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

That’s not true. Mine went to 1 of the 3 he was looking at and has money “offers” from all three. The coaches have been to his games, they ready know.

Where do the players from the Preds go?

community College

Thats an incomplete answer. should be public school then community college

That answer is harsh....

Most of the Preds families are wealthy enough to send their kid anywhere. 95% of the team is already at private schools.

I think the preds feeds to St. Pauls.

This chain has digressed to a low level. Bunch of lax bro fools on here…

Yes. Unfortunately, offers are just offers. It's the awards in Feb. that really matter.

The chances a parent that knows about this board doesn’t know about private training opportunities is nil.

Stop trolling. If you want to market your training just go to IG and do it the old fashioned way.

Yeah, it's always good to have a fallback plan.

Offers fall through.
Or don't get communicated to the right people.
Or a better player comes along.
Stuff happens.

Get seen by as many schools as possible. Get a few offers.

Parents don't realize that programs don't spend the same amounts each year. Some schools might be cutting back or ramping up their funding, depending on where they are as a program- what they spent or graduated last year. Some schools might also be ramping up their programs.

Guys making comments about offers are clearly people who don't understand the process. He is probably going to say his kid got a full ride to college. Get a clue buddy!

I am genuinely looking for training options for my son. I was told about this forum from a friend.Maybe this isn’t the right forum for normal folks like myself.

What part of the process don't we understand?

Is it the bs promises?

Or knowing that there is no such thing as a real offer until February?

Those of us who just went through it understand kids get the best financial aid packages by performing well in front of many coaches. The free market model works.

The more coaches that see your kid play, the better.

"Offers" don't mean squat until it's in writing from the financial aid office or the money is in hand from the "crease club."

Every parent wants to believe their kid is special. So we believe the hype. Back door, strings-attached offers/ decisions never end up well. Because you realize someone got a better deal. Or worse yet, you made a choice, based on bad, limited information, that wasn't the best fit for your kid.

The poster said coaches have made money offers. Which is completely realistic and is sort of how it works.

How much money is a whole different story. That gets worked out later. Perhaps you are the one who doesn’t know how this process works.

correct, this is not the right forum for you, plus you won't make friends by implying that everyone on the forum is abnormal. the forum provides an outlet for lacrosse Dads to chest pound, brag, troll, provoke, mock, and so forth about the local lacrosse scene. some go too far and tear down individual kids, which is unfortunate, but sometimes the line gets blurry. in any event, if you are looking for serious advice about training opportunities you have come to the wrong place. Normal folks (to borrow your phrase) would get that sort of advice by asking the coaches at their son's school or their son's rec or travel team, or families of their son's teammates, or emailing friends who they actually know in real life and could trust their advice. honestly you sound fake, but if you are actually a well intentioned, clueless person who stumbled into this forum because a friend told you this was a good place to learn about training opportunities, I hope this helps you understand why that was bad advice from your friend.

Finally, some snark. The school talk was too holiday-nice for me.

GREAT response.

So this is a forum for a bunch of jerks trying to live in there sons foot steps. Got ya ! Good luck with that!

A 2028 looking for training opportunities?

Sorry. Too late. He should have hit the wall and started training 10 years ago.

His best bet is to start researching public schools, community colleges, and update his resume for a ditch digging job.

Technically we're more a bunch of jerks living vicariously through our sons. But overall yes, it's going pretty well, thank you.

Correct, I made the comment and put “offers” in quotes for a reason. Obviously they need to get accepted and you’ll see the real package in February. My original point was just that prospect days aren’t that important. If your son is a student who plays for a lower name team and hs t been seen maybe it matters. I can say that at least 6 Miaa/dc head coaches have been to my sons teams games (not saying for my son necessarily). So the prospect days don’t matter. If the coach sees your son compete against the

Anyone who uses the term “jerks” is not welcome here. Beat it.

I'm another saying this isn't legit, but at the top half of MIAA-A schools or top 1/3 of IAC schools, coa he's are only invested in a few outliers. Maybe 40 2028 kids in MD will make varsity in 9th grade and maybe triple that for 10th grade for roughly 600 varsity spots available. Do you really think these coaches are spending serious time worrying about more than 3-4 2028 players each?

