US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Age and Reclassification. The good the bad the ugly!

Absolutely!

Sorry to burst your bubble holdback dad but my son can get in to any school he wants to without lacrosse and I have the money to pay for his tuition and your kids tuition too so he and I don't need lacrosse like you and your son do . Good luck ,I'm sure your son is going to need it since you had to reclass him already . #realstudsdontreclass

Pretty much nobody cares if you are a reclass besides whiny dads on forums who think there own son is slighted in some way by holdbacks. Kids don’t talk about it, players don’t care, college coaches love it.

See the thing is, either your kid is D1 level talent or they are not. It won’t matter if they play against a kid 1 or 2 years older or younger, they will still stand out. 365 days does not make a huge difference in ability, and it certainly doesn’t affect raw natural talent and athleticism. Coaches are looking for athletes, plain and simple. You are either going to catch a coaches eye or you’re not. Everybody knows who the real athletes are, they are the ones who can be on multiple varsity sports over their high school career, they end up with 8 or more Varsity letters. If your son isn’t athletic, it doesn’t matter who you play against and what their ages are. Stop all the whining, reclassing and different ages in a grade happen at every school across the nation. I have 3 kids, and each will graduate high school at a different age.

My best advice, stop letting this bother you and try to enjoy the time you have with your player. One day, when it comes close to being over, you will wish you focused more on this amazing experience and focused less on other peoples kids. The only kid that should matter in your mind is your own, stop letting others live there rent free.

Dear reclass dad, sorry your kid was not good enough to make it on age. But you are right, once the kids hit 15, 16 years of age on up, it does not matter. But when your 14 year old was dominating 11 year old competition, all you did was take a roster spot from a more deserving kid and risk injury to those younger kids that were not as physically mature. You took a shortcut so you can boast about your kid scoring 3 goals in a youth lacrosse game against a bunch of younger kids. Pathetic. To your face everyone will nod and say they do not care, who wants to get into it with a half witted parent that thinks their kid is a D1 player? But when you walk away everyone knows what the deal is. For every holdback kid that goes D1, there are another 10 that are out of the game or on the bench by their HS sophomore year because they could not compete. Until these clubs enforce on age, I guess you can say you did not cheat, but you are very weak.........

So you’re saying most holdbacks are 3 years older? Why do you need to exaggerate to prove your point?

Reclass/holdbacks= sad and pathetic father/son

To the parents who choose to hold their kid back or more specifically reclass their son: it's your call and the majority of us do not care what you do, it's your choice. Most people do not care when it comes to school ball or college because the "grades, classes, ages" would be mixed even if everyone was in the age appropriate grad/class.

Club ball is another story all together, it should be age based. Tell yourself whatever makes you feel good but in the end you are gaming the system because you obviously feel that your kid can not compete with the boys in his age group.

This is probably the most reasonable take I’ve ever heard on this board.

Wow, this is truly a sad and pathetic post. Please get some help.

LI Dirty Martini-
3 parts Tito’s vodka
1 part tears of parents who cry about holdbacks(if you want your drink extra dirty get tears of parents who call them “reclasses”)

Classic response from a holdback/reclass dad with nothing else to say . Your reclasses kid is probably on a second line lol. I heard there are quite a few reclassed kids on long island that don't even start haha

I agree that it shouldn't matter in college. It should matter for middle school and high school. You can conceivable have your career ended before high school starts if you are young kid for your grade competing against a old kid who held back or got left back. 9th grade you are still 13 the other guy is 15 and change. You could be same athletic level really but puberty wins out. You turn 17 in college he graduates HS almost 19. You gotta have some good genes to beat that.

Lmao. You pathetic holdback parents crack me up.

First, there are plenty of high quality on-age LI players on these teams ss you know.

My kid and his on-age teammates have been competing against holdback-only teams for 10 years and in that period of time they have lost to almost none of those teams. Yeah. 10 years. So competing against subpar hold-back-only kids for another 4 years will be no problem. Obviously!!

Buckle up?? Lmao!

I’ve been on and off these boards for a long time. Mostly off, due to the toxic people on here, most of whom are on this board.

But as I wind down the club lacrosse journey with my son, I am reminded of a quote that I use to hear incessantly on here, from the beginning.

“The holdback advantage never goes away.”

My opinion is, there is no advantage and that’s why it doesn’t ever go away. It was never there in the first place.

