you look around and find a coaching staff that you agree with and feel comfortable with. Maryland lacrosse is a garbage show. Seems like new programs pop up and fold every season. You basically have 2 choices:

Real clubs:
Crabs
91
FCA....

Club Rec:
Ville
Balt. Swarm
BlueClaws.....

Real clubs will cost you a bit more but will provide things like Goalie training, nice facilities, and as you get older the Name which will help with recruiting. The negative of Real clubs is the Bottom line is important so if they find better players the existing players get cut.

Club Rec is often times much cheaper because the county recs pay for their field space. Their coaches are often dads and specialty training is usually poor.

Either way at this age group most of the coaches are dads. There are tons of drama in both.

I suggested finding a coaching staff because the kids will jump all over the place because parents are crazy. But having good coaches, dads or not, will encourage you child to learn while having lots of fun.

Remember the kids are 10 so the only reason they play is because the like the sport and want to have fun.