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

You're right on all counts.
1. Create LLC
2. Assemble roster from two other teams
3. Play together (2 tournaments) - this is actually the hardest part to comply with.

As for the 100 miles stipulation, if you can't accomplish that in this region, you're not a very good club director. Yes the TX and FL boys will have to stay home.

The problem is (was last year) is that the qualifiers were going on the same weekend as HoCo.

Any one have fall tournament schedules yet?

ML playing jn the following:

1.Fallfest on 10/23
2.Adrenaline on 11/5-6
3. NAL on 11/12-13

That would not be a team in my opinion.
You lose the very point of team.

But that doesn’t seem to matter to coaches/parents

That's a cute sentiment. Welcome to club lacrosse in 2022.

It’s totally a team. It might not be a club per se but who cares. It’s what the rules dictate.

The rule is two or more CLUBS cannot create a team. Team MA was pulled together by the parents, with no affiliation with the club the kids played for.

Or your club team could join without all the holdbacks.

Honestly, if club lax wasn't 98% about marketing and revenue, elite teams in MD would do this. I have little doubt that Hawks, ML, Crabs would be relatively successful in the WS events without their holdbacks, and without their 1-3 kids each from TX, Richmond, etc. If club lax was really - actually - about "benefits to the player" and "the kids' experience" and "developing players" and so on, clubs would simply do that, and the elite clubs with the most holdbacks, out of state kids, etc would still get some wins in a high profile event.

But they don't do it. I wonder why.

Hawks and Madlax used to participate in WSYL if I do recall correctly.

Because they already have HoCo, which offers the best competition in the nation on a weekly basis. If the organizers of the new faux World Series wanted Maryland teams to compete than they'd offer qualifiers that don't conflict with HoCo.

Hearing the rosters are huge this year with their being lesser teams than last year. Can anyone confirm this.

How many are on your sons team?

Not yet

Most semi-serious teams picked up bigger rosters this year which is not unusual for 7th-8th grade or beyond. No more showing up to tournaments with 13 kids "because football" or whatever.

As a coach, I find it a tough year for some kids because things are starting to get mixed up. Kids who used to be standouts because of size not skill, suddenly are losing their advantage. Kids who haven't had their growth spurt yet are struggling to keep up and coaches will see in the next 2 years what those kids are made of. Other kids are coming into their own all of a sudden.

Then, you mix with that, bigger rosters which means (unless you are playing A/B club ball or rec), some kids just aren't going to play much or at all. For example Team 91 was already rocking 30 kids before taking on 10? kids from Kelly Post, which was all before tryouts even happened, and as MM loves to advertise "We don't cut players." How many kids are playing if there are 38 on the roster.

But it is what it is. 91 is not alone in this. Prices and roster sizes went up universally this year.

Not Madlax. Stuck at 18 I’m told, sounding desperate to find a couple of kids to fill the drill lines at practice… .maybe the coach should change his tune.

There are 21 kids on the fall roster

New Organizers of the World Series… you mean everyone’s favorite Lacrosse Club???

Previous poster here - I agree with you. I find it fool when events like this and good old Apex knowingly put local events on the calendar that they KNOW will conflict with "known" things like lax tryouts (last 2 weeks of July) and the HoCo schedule.

Did anyone did Apex Youth Lacrosse in the past? Did you like it? Cost?

This is not remotely true. Those teams would not be nearly as good without holdbacks and guest players.

Why all this talk of WSL ,,, It is not with the better players of that year. Lacrosse is about older players, accept it or be left in the rear view mirror.

My son is a holdback and he couldn't compete any other way. The year he was held back, he went from a good player , to a really good player

Many teams started practice yesterday.

A dawn of new hope for clubs who are happy about the prospects of the upcoming season.

Good luck to all.

I have a question. I didn't hold back my kid. Over half the 29's are holdbacks and are older than my son. Would I be wrong if I simply just registered my kid for the 29' team? Or is holding back your kid only for the private school kids?

Depends on what team you play for. If it’s a good team absolutely- would love to have free tournament wins as your forfeit all your games.

If your on a terrible team then no one cares.

