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

(Not the dad you're arguing with) Fall games are counted just the same as summer tourneys in the elite parents' most coveted way: national rankings. It only "means nothing" in terms of the second most important metric to elite lax parents: being able to brag about it the following sunday in your luxury box at M&T Bank Stadium.

As a guy who builds and runs small companies for a living, let me impart this knowledge on you. If your kid's coaches/directors cannot keep together a competitive roster for fall events, they are not doing their job. Every elite team in the top 10-20 nationally has the network and funding to pull kids in for individual events (my kid is one of these free agent type kids). If your kid's team is stumbling at fall events AND your national ranking is important to the club and to parents, then you need to be barking at the club directors for putting the team in the wrong fall tournaments, or failing to reach out to their network of "free agent players" from whatever state.

I challenge you to come up with an excuse for Hogan's Hawks to roll into Hogan's tournament, with 27-28 players, including their top 5 or so players, and out-of-state players, and perform the way they did. "Fall counts for nothing!" That's not how business, or reputations, or rankings, or sports work. These are not scrimmages played with portable lighting on a tuesday night.

And now you know why Next Level is happy to go tear through a meaningless Aloha tournament like a tornado, rather than get embarrassed at their own elite tournament with 30 kids on the sideline.





Ahh the rarified Elite Youth Lax air. The AA group at Fall Brawl will all be in the national top 50 or so by next summer. They are not "B teams" lol.

Crabs did something that none of the other teams, including Hawks and Dukes and BLC, could do on the same day: ensure they had a solid, cohesive team with enough players on it to ensure 3 wins for the day and not trip over the likes of 91 and FCA White. Crabs may or may not have "proved they are better" but they certainly proved they are well run, well chosen in tryouts, and well coached enough to not lose or tie games to the likes of FCA White and Predators. Crabs made sure their 2028 boys had a successful day. I'm no fan of King Krab but.

Dukes are legitimately a good team. I don't recall them being relevant nationally in the past. Have they added new players? If so from where?

Freedom has been the top Philly program at this age group. I'd be curious to see how Dukes would stack up to them this year.

I'd pump the breaks on them being better than the Hawks, but certainly a relevant team now.

I will def pump the brakes; that Hawks team is really, really good, def a huge win for the Duke’s boys. No skin in game for me (son is on the younger team) but they brought in a few really good players to compliment what they already had.
Freedom is still a beast, think they beat them in a tourney the prior week.
Regardless, impressive win for a team trying to get into the 2028 conversation.

Hawks parents have been awfully quiet in here for a while anyway. Now I'm sure they'll be very quiet.

But- this forum is a complete joke to many many people.

The Hawks, Crabs, FCA all have kids going to play in elite events, and are prepping for high level MIAA championship level lacrosse in just a couple years. Those players.. and their parents... are NOT the ones in here chirping anonymously and running their mouths about children. They are the parents making sure their kids are prepared physically, have good grades, and are ready for the next level.

A lot of you will be left behind. Your kids will be left behind. But... at least you'll have the message board of mediocrity. Because that's what this has become... a place for parents of mediocre players to spout off without anyone knowing your kid is bound for public school JV.

NXT and Freedom will beat them.

As a Madlax parent, I’m not sure I’ll disagree with this statement. Our roster is only 19-20 to begin with, and we will be missing 8-9 starters on Saturday due to football playoffs and injuries, including our goalie. That leaves us with only 11-12 of our Capital team players, will be filling in with several DMV kids presumably. It is what it is— prepared for it. Any wins will be a bonus for the kids who do show up.

Should be fine come Spring/HoCo

And yet here you are. BOTC is a joke to anyone who has their head firmly attached.

Yeah, I'd be shocked if the parents of top ML and Hawks kids were chirping on BOTC......if I didn't literally know they are chirping on BOTC because we talk about it in person.

Go away, Mr. Elite Lax Adjacent. Your 3rd string NL kid will play Fresh-Soph ball in MIAA and then miss JV in 11th grade because the rest of the AAA youth lax kids who got into MIAA on academics, will eventually have their growth spurts and bypass him. Sorry not sorry.

you seem nice

VLC has some Loudoun kids. Practices tend to be in Reston area or Loudoun. Hammers used to practice at the sports complex off of Evergreen Mills but they no longer practice there and I think they are at Word of Grace in Chantily. From what I have heard, those are the two major teams for Loudoun families unless you want to drive in further in for Madlax or to Maryland for a more competitive team.

