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

ADMINS,
FIX THE HIGH SCHOOL THREAD!!
error message for a week!

Agree, and related point, there is a lot of parity between individual players on the bottom third of the roster of elite teams (and maybe even the middle third) and lower division teams' starters. If your seventh grader is on an elite division team but he not one of the 6-8 players who dominates at his position, he is pretty interchangeable with starters on the AAA teams. And even worse, if he is on an elite team but hardly ever plays in games due to a bloated roster or the True model, then his self-esteem and enjoyment of the game is DEFINITELY lower than the starters on the lower division teams. But hopefully your own self esteem for having an "elite" level player makes up for that!

Yes, there have been “fly-ins.” Kids that have participated vary depending on their availability. No hold backs/reclasses from any of those kids. The kid from Nevada is 12. HoCo is legit and it’s been a pleasure competing with everyone.

Nobody is complaining about the age the True players. The problem is assembling a different roster week to week, pulled from a national pool of players from Maryland to Nevada. I am glad you think that HoCo is legit, and it has been in the past, but your team is causing some people to think otherwise.

I rather play kids from out of town that are on age than a whole team of holdbacks.

Hard to scout a team when you have a different team week from week.

It's part of the game these days, good practice for almost high schoolers.

Just call it True National won't ya

Or maybe some kids like being on teams with their friends and have sufficiently healthy home lives so they don't depend on HOCO game minutes for their sense of self worth?

The bulk of True Chesapeake are “local” kids, with a pool of “fly-ins. The “assembling” of a different roster week to week again varies with availability. Not sure how this affects the legitimacy of the league. If anything, it further supports the widely known premise that the best lacrosse IS played in Maryland and arguably the best Spring Lacrosse league in the country is HoCo. Every team in Elite is ranked in the top 30. To me it’s a National level league/competition and as such should and does draw the best talent. We’re grateful for the opportunity. As the results can attest, True by no means is running anyone over.

A maybe better way of putting the above point, on the current teams in elite based on my eye test in seeing lacrosse for a long time as a parent and player, about the following number of kids have D-1 athleticism and potential:

Hawks: 8-10
FCA: 6-8
Crabs: 4-5
Madlax: 5-6
Next Level: 7-9 (problem for them is they are overwhelmingly on the defensive side so they have trouble scoring)
91: 1-2
BLC: 0-2
True: not a stable roster

Outside of these kids, the players in elite are pretty interchangeable among teams in this division and the better AAA teams and mostly are just playing for fun and for playing time in HS on non-power MIAA/WCAC/IAC teams.

How many kids are on the roster for true?

Most elite teams, including 91, will have nearly complete roster turnover in the summers before 9th and 10th grade. And the current 91 starters left Kelly Post because it was nothing BUT stick skills, so don't anticipate growth there, either. They'll be on FCA White or Predators soon enough.

Newsflash - crabs isn’t that much better than 91.
I’m sure this pains you.[/quote]

It's pretty well accepted that there's a fair amount of parity between the bottom of Elite and the top of AA teams. As you said, the only ones to dispute this are parents of kids at the bottom of Elite.[/quote]

Agree, and related point, there is a lot of parity between individual players on the bottom third of the roster of elite teams (and maybe even the middle third) and lower division teams' starters. If your seventh grader is on an elite division team but he not one of the 6-8 players who dominates at his position, he is pretty interchangeable with starters on the AAA teams. And even worse, if he is on an elite team but hardly ever plays in games due to a bloated roster or the True model, then his self-esteem and enjoyment of the game is DEFINITELY lower than the starters on the lower division teams. But hopefully your own self esteem for having an "elite" level player makes up for that![/quote]

Or maybe some kids like being on teams with their friends and have sufficiently healthy home lives so they don't depend on HOCO game minutes for their sense of self worth?[/quote]

Nice try. There is no point for a seventh grader being on a team where he is not getting to play.

Your count of great players per team looks about accurate, but you are wrong to correlate 7th grade greatness to D1 likelihood. As the Dad of boys in the 2025 and 2026 class, I have witnessed many of the 7th grade stars of 2-3 year ago have faded by 9th and 10th grade, and conversely many players who would not have made your list of "D1 athleticism and potential" back then are definitely in that category today. And, it goes without saying, many of the best players are not going to be on the same teams in 2-3 years. In the DC region, the strongest Madlax players will migrate to Next Level, for the same reasons they did in the 2024, 2026, and 2027 classes. And, Crabs 2028 will become an all star team of the other Baltimore teams' current 2027 teams.