Holdbacks are privileged. They are “given” everything and earn nothing. At first sign of challenge, they quit and go the easiest possible route that their daddy can buy.

They don’t learn how to compete, fight, grind and overcome… the true character traits of winners. They were robbed of this invaluable growth by parents that made them quit and go the softer easier route. Now they have to deal with these inferior feelings that go along with being holdback. This will stick with them their entire life as a constant reminder of their failures.

I took a different approach with my son.

His first 3 years playing lacrosse he played UP. Then he went on age and stayed there.

He went to public school. No holding back for him.

He competed. Encountered adversity and fought through it. In the process he learned far more valuable lessons about winning in life than he will ever learn at the tier 1 school that he will be attending by at basically no cost.

“The NON-HOLDBACK advantage never, EVER goes away.”

Please stop! You wound me with your words so deeply! Lol
I’ll have a tent selling my new drink at Naptown, NAL and NLF. Please stop by and donate some tears…yours are especially salty I’m sure

We can beat this horse to death but hers is the bottom line ....the top players in their respective on age group re starters and don't reclass . The only kids that reclass are kids that are not getting playing time . Simple as that . But it will all catch up to you because if your son is now getting on the field after reclassing he will not as soon as he's back on age after this year

An overwhelming majority of top level D1 players both current and past either reclassed or did a PG year. Brennan O’Neil is one notable exception.

Check out the CBLaxers event's here! https://www.cblaxers.com/www.cblaxers.com/girls/register/

Stop...just stop. Your kid is not one of those kids and not even in the same league . Just because a kid reclasses doesn't take him to the top of his class. Stop listening to the youth lacrosse club directors who are just taking your money . You didn't play on age so instead of leaving that club you got convinced that reclassing was the better option and to stay with the same club . Jokes on you .

Joey Spallina is also an exception

Check the birth certificate of JS

He graduated high school at 19 . Nice try with the exception talk . Regardless he's a very good player and that doesn't mean that the reclasses are that type of player . There are so many reclasses now , your son is not that guy. Fools . How about this strategy, if your son is not playing on his on age team try having him work harder or leave for another club that has a starting spot for him rather than reclass. I have seen enough reclass kids now that I can tell you that most of them don't stand out and it's a horrible idea .

Not even remotely true. There are only 12.6 full ride scholarships available to each NCAA Div I mens team, and with a roster of at least 45 kids, your claim is ludicrous unless it was 100% need based. It's a no for me and anyone who currently has a son playing Div 1 lacrosse.

I can imagine all of the research that is behind that statement. Lmao. The fact is, Long Island is one of the two biggest hotbeds in lacrosse. Long Island is obviously represented as much or more than any other region, when it comes to top D1 lacrosse college programs. I can’t imagine that’s arguable for anyone. It’s well known that most players from LI don’t reclass, simply because most players from LI are public school kids.

There are no boarding schools on LI.

The only exceptions to this are Express/St A’s/Chaminade kids. Some of those kids reclass, but still, reclass even there is the exception and not the rule. I know alot of kids that have gone there, and not one has reclassed.

So take a look at the long list of kids from the island on every top D1 program. If a public school is after his name then he’s not a reclass. And that accounts for 95% of the LI kids out there.

In short. You’re wrong! As a holdback parent, you’d like to think that, but reality is far different.

I know this is a foreign concept to holdback parents from MD where every single kid reclasses. It’s the culture. It’s not the culture on LI. Almost no one does it.

And there’s no need to do it. Club directors tell MD parents when their kid is 13 that they have to reclass to “stay elite” (ie he’s not very good). During the puberty years, this is a huge advantage. But when kids are 15, 16 and 17 the advantage is long gone. Without the size advantage, the reclass kid is exposed for what he always was. A subpar lacrosse player.

The only reason why there are reclass kids from MD on D1 rosters is because literally every single kid in MD is a reclass.

So do some research. Look at the rosters. LI public school listed = not reclassed = 95% of all LI players on D1 rosters.

Sorry to burst your theory here ....but it had gotten worse on long island as well . 6 reclass/holdbacks on the current express LI 2027 roster . Maybe it wasnt that much when your kids were at the reclass age but it is now . It's pretty ridiculous. And from what I have heard they don't stand out at all either and a few of them shouldn't even be on the field . So apparently reclassing isn't working for them.

Ok Mr Make Stuff Up, I did some research and you may be right but that's based on 95% of nothing is pretty much nothing.

