US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Girls 2027 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

Amusement? Or, is it bemusement? You may be missing logic and common sense, if not common courtesy. I was speaking generally about disparaging any kid from any team using identifiers. People even tip-toe around using jersey numbers; it's just a nod to avoiding more emotional BS here.

Back to our regularly scheduled program... let's get odds on these summer tourneys so I can start super-sizing my big gulps.

We played in that tournament, we were missing 2 but looking at others, all the big dawgs were there for everyone. Teams looked to be fully loaded.

Anyone have the link for the NGLL regional brackets?

Any thoughts on the following- AU Futures, UA All-American or American Select? Looks like all tryouts are now complete. Saw only one 27 made UA while the other two have full 27 teams. Still just a money grab or is this the year they start to have meaning?

No rosters complete yet. Callbacks still happening. The obvious cuts and keeps are already solidified.

American Select seems to be well run.

The tryouts are well run. The problems happen when the clubs running it start adding additional players to rosters and then during games when club coaches favor their own kids over better players.

In fairness last year with the 25s, MD was probably the only team who played a majority of its roster in pool play games. But that's likely also the reason the 24s and 25s teams lost to less talented teams.

No college is recruiting your 8th grade girl yet. If that is your only reason for doing it then it’s a money grab. Mine tried out for the experience in preparation for the next two years. Still haven’t heard yet personally.

Letters will go out Tuesday afternoon.

With M&D out of the NGLL I wonder who wins it? Should be some good matchups.

The truth is, the Mid Atlantic NGLL tournament is much stronger than the National. Hero's should roll.

Will it be good matchups or basically Heros vs Jesters or Eagle Stix, most of the other region winners wouldn’t be .500 in Midatlantic.

Hopefully Hero’s wins and represents The Mid-Atlantic well.

Pools seem to be balanced. Hero’s likely to take Jesters and be favored by 2-3 over FL or ES. FL team is loaded with athletes. ES great at draw and run nice cuts on O. HG takes the prize.

Trying out for teams like this also help prepare for a cut throat final roster shuffle on club teams, prep for the challenge of high school tryouts, and believe it or not to meet other players and have fun. My personal observation from the tryouts was that it was cool to watch a group of girls that love lax, just playing lax with no coaches bearing down on them, no scoreboard, and no parents to yell from the sidelines. For anyone who bashes people for “the money grab trap”, remember if you’re on this board, you’ve already spent too much money where the financial ROI for women’s lacrosse abysmal…but if you’re trying to build your daughters strength for a harsh world, the ROI can be priceless.

Most of the region winners would play B in Mid Atlantic

Agreed. The Madskillz / Florida team only lost to M&D Black by 1 in January after leading after beating BLC. Very close game my daughter played in that tournament. Most athletic by far.

American Select observations

1. Tons of talent and really well attended
2. Love how they had stand-off area for parents so they don’t hover, I went for lunch and surprised how many stayed and watched
3. Evaluators didn’t have clip boards during drill and small group work, very odd
4. The scrimmages were not great
Lacrosse, lots of me ball and running through 3-5 girls for a shot. Lots of very selfish play but that is reality and will prepare girls for college showcases

Overall I’d give it a solid B+ mostly due to incredible talent

Big difference between not being a top 10 team and playing in B level.

Based on latest US Club Lax rankings, the teams in 27A are ranked: 1,5,6,7,15,28,36.

M&D Red won B and is ranked 88th.

The playoff teams for MidAtlantic NGLL A were ranked: 1,3,8,12,19, 23,39, 40.

Is there a big gap between Heros and half of the field, probably. However, there was also a big gap between Heros and 80% of the teams playing in Mid Atlantic A level.

Like who?

Thought the stations were well run. Agree about me-ball in scrimmages but no worse than any other camp (or what the actually American select games will entail).

Only complain is that the initial groups were not distributed evenly. Two of the groups had a majority of the girls from "big clubs". Admittedly, my daughter benefited from this, but can see how hard it could be for a girl from a non-top club to be seen.

I'd say those comments are mostly spot on.

My daughter didn't make it. She didn't really expect to make it either. So no harm, no foul. She just wanted to go with friends and try to compete in that type of environment. So I guess it was good. She got a callback, which was positive for her. But that was super short and really limited action. Not sure what additional they learned from that. She also said every time she or a friend did something (they thought was) good, the coaches just weren't paying attention or even on the field. Such is life.

Personally, I'm not sure how you evaluate that many girls in that short of time. Hearing a couple kids who made it, (and moreso the girls that didn't), my guess is the evaluators weren't 100% paying attention. One girl who didn't make it was the best kid on my daughters MS team and plays for the top club in the state. Probably the best goalie around. She didn't even get a call back. So I don't know what they were watching. Congrats to all the girls who did make it. I hope it's a great experience.