Money for rising 9th graders is for those with financial needs. Not “scholarships.” If you’re pounding your chest, like this guy above, thinking it’s a reflection of your kid’s prowess on the field, you’re misguided. At least with the IAC/WCAC schools, not sure about MIAA.
As for coaches showing up at your son’s games— they’re all doing this, and it’s not because he thinks your kid is a future Paul Rabil. It’s because they have to show interest in this day of Instagram and self promotion amongst 13 year olds. I’ve actually heard some of these kids telling my son, “yeah, so and so didn’t really show my kid any interest, so that school is off the list.” Wow. Great due diligence there.

Whose going to tell him…

Shhhh....
Leave him be.
He doesn't need his whole worldview turned upside down.

This is true. They simply don’t have to… most of these schools have hundreds of kids in the lacrosse pool, and NO ODY knows how good an 8th grader may turn out to be. That said— the bottom tier schools might be throwing some chum in the water to lure a couple of kids they otherwise have no chance of getting. But not at Gonzaga, McD, Prep, etc

I will confirm what is above. My son got an offer from all 11 MIAA teams, our biggest issue is that a couple of pro coaches were there , Both want him to go straight to pro, looking for advice from this esteemed forum. Goes without saying, i intend to use this advice as my only guide.

As one of the people here who you called abnormal, and whose son plays on the only top team that matters, the Crabs, who are #1 in country due to my son, while all the rest of teams are way below standards, wonder when someone will coach them better than a rec team, While my son is the top attackman in Baltimore the lefty attack player and right attack on FCA and Hawks cant hold a candle to him.

All this is is Chest Pumping from dads living through their kids! These are the same guys that run their son’s Instagram account or play daddy ball. Get over yourselves your kids might have been good back in the day but struggle now hence is why you are so overly involved in his Lax Life!

Every playoff school in the A league and in DC are paying to try and keep the top kids away from other programs.

McD is well known for its Middle School "offers" locally. Boys and girls. BL built a dorm to improve their lax program. Do you think the money there is limited to only facilities to lure laxers? Google the "One Fund" at StP. Google "Cardinal Crease Club" at CH.

Paying athletes was supposed to be a SECRET. One that's just vaguely hinted about. And only reserved for a few schools.

It's the reason so many of the old generation MIAA fans complained so much when Spalding was using MDLax money a few years ago. And when Poggi was paying for athletes unabashedly at Gilman. It was too brash. It upsets the old guard- it's only supposed to be done in quiet. And they don't like the competition.

Rankings are out.

5 HoCo teams ranked top 25. Looks like FCA didn’t play enough games somehow to qualify but I’m sure they will be somewhere in the mix bringing that total to six.

Heading into the final spring of HoCo:

Hawks still seem to be the most consistent and strongest team. Will they finish out middle school strong or start to fizzle like the once juggernaut 26 and 27 Hawks both did.

FCA remains stacked with talent. HoCo runner ups the last two years. Will they finally get it done or come up short a third time.

Crabs parents are feeling super confident about their team. After years of being a non factor, Crabs added a lot of talent and seem like they are a solid lock as a HoCo playoff team.

DCE is a new team that will keep getting better. It’s a new group of kids that are largely familiar with each other. The coach is very good but have to wait and see if it translates to wins in HoCo this spring.

Next Level is a team that has been underperforming since winning HoCo in 7th grade. There are still a lot of talent on the team and the group has been together a long time. Parents feel the offensive struggles have been fixed and are optimistic.

Madlax has retooled its roster after the 7th grade exodus of long timers. It’s hard to tell how strong the team actually will be because the roster will almost surely evolve between now and April.

91 MD looks like they still will have depth issues. The starters are by and large competent elite level players but the depth (and coaching) issues of the past remain unchanged.

Clippers (expected) are a new team with lots of flash. They challenged themselves in the fall and are not shy about saying they want the 8th elite spot. Remains to be seen how they will perform in HoCo.

Pretty fair assessment.

Having seen 5 of these teams play in the fall (never know about fall ball), I’d say NL added some good pieces on offense. But their goalie is their key— Defense is Ok, he makes them look great.