Both teams have winter skills clinics that anyone can join; you could check those out to see if your son would be a good fit. I would check out their Instagram pages for information. You could also reach out to the coaches to see if your son could join a practice, although practices are wrapping up soon for the fall.

You can also check out the US Club Lacrosse page for last years' team rankings, I have heard it's not super accurate, but it can give you an idea. I don't believe this seasons' rankings are posted yet.

Hope this helps.

fool how madlax is the only youth lacrosse team in the nation with kids who play football.

7 kids in 4 different football championship games this Saturday.

I tried to respond to this but I did it incorrectly and it didn't quote your question. But see my response on page 143 of this thread, its #400124.

They are probably 14 anyway so this may be a more ac”age appropriate team this week.

I suppose all the ML out-of-state fly in kids were also in football championship games on Saturday?

Pretty much every kid from AA to Elite plays soccer or football, and yet this somehow is an excuse only for Madlax's performance every fall. Cool.

Even if this was true, and only affected ML, it highlights your coach's inability to secure talent for a tournament . Not sure I would brag about that.

Hilarious but wrong. But have your little johnny hit the wall. Perhaps workout some and hit a gym every now and again. Then maybe and just maybe one day he will be able to sniff a championship.

I suppose all the ML out-of-state fly in kids were also in football championship games on Saturday?

Pretty much every kid from AA to Elite plays soccer or football, and yet this somehow is an excuse only for Madlax's performance every fall. Cool.

Even if this was true, and only affected ML, it highlights your coach's inability to secure talent for a tournament . Not sure I would brag about that.[/quote


Just stating the facts. Also, 2 other kids out with injuries.

Scheduling a Saturday tournament in November is notIntelligent if you are a club director. Football and soccer playoffs still going on.

Apparently they only play in championship games

What happened to the Blue Claws and HLC? They have not played in any fall tournaments. Seems like their kids don't get a lot of exposure/development playing for those programs.

blue claws is playing in an aloha tournament this weekend.

[

7 kids in 4 different football championship games this Saturday.[/quote]

Apparently they only play in championship games[/quote]

Nope, the same 7-8 kids were at football games last weekend. And the top offensive player can’t play on Sundays. Oh yeah. The only goalie is out with a broken hand from the FCA game a few weeks ago.

Keep piling on, it’s pretty. Funny considering this team win win HoCo. Mark it down.

Nobody has provided any solid reasons as to how Team 91 got so much better. Did they reclass? Did the gobble up players from other teams? They’ve been flat out awful the last few years

The new players on team 91 have been discussed 97 times on this board.

According to their first tournament they didn’t get that much better. Lost to Crabs big and only beat FCA White by a few so chill out.

Baltimore area has a rec laccrosse program that went up to 7th grade all the kids switched to the team nearest to them

BLC looked to pick up a new goalie and brand new attack. They scored every time on man up

Apparently they only play in championship games[/quote]

Nope, the same 7-8 kids were at football games last weekend. And the top offensive player can’t play on Sundays. Oh yeah. The only goalie is out with a broken hand from the FCA game a few weeks ago.

Keep piling on, it’s pretty. Funny considering this team win win HoCo. Mark it down.[/quote]

Future results not wholly based on past performance but where is the upward trend you promise? What has changed that will have ML beat FCA and NL?

2022-2023: One goalie, 19 kids on roster, families are holding their kids out of ML fall events apparently, or making them "unavailable."
2022: 5-3, 4th place HoCo
2021: 7-2, 2nd place HoCo
2020: Short covid season, 2nd place HoCo
2019: Not online and I don't remember

They got handled at their earlier tournament by out of state elite teams. And barely beat The FCA b team.

They played a tremendous game against hawks. Congrats to them on a well deserved and earned win. Very happy for those kids.

Outside that it looks like the same 91.

Kelly Post runs up through 8th grade and the club survived True Baltimore's best (and substantial) effort at destroying it in 2020-2021, only to see the KP 2028s collapse internally in 2022.

Many of the KP kids were at most of the Baltimore area tryouts.

There was a secret early recruitment to Team 91 (8 starters)
One kid made Crabs
One kid made FCA White
Two? kids made Predators

The rest of the parents, especially those unaware of the silent summer T91 defection, were kind of left in the lurch, and the kids ended up at LTLC, True Baltimore, or the former Kelly Post "B" team which I guess will now be AA or AAA.