- Princeton (even on LI you may agree this is a good lacrosse school with a half decent education.) 22 recruits in the 23 and 24 classes, 2 are from LI. One is a FOGO.
- Duke, another decent school with a lacrosse team, 15 recruits across 23 and 24, again 2 from LI.
- Maryland, 17 recruits in 23/24 classes with 0 from LI.
- Syracuse with 21 recruits in 23/24 has 4 from LI.
- Bucknell 23 recruits in both classes with 0 from LI
- Villanova 20 recruits in both classes with 1 from LI
- LIU, which looks like a good target school for you, has 12 of 27 recruits acorss the two classes from LI

SImply put, LI isnt getting on to top D1 rosters en masse anymore. This quick sample size clearly pointed out that LI is by far the least represented of all traditional lacrosse hotbeds and may be the least represented region altogether. California and Texas both have more on each roster while the difference between Westchester, MD, Mass and mid west vs LI isnt even worth diving in to. LI simply doesnt place large numbers in to TOP programs anymore. So youre all on age and thats awesome until college coaches come looking.. GO DOLPHINS!

Every single kid from Maryland reclasses. What a notIntelligent statement.

The whole post is "non intelligent" and full of LI bravado with no facts to back it up. In fact quick research shows no statements made are true or defendable via facts. It's opinion and conjecture. LI is no longer the hotbed it once was. #1 2024 is from Va and is on age. Unlike the 22 #1 ranked player from LI who was a reclass. Hysterical the keyboard cowboys making stuff up for their narrative on why little Johnny didn't get what he deserves.

I can imagine all of the research that is behind that statement. Lmao. The fact is, Long Island is one of the two biggest hotbeds in lacrosse. Long Island is obviously represented as much or more than any other region, when it comes to top D1 lacrosse college programs. I can’t imagine that’s arguable for anyone. It’s well known that most players from LI don’t reclass, simply because most players from LI are public school kids.

There are no boarding schools on LI.

The only exceptions to this are Express/St A’s/Chaminade kids. Some of those kids reclass, but still, reclass even there is the exception and not the rule. I know alot of kids that have gone there, and not one has reclassed.

So take a look at the long list of kids from the island on every top D1 program. If a public school is after his name then he’s not a reclass. And that accounts for 95% of the LI kids out there.

In short. You’re wrong! As a holdback parent, you’d like to think that, but reality is far different.

I know this is a foreign concept to holdback parents from MD where every single kid reclasses. It’s the culture. It’s not the culture on LI. Almost no one does it.

And there’s no need to do it. Club directors tell MD parents when their kid is 13 that they have to reclass to “stay elite” (ie he’s not very good). During the puberty years, this is a huge advantage. But when kids are 15, 16 and 17 the advantage is long gone. Without the size advantage, the reclass kid is exposed for what he always was. A subpar lacrosse player.

The only reason why there are reclass kids from MD on D1 rosters is because literally every single kid in MD is a reclass.

So do some research. Look at the rosters. LI public school listed = not reclassed = 95% of all LI players on D1 rosters.[/quote]

Ok Mr Make Stuff Up, I did some research and you may be right but that's based on 95% of nothing is pretty much nothing.

- Princeton (even on LI you may agree this is a good lacrosse school with a half decent education.) 22 recruits in the 23 and 24 classes, 2 are from LI. One is a FOGO.
- Duke, another decent school with a lacrosse team, 15 recruits across 23 and 24, again 2 from LI.
- Maryland, 17 recruits in 23/24 classes with 0 from LI.
- Syracuse with 21 recruits in 23/24 has 4 from LI.
- Bucknell 23 recruits in both classes with 0 from LI
- Villanova 20 recruits in both classes with 1 from LI
- LIU, which looks like a good target school for you, has 12 of 27 recruits acorss the two classes from LI

SImply put, LI isnt getting on to top D1 rosters en masse anymore. This quick sample size clearly pointed out that LI is by far the least represented of all traditional lacrosse hotbeds and may be the least represented region altogether. California and Texas both have more on each roster while the difference between Westchester, MD, Mass and mid west vs LI isnt even worth diving in to. LI simply doesnt place large numbers in to TOP programs anymore. So youre all on age and thats awesome until college coaches come looking.. GO DOLPHINS![/quote]

Slow day at work so I took your advice and did some more research. It turns out that no research backs up any of your blustery opinions.