Crabs added some studs, particularly the kid who came from FCA. Big and strong attackman. They’re not as good as everyone barking about though.

Hawks are just a well oiled machine on Offense. Very, very difficult to defend with their cutters and play from X

Madlax— ton of kids, many of them True Chx and VLC. Their key is big 47, whether he stays or not. Without him, they’re a bottom half team in HoCo. And they’ll need to fly in the kids they used this fall. Which they may do.

DCE is definitely a work in progress. Their D will keep them in virtually every game they play. Their O is suspect, but great coaches who should figure it out. Previous poster mentioned that every loss this fall was only by 1 or 2 goals, and they lead late in all of those losses.

Didn’t see 91 or Clip Show. Have always felt like 91 is close, they seem to have some talent, but then they proceed to get blown out 10-1. Perhaps it’s coaching I dunno.

Some of the moms on here seem bitter. Royal Blue Club at St. Mary’s is another one. It’s not secret, new, wrong or a bad thing. The poster above is right, there are probably 30-50 kids in hoco who will get courted. Some will go to private school who otherwise couldn’t afford it.

Clip Show, 91 and Madlax will be the bottom 3. Team MD and Team Money could probably also be considered for the 8th spot, but I doubt these programs will fill that spot. They like to win games. Has 91 gotten better? How many kids do they have.....heard they pulled some Crabs who got cut and Predators who left from the coaching problems. Where is their weakness? Coaches, depth, etc.

Last point being the critical one. Those “who otherwise couldn’t afford it.” That is definitely happening, but I sincerely doubt there’s an arms race for eighth graders getting scholarships without the financial need for it.

Clip Show that’s good.
Didn’t Clippers lose to ProStart? Could be a False Start.

[/quote]
Pretty fair assessment.

Having seen 5 of these teams play in the fall (never know about fall ball), I’d say NL added some good pieces on offense. But their goalie is their key— Defense is Ok, he makes them look great.

Crabs added some studs, particularly the kid who came from FCA. Big and strong attackman. They’re not as good as everyone barking about though.

Hawks are just a well oiled machine on Offense. Very, very difficult to defend with their cutters and play from X

Madlax— ton of kids, many of them True Chx and VLC. Their key is big 47, whether he stays or not. Without him, they’re a bottom half team in HoCo. And they’ll need to fly in the kids they used this fall. Which they may do.

DCE is definitely a work in progress. Their D will keep them in virtually every game they play. Their O is suspect, but great coaches who should figure it out. Previous poster mentioned that every loss this fall was only by 1 or 2 goals, and they lead late in all of those losses.

Didn’t see 91 or Clip Show. Have always felt like 91 is close, they seem to have some talent, but then they proceed to get blown out 10-1. Perhaps it’s coaching I dunno.[/quote]

I am very curious where Madlax will be pulling in kids for HoCo and/or if they are still trying to pull kids from other teams to come over that didn't play much in the fall.

DCE has some great attack, but now we are seeing size being an issue. Maybe they have some bigger kids on their "B" team?

Hawks do have a great offense, but how is their defense?

I love to clown on the Insta Clippers but it looks like they did a great job finding a good fit in tournaments this fall. When teams are coming out of the fall at 4-6 or 6-4, that's a good job by the club directors/coaches knowing what they have. Rather than 3 Aloha championships or getting waxed 0-9 in the fall, in events they have no business attending. Their games against NXT and FCA Blue look like good bench marks.

In a way they are pretty lucky that True Ches fell apart and Clippers landed some really key players off that squad, otherwise, Clippers' A team would have simply been the Sidewinders team from last year since only about 30 kids initially tried out at all. The Sidewinders kids were sold the "elite team" sales pitch but then (luckily for Clippers' "elite aspirations") they immediately got moved to the B team at the soonest possible moment. "That's club lax."

Which is all to say that I'd bet Clippers would beat Team MD for the elite 8th spot (and Team MD has been ducking the elite bracket for almost 4 years now).

But what about the Team Money/Freedom/Brotherly Love Hoco frankenstein team out of PA? They certainly put something together last year.