I have a question. I didn't hold back my kid. Over half the 29's are holdbacks and are older than my son. Would I be wrong if I simply just registered my kid for the 29' team? Or is holding back your kid only for the private school kids?[/quote]

I hope your question is merely sarcastic and cynical about the prevalence of holdbacks, and not serious. Whether you like holdbacks or not, they are part of the game, and are perfectly legal. But if your son is in a certain grade and plays down, regardless of his age, ability, or whatever, that is cheating. I have seen teams get caught doing this several times and it is really ugly. Opposing teams laugh and love to see it, because they dislike the program (MadLax) that is most frequently getting caught. But it is unfair to the families of the other players, whose job it not to police the grade of their son's teammates, and who have their weekend ruined by traveling to tournaments and paying for hotels, only for the humiliation of being DQ'd and called cheaters. And it is worst for the player himself -- all his teammates and their parents will treat him like a leper. Hopefully your question was not serious!

Holdback Troll: You can't just register your kid for a random age group. He has to be in that grad year. To play for the 29s, he must be a 6th grader this year. For 28s, has to be in 7th. Very few, if anyone, actually holds their kid back for lacrosse. There are usually other reasons. Being a holdback IS an advantage, but it usually doesn't last long. The best kids play up, not down.

I had 4 boys play. When you register they ask, “what grade is your child in?” You can register your kid in any lax “class” you want.
No one ever asks again or checks in. Just sign up for whatever team you want.
You only have to worry about age in high school. Your kid can’t hold back more than once and still play his senior year.

That's accurate in my experience, no one's ever actually asked for a school transcript or anything else to prove my son's grade.

However kids who go to the same school know who's in what grade so if any team is likely to get busted it would be that way.

Do you people actually read the things you post?

Correct. It’s purely the honor system. No one will ever check or ask you to verify anything about a kid.

Club youth Lacrosse as we know it would break if there were actually any real validations out in place.

The best kids “play up” (usually in a club situation) in youth years, which does develop them more and is advantageous. Then they re-class and play down to try and dominate those who don’t. So, yes and no! The best usually play up first and then they play down! We know the games people play!

Anyone else know what tournaments teams are doing this fall

Madlax playing the following:

1. Crabs Halloween Open (10/30)
2. Adrenaline Gold Cup (11/5-6)
3. NAL (11/12-13)

If it is your experience that nobody gets caught and nobody cares, then your experience is limited and your son probably plays in lower tier events. Generally the more competitive the league, the more closely they check. At one extreme, the world series checks roster eligibility (by age, not class year) incredibly closely. At the other extreme, there are probably B and C level events that are informal and nobody cares. (they should care, since it is a safety issue). At typically competitive travel events such as the HoCo league and big tournaments like NAL and NLF, they do take seriously the requirement that players be in the right grade. Do people break this rule and get away with it? Probably so, but it is harder than you think because families on opposing teams all know each other, and parents will tell their son's coach to challenge opposing teams who have players that parents know are ineligible. Nobody likes cheaters. Two examples that I happen to know is that a MadLax 2026 team was disqualified from HoCo playoffs a couple of years ago for using players that were 2025's, and Cavalier 2027 was disqualified from HoCo playoffs last year for using a goalie that was a couple of grades too old. MadLax has been DQ'd from Hogan tournaments on the same basis. In each case, and opposing team turned them in. Trust me, you do NOT want your son to be known as the cheater who got his team kicked out of the playoffs or a tournament.

Leading Edge does this. I know for a fact two 2026 players that played for the 2027 team this past summer. Both players did not reclass. Blatant cheating.

Got it. See how quickly the rich private school dads shoot down the idea. If all the public school kids played down (and in turn on age) their holdbacks wouldn't look so good would they? Makes no sense that an 11/2008 kid is playing against a 6/2010 kid. Great job ruining the youth experience elitists.

"Rich private school dads". Pretty much the densest comment outside of a Bernie Sanders rally I've heard. What makes you think only "rich" parents send their kids to private school? My wife and I make huge financial sacrifices to afford it. Live in a modest house and have modest cars/skip vacations....etc. It has absolutely nothing to do with lacrosse. It has everything to do with being in a smaller classroom and maximizing educational opportunities for our kids. That's it. If you holdback your kid for lacrosse, great. I think it's silly, but at the end of the day I don't care.

If you are jealous of private school kids.....maybe you should work harder and figure it out. Otherwise, STFU.

Can confirm leading edge does this. Their 2028s have at least one 2027 whose going to the 8th grade and will play with the 2028s this year as he did last year.