Back of THE CAGE Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND MAIN FORUM Girls 2027 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

I am not blaming him but I am saying that he is the one person that can fix it but he chooses not to(you can choose the reason)

Agreed, we all know those M&D NGLL championships have big asterisks there.

Take up bowling or golf. I bet your own team has a couple young ladies that wouldn’t meet the date deadline.

Picked last in kickball were you?

As a parent of a “hold back” not on M&D, some of you all will really complain about anything. Born in August, we could have made her the youngest in her 2026 Kindergarten class or oldest in her 27 class. We chose 27 and I can confirm lacrosse had nothing to do with it at age 5.

I almost held by our youngest because of Covid and remote learning which was a wasted year.

It all evens out by high school, you’re freaking out about 7th grade lax, get a life

Make the decision that best suits your kid and your family, not suggesting that shouldn’t be ok but simply put they need to be on an age appropriate team. I understand the august thing but there needs to be some sort of line like EVERY other sport. As for the freaking out, it does even out in high school but my older daughter got a concussion in a game against a girl who was born in January and outweighed her by a solid 30-40 pounds.

If this is just a freak out when it doesn’t matter, why not let boys play girls lacrosse. After all it is a different sport and it doesn’t matter that they would be taking spots on teams from age appropriate girls.

What people often miss in this discussion is that There are enough of these older kids to form 1-2 “elite” teams in any age group/region. But there aren’t enough to support a whole top tier division.

So what happens? M&D and Heros (or the Hawks and Crabs) all dominate their divisions against teams that don’t have the same number of older kids and that same advantage.

And the lacrosse simply isn’t competitive. As a result, kids in the top half of the talent curve simply dont develop as well.

And this, lacrosse continues to be a small, regional-sport. Not growing the way others are.

This is one thing soccer gets right. Age-based is the way to go if you want to grow the game and raise the bar for the sport as a whole, across the country. That only happens with ensuring competitive games for the bull of the kids and pushing the top kids to challenge themselves by playing up, not down.

No one is talking about your Aug 2008 kid on 2027s, lol.

Way to use literally the most tame example though

The Yankees, Patriots, Alabama football, Duke basketball, people love to detest powers. I guess the same thing goes for M&D. People are going to take shots at them because right now they are the best club around.

In the Baltimore area the private schools have kindergarten and pre-first. Many parents choose pre-first for a multitude of reasons other than they want their daughter to be the next Charlotte North. Skywalkers, Coppermine, will join Hero’s and M&D with girls that attended pre-first.

Congrats to M&D with a lopsided win over Madskillz to win the NGLL Championship.

Congrats to M&D great performance all weekend. Wish the final would have been against Aces though. Think it would have been a much better game.

Watched the second half of the aces Madskillz game and it was some of the worst officiating I have ever seen. Came back from a 5-1 deficit driven by 3 questionable free positions calls and 2 nearly unexplainable charges on aces.

Think M and D still would have won, but no way they win by 8

A few months means 30-40 lbs, got it

Soccer stinks ! Lax is growing at all levels. Colleges adding teams. High schools in non traditional states is starting. Lax is faster and more of a spectator sport than soccer. Stop comparing it. The ncaa had a 24 year old win player of the tournament yesterday. I bet some 18 yr old mom is complaining to ncaa today. Your soon to be freshman will complain when she as to compete with sophomores. Take away the winning here but I bet most kids get better playing up in age anyway.

Soccer does stink but the point being made was they use a firm 12-month period - Soccer uses the calendar year (Jan 1-Dec 31) and there is no wiggle room unless the kid is so good he/she can play "up" a year. A school year (Sept 1 - August 31) could be used too, just pick a 12 month period and stick with it. The current "graduation year" sets parents up to make decisions on if they should hold Johnny back or not (Many do so in middle school directly for sports so the whole pre-k vs kindergarten holdback option option is only half of it). If there wasn't an advantage, people wouldn't do it. If you watch a youth travel soccer game, there aren't girls that are a foot taller than others. Just saying... Not sure why this can't be discussed without people having their hair on fire. Probably because their kids would be average if they played with kids their own age.