- Notre Dame- 19 recruits in 23 and 24, 1 from LI
- Cornell- 25 recruits in 23 and 24, 3 from LI, 1 is a Fogo (LI FOGOs are all over D1 rosters.)
- UNC- 21 recruits in 23 and 24, 2 from LI (both private)
- Princeton 22 recruits in the 23 and 24 classes, 2 are from LI. One is a FOGO.
- Duke, 15 recruits across 23 and 24, again 2 from LI.
- Maryland, 17 recruits in 23/24 classes with 0 from LI.
- Syracuse with 21 recruits in 23/24 has 4 from LI.
- Bucknell 23 recruits in both classes with 0 from LI
- Villanova 20 recruits in both classes with 1 from LI

Looking at this sample size of top D1 teams/schools (removing LIU)
- 183 commited players in the 2023 and 2024 classes listed on insidelacrosse for these teams which are all pretty much
- 15 total are from LI
- 5 are from private
- 2 are fogos
- 8 total players from LI public listed as committed to these top teams.

In short, there may be now but there def will not be in the very near future, a "long list of kids from the island on every top D1 program." There certainly isnt even a short list of kids from public on LI. Tell yourself whatever you want about doing it right but it doesnt translate to actual facts. LI is not a hotbed of lacrosse anymore. May be down to reclassing but facts are facts.

The hammer blow- Hostra- 19 commits 1 from LI. Even your Pride wont take you.

Go Dolphins!!!!

Congrats sir! I mean that, this might be the absolute best post I have ever seen on this forum.

The facts don’t lie! Sorry Long Island…

Ok Mr Make Stuff Up, I did some research and you may be right but that's based on 95% of nothing is pretty much nothing.

- Princeton (even on LI you may agree this is a good lacrosse school with a half decent education.) 22 recruits in the 23 and 24 classes, 2 are from LI. One is a FOGO.
- Duke, another decent school with a lacrosse team, 15 recruits across 23 and 24, again 2 from LI.
- Maryland, 17 recruits in 23/24 classes with 0 from LI.
- Syracuse with 21 recruits in 23/24 has 4 from LI.
- Bucknell 23 recruits in both classes with 0 from LI
- Villanova 20 recruits in both classes with 1 from LI
- LIU, which looks like a good target school for you, has 12 of 27 recruits acorss the two classes from LI

SImply put, LI isnt getting on to top D1 rosters en masse anymore. This quick sample size clearly pointed out that LI is by far the least represented of all traditional lacrosse hotbeds and may be the least represented region altogether. California and Texas both have more on each roster while the difference between Westchester, MD, Mass and mid west vs LI isnt even worth diving in to. LI simply doesnt place large numbers in to TOP programs anymore. So youre all on age and thats awesome until college coaches come looking.. GO DOLPHINS![/quote]

Slow day at work so I took your advice and did some more research. It turns out that no research backs up any of your blustery opinions.

- Notre Dame- 19 recruits in 23 and 24, 1 from LI
- Cornell- 25 recruits in 23 and 24, 3 from LI, 1 is a Fogo (LI FOGOs are all over D1 rosters.)
- UNC- 21 recruits in 23 and 24, 2 from LI (both private)
- Princeton 22 recruits in the 23 and 24 classes, 2 are from LI. One is a FOGO.
- Duke, 15 recruits across 23 and 24, again 2 from LI.
- Maryland, 17 recruits in 23/24 classes with 0 from LI.
- Syracuse with 21 recruits in 23/24 has 4 from LI.
- Bucknell 23 recruits in both classes with 0 from LI
- Villanova 20 recruits in both classes with 1 from LI

Looking at this sample size of top D1 teams/schools (removing LIU)
- 183 commited players in the 2023 and 2024 classes listed on insidelacrosse for these teams which are all pretty much
- 15 total are from LI
- 5 are from private
- 2 are fogos
- 8 total players from LI public listed as committed to these top teams.

In short, there may be now but there def will not be in the very near future, a "long list of kids from the island on every top D1 program." There certainly isnt even a short list of kids from public on LI. Tell yourself whatever you want about doing it right but it doesnt translate to actual facts. LI is not a hotbed of lacrosse anymore. May be down to reclassing but facts are facts.

The hammer blow- Hostra- 19 commits 1 from LI. Even your Pride wont take you.