Goalies and defenders really a crapshoot at these things. Maybe she saw tougher shots/shooters, maybe issue on clears that were catchers issue not hers? Defenders, if you don't get up shots, maybe they just work around you but not chance for CT, but based on what it sounds like, not much passing so hard to make defensive plays.

Kids need to realize making these teams doesn't mean you are top in your class and likewise, not making it, doesn't mean you aren't.

Great point about defenders. The biggest difference between All American and Am select is that AA tryouts are positional-- they have certain slots to fill per position. Am Select the criteria is just the best 20 field players. Look at some other region teams; some of them have only 1 or 2 defenders.

Will be interested to see the positional split when the rosters are posted.

This is also a time when you see many midfielders make the transition to defense.

I know at least 3 defenders made the top team

Congratulations to those that made a team and remember it’s not the end of the world for those that didn’t make it. There are plenty of future opportunities ahead for these 27’s.

These events can be a great experience for your DD but please don’t think they are required to play in college. I think some spend a lot for FOMO- My oldest never went to a single one instead opting to only go to college prospect days and is currently playing for a D1 team as did other teammates. She had some teammates that went to many of these events and some are playing D1, D2, D3 or have left lacrosse all together. So they are not required if the costs are too much for some, choose to allow your DD to have down time after tournaments, or any other reasons. Will say the events are great to meet other kids from different teams and even States. Beware they can get expensive if doing more than one after accounting hotel and travel. Good luck to all that did make one of the teams.

The event loses serious credibility when the clear top goalie AND midfielder in the age group don't even get a callback.
Not a good look if you are fighting for market space as the top event/showcase team.
But perhaps AM Select wants to brand itself as the select team that ANYONE has a shot at making, including mid-tier kids. That might be better for the bottom line.

Completely disagree- the evaluators were not affiliated with any clubs or teams, they were all college coaches. It’s called raw talent and that’s what it was based on. Players were evaluated without their ‘too’ strong teammates and had to figure out how to play organically- level playing field and talent stood out.

You have a lot to learn. The clubs and coaches have a lot of "say" in this process. If you think it was just college coaches out there making decisions without any input, you're very naïve.

My daughter is the 3rd, I have a current D1 athlete and another committed. Please don’t call me naive until you’ve walked the walk. I can tell this is your first rodeo bud. Sorry your kid didn’t get picked- it’s not the end all these tournaments but it’s a great way to see how they ‘fit in’ with national talent. Will you be complaining like this when you hit the college circuit- be I see it’s raw talent on those clinic and prospect days and complaining is a bad look. Work harder and hit the wall is what I’ve always told my now and soon to be college Laxers

My daughter got picked and my oldest plays at a top tier D1 school, slow your role cowboy. I am not above admitting the club we chose played a big role in helping my daughters get to this point.

If this is true, why didn’t TA pull her strings to get the goalie on the team? I know the goalie you are talking about, and I agree that she is one of the best, if not THE best, goalie in this age group. But I also heard that she had an off day on Sunday from multiple people. Having club blind tryouts can be both a good and bad thing, especially when it is a one day tryout if you are having a bad day.

Ohhh Look it's the "hit the wall dad"

I think the "hit the wall dad" is too fired up over a legitimate critique of a for-profit regional team.

He assumes their child's experience will be the same as everyone else in the whole world

And also fails to realize the critique may actually be coming from another parent who has kids playing D1 lax. Or from someone who has coached, played, and/or recruited collegiately.

If you are arguing that ANY of these teams are picked solely on raw talent, you are clearly less-experienced in the lax world.

OR more likely, his post is malarky because in his heart, he realizes his historically second-string daughter caught a fortunate break.

There in lies the issue, a goalie having an "off day" might be because the players on D aren't helping or the shooters and shots are just elite. Evaluators can only go with what they see in front of them though, and evidently, they spent a lot of time missing plays while checking out their phones.

When rosters come out, there is going to be a lot of raised eyebrows for sure. That doesn't make it political (clearly it was not) and it doesn't make them bad evaluators either.

Also note, its hard to look like a great goalie when your team is outside the top-30 and you are playing top-10 teams. Maybe when everyone on equal ground, those goalies who see all those shots are more prepared than the goalies that watch their teams score and win draws all day. No knock on any kids who tried out, just observation.

Both parts of your statement are true.

And understand you can have good evaluators and a bad evaluation format.

How many girls were there? 140? 150? More? Good luck evaluating 140+ kids with just 5 coaches, in 4 hours. I've done it for years on the boys side at tryouts. With more time and evaluators. There simply aren't enough reps in drills or opportunities in scrimmages to evaluate that many kids in that short of a time.

My advice to parents is: These events are to make money. Period. So rememebr you are buying a product- the field time. Nothing else. Only pay as much for a showcase as you would for one 4 hour session of fun and competition. Don't expect anything else out of it. No matter what the organizers say. Because you'll probably be disappointed.

I know two M&D Black mids who didn't get picked, the one is probably top 10 in USA.

That one shocked me