Posts like this really make me wish botc wasn’t anonymous.

Would love to know who the pitchfork is who feels comfortable projecting D1 potential across a few hundred seventh graders in the league.

Worthless.

Agree....what a dense comment. Your kid peaked way too early. There's probably 15-20 elite players not on elite teams.

So if True wins does HOCO have to produce 40 championship hats?

Guessing an NL dad, correlation of "future D1 studs" to "actual team performance in the 7th grade" is way out of whack.

Not true.

True got rolled by FCA, and they’ll get rolled by the Hawks and Madlax— with or without fly-ins. Who cares, this thread is getting TIRED.

Ok Next Level dad. This is classic.
So tell me— who in the top 20 of the national 2028 rankings have NL beaten since the end of HoCo last May. That’s almost a year… waiting…. NOT ONE. Have played 40+ games since the end of HoCo and don’t have a single signature win, other than maybe Dukes. But yeah, they have Hawks-like talent. 🤣

Gotta be one of the densest posts I’ve ever seen on here… and likely a NL dad. Inflated sense of his kid’s team’s prowess

If you are telling me that every kid on the True roster in Elite is on age, I will take that bet right now. Be very careful calling out holdbacks! Not every kid on that roster is on age.

Agreed, and likely someone who didn't play high school let alone college sports, so didn't see how things actually develop himself.

NL is falling off they are not good at all the talent is all on the defense

They have one large Attackmen that used to play for BLC very good he is a reclass but hes carrying the offense

Offense was way more potent before the big reclass showed up.

He didn’t get off a single shot against Madlax. Their best player is number 8, athletic middie with some speed. Couple other good middies as well.

Agreed. NL is not going to be an elite team until they get 4-6 players who can score, and right now they only have 1-2. NL has picked up dominant scorers from MadLax in the 2024, 2026, and 2027 classes, and hopefully they can do the same in the 2028 class. The problem is that MadLax does not have a lot of kids who can score either. The 4-2 game between those teams is telling. Sounds more like a soccer game.

Had a bad game that day most likely wont happen again

7th grader has entered the chat room

Keep cutting those checks to a club where your kid is on the sidelines in practice and on game day. "He's getting elite coaching and exposure compared to VLC and Sidewinders." Riiiiiiight.

Has True airways arrived at BWI? Expect a roster check this weekend “Chesapeake”

How did Trues fly-ins work out for them

Did they roster check True?

Watched this game. Game was closer than the score, Hawks goalie was outstanding and True tried to rely a bit too much on their big Middie 81. The other mid for True #9 is their best player, should have had more touches.

For their sake, I hope they stayed in IL.

If they played, the True MD director will - once again- have a lot of 'splainin' to do about the program's trajectory towards eliteness.

If they stayed in IL, honestly, the same director has some 'splainin to do to the Annapolis parents who continue to be sold a bill of goods.

Weekend Recap:

Bad weekend in Madlaxland, 0-2 and throttled by FCA and Hawks. Both of those teams playing their 2s and 3s late in 2nd half.

FCA Rolls

Hawks beat True National and Madlax in a double header. Great weekend for them.

Crabs, Next Level, and True fighting for the 4th playoff spot. Next weekend will be interesting!

Whats the latest on this weeks hoco scores
Any upsets?

0-2 for MadLax. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving group. #47 is a non factor, Cabel is still screaming and the parents are still obnoxious. Embarrassing group honestly.

10-1 at the half vs FCA. 11-4 final vs Hawks. Not even competitive.

Crabs by summer will have best team. Count on it, Several players coming , heard it hear first

ML defense exposed. Attack is non-existent. Only threat is the often discussed middie, but stranded on a fading team. Doubt they beat either Crabs or Fly-ins from True. Certainly not as much DC talent across the board with all 3 teams at 2028 as with the 24’s… and by far the most talented is this ML import from Richmond. Coach is still a piece of work.