Go Dolphins!!!![/quote]


Yeah the data doesn't lie. The top programs don't take many from public schools without a PG. Rare exception. Spallina and Macadorey both reclass. Props to Oneill but he is a generational talent. Manhasset and GC probably produce the most on age kids.

are these 6 kids public or private? I get and am ok with reclassing in to Prep school. Everyone in those leagues is reclass for the most part and generally speaking youre getting a better education (dont sell short how much work changing to prep school requires.) Reclassing in public to stay in public is bizarre to me. Especially as the stats clearly show that LI publics do not place many kids in top d1.

Trust me when I tell you they're not reclassing for the education and/or private prep schools . Yes, they're going to a Catholic high school on long island ...mainly st Anthony's but it's not for academics or any other academic reason it's purely for lacrosse.... everyone knows.it and it's a horrible idea as not even one of them stand out . So they will once again be playing in high school with the same kids they left from their "on age " team where they didn't play . So they will once again be on the sidelines watching and the whole time they reclassed for lacrosse lol....fools

The St A's > Express makes sense. CoachC doing what CoachC does. At a school like St Anthonys, my understanding is that JV-B is Freshman, JV-A is Sophomore and Varsity is basically seniors. Even superstars like the 2024 LSM that transferred to Lawrenceville do not get to play up until it is their grades time. KNowing you will not play should be a sure sign not to reclass and find something else to do imho but seems on the island you reclass just for a lax opportunity aligned to your club director. Wow amazing what research and feedback does to our blustery LI Meanythat refers to Long Island as one of the two lacrosse hotbeds full of on age kids that are littered across D1 rosters. Remember Jerry, if you believe it, it is true.

The reclassification option is a recent option that is used in many sports. I was exposed to the post graduate year guys when I went away to college, it's also used for many sports. The hammerhead that I think is the most commonly used today for boys is holding them in kindergarten an extra year of just do pre-K when they should sign up for kindergarten. That way little Johnny gets the extra year while keeping all the same classmates throughout school. This is more the norm than the exception now adays. I'm sure many parents complaining about reclasses kids have kids that will graduate at 19. Soccer club sports is grouped by birth year unlike lacrosse. Lacrosse should simply group by the birth year to get a more level playing field, don't hold your breathe for that to happen.

This doesn't mean the college coaches won't do everything they can to continue having 24 and 25 year old men playing collegiate sports for them.

Well said.

I must say, despite the spew of lies from our devout holdback parents to the contrary, hey… they are confirmed cheats, so they have as much credibility I find it refreshing to know that with the exception of a couple of St Anthony’s players, all of the incredible talent that flows out of LI to premier D1 programs is all on age.

Makes total sense when you think about it.

Holdbacks are holdbacks because they aren’t good. LI teams prefer “good” players over bad players. That’s why LI teams are sooooo good. Just common sense!

The best team in the grade has zero holdbacks and has never ever had one. Ranked #1 in the nation, since they’ve been ranking teams, more often than not.

Can’t remember ever losing to a MD holdback team. Crabs? Nope. Never lost. Hawks? Nope! Next Level? Nope. FCA. Not that one either. Looneys? Nope. How about that! Just realized, my sons LI team has never ever lost to a MD holdback team! And they have never had a holdback!

Don’t feel too bad Mr Devolder, very very few teams have beaten them over the past 10 years. But I suppose it is embarrassing to know that your holdbacks can’t beat a team that’s one and two years younger.

Looking forward to the next chapter. Every one of the on age players are committed to top D1 programs, most of whom will be doing so for little to no money. Even almost all of the backups are committed to D1 programs. And every single player is a high quality lacrosse player, student and human being. No old retread substandard holdbacks here.

Define premier D1 programs. Regardless of your definition the stats clearly show that LI is not a hotbed littering top D1 programs. You and Vinny, Rocco, and Joey will always have NLF 2018 to look back to (isnt that the year you ran home after losing.)
https://[Censored].com/2023/02/20/boys-committed-in-the-2024-class-from-long-island/
70 total commits for ALL of Long Island. 12 from private.
11 total to a top 25 team. 5 of the 11 to Army (thats why so many free)
And you never lost to MD teams because you barely left your backyard.

Do me a favor take a look at the 2022 class how many freshmen are starters for Div1 teams and where are they from?

Ok, do you want me to include Spallina or remove all reclasses, Chaminade and St Anthonys kids? When you do that your list is non existent.Even leaving those in Ill bet the answer is actually Canada. LI is no longer a top lax hotbed for college lax.