I'll let somebody else comment on the details of the drama that caused the blowup. But any time you have a parent reaching out to another club (91) to make a deal for 8-10 kids to go to that new club outside of the tryout process, obviously all is not well.

Please stop making up falsehoods. It wasn’t a parent who reach led out and orchestrated anything.

First of all, who cares, really. Youth lax is contractual and you can put your kids wherever you want if the coach agrees to take them, and you pay the invoice. I know the parents who ended up randomly going to True were blindsided and "not thrilled", but most parents (by the time their athletic son is this age) knows this is the case.

Second of all, the only people rankled about discussing this, is the parents who took part in the "mutiny" to 91, so, we see you.

Third, who are you kidding. "Falsehoods." (also, when you know every other word in that post was dead-on accurate). These are 12 year olds spread across multiple schools and don't have an agent. The parents had a huge role in it, even if (especially SINCE) it wasn't discussed on the KP pre-tryout parent zoom calls this summer and when asked "where are your kids trying out," a certain number of parents who'd already committed to 91 basically said, huh, what, oh who knows, what tryouts ha ha / nervous laugh?. With tryouts in late July.............This was a topic of discussion at tournaments in June, "5 kids are going to 91" "10 kids are going to 91". "KP is imploding and they're all going to Crabs." It wasn't all accurate but it sure wasn't a secret. You didn't do a great job keeping it quiet. KP kids signed up for July camps in June registered club......"Team 91 MD." Showed up to July camps before tryouts in.......91 shorts.

Somebody spent a lot of energy making sure some kids had an inside track (and that happens every day in youth lax) while other specific kids who you have known for years, did not have that access or even a heads up. And it's a tough world out there, so that's fine too. But we see you lol. Welcome to the fold, you are not better than anybody else making transactional relationships for their kids' benefit. And it's fine. Just don't pretend you're better than the holdback parents, the fly-in free agent parents, the paying-for-one-on-one-Deemer-Class parents, or whatever else.

I think I heard from other parents there the attack is from MadLax.

Which team, Team 91?

So you all learned a valuable lesson. 91 doesn’t develop talent, they recruit and make deals for talent. Free tuition, they will take a player they don’t want to get the player they do want because they are buddies then cut the less talented kid later on, etc….

The BLC Attackmen came from Madlax

Crabs 27 did have hold backs but they moved to other teams because Crabs 2028 isn’t competitive against elite teams.

Crabs isn’t run well. The kids don’t miss anything out of fear of being replaced mid season. I know Crab players at older ages that have been benched and then cut because they “missed” to play their in season sport.

t.[/quote]
Crabs isn’t run well. The kids don’t miss anything out of fear of being replaced mid season. I know Crab players at older ages that have been benched and then cut because they “missed” to play their in season sport.[/quote]

To King Krab's credit, the policy is extremely clear and explicit when you join - this is your only lax team, period, this is your #1 sports commitment outside of school sports, and your #3 overall commitment behind academics and family emergencies. It's a written policy.

That seemed fool in 5th grade so we said no. Honestly it still seems fool in 7th grade.

Crabs isn’t run well. The kids don’t miss anything out of fear of being replaced mid season. I know Crab players at older ages that have been benched and then cut because they “missed” to play their in season sport.[/quote]

To King Krab's credit, the policy is extremely clear and explicit when you join - this is your only lax team, period, this is your #1 sports commitment outside of school sports, and your #3 overall commitment behind academics and family emergencies. It's a written policy.

That seemed fool in 5th grade so we said no. Honestly it still seems fool in 7th grade.[/quote]

Yes policy is very clear. You can’t miss any practices unless you are from Pennsylvania,Florida or Texas. Those kids can just show up on weekends and start. Crabs are only as good as the holdbacks and out of town kids on team.

To King Krab's credit, the policy is extremely clear and explicit when you join - this is your only lax team, period, this is your #1 sports commitment outside of school sports, and your #3 overall commitment behind academics and family emergencies. It's a written policy.

That seemed fool in 5th grade so we said no. Honestly it still seems fool in 7th grade.[/quote]

Yes policy is very clear. You can’t miss any practices unless you are from Pennsylvania,Florida or Texas. Those kids can just show up on weekends and start. Crabs are only as good as the holdbacks and out of town kids on team.[/quote]

Yeah, tbh this is an interesting ripple in King Krab's No Exceptions Policy.