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

No D1 for your little Johnny, tell him to hit the..... Oh! NM!

Love this and agree 100%. My son plays for a Hoco elite team and (hopefully, we'll see how admissions go...) will eventually be a starter on a big WCAC team by 10th or 11th grade.

In addition to Hoco this year, in future years he'll be in NLF tournaments, Pinnacle tournaments, Crabfeast, etc.

If he doesn't stand out there and get D1 looks from his play on a top local club team and a major WCAC team, so be it. I am not shelling out thousands of dollars for showcases, "invite only" nonsense, national teams, etc. I've already sent too much money and time on this sport, I don't need to increase it at this point. If we want/decide D3 is for him, I might consider prospect days at target schools. If he doesn't want to play lax in college, I'm cool with that, it was a fun ride and if he wants to do club in college (or pick it up after college) that's his call. He's growing up to be a man and as a parent the older he gets the less I need to be up in his business and micromanaging every aspect of his development, and if I do in fact need to be in his business it will be about academics and other matters that are way more important than lacrosse. Don't get me wrong, I want him to maximize his talent and do well but just not seeing the point of all this politics and status nonsense.

Does anyone know where the top 28s will land for high school? My son is an average player, so if a kid or a couple of kids turn down a school, that might help him get in. I didn't know if anyone had the inside scoop of the top 3 players from FCA, Crabs, and Hawks and where they land.

I think most of those kids are already at MIAA-A private schools, so...not sure how much movement there will be. I assume the top FCA kids plan to attend CHC for obvious reasons.

There's also some unusual movement between the schools. There are 2028 laxers who want to play musical chairs between McDonogh, Loyola, Gilman, St Pauls, and BL. Due to their current middle school not being whatever it is they wanted it to be. If the rumors are true, a number of St Marys kids (Hawks) are bailing out with intentions to attend Spalding, DeMatha, or McDonogh. We'll know in about 2 weeks I guess.

If your son has good grades (3.5+), 50% + ranking on the HSPT, decent letters, decent interview (and no culture clash issues), and no past behavioral problems, he'll get in to most MIAA-A schools and every MIAA-B/C school. Think about it, that's the kind of student they want. If your son can also break into the 100 ish players on a MIAA-A roster, so much the better, but remember, these schools are a business in and of themselves, above and beyond the athletics department. Other than the best of the best laxers (and/or donors kids) (who they want, and will tolerate their academic flailing and misbehavior), they want kids who will go out into the world, be successful, and donate copious sums back to the school one day. There's no need for them to carry around (non-donor, non-elite athlete) kids who are pulling a 2.6 GPA at public school, with behavior referrals. The fact that the Catholic schools expel kids every year (or, "encourage them to transfer to a new school starting tomorrow") backs that up.

Do you mean for your son to get on the lacrosse team or the school?

Those 9 players are all holdback/double hold-backs, so they should be driving soon.

We couldn’t care less about your plans for your kid. Move on….

USA lacrosse renewal now requires age verification

Do tournaments need to go by those guidelines? Also, does that mean your holdbacks for 2028 need to go to 2027?

Just saw who is coaching the UA command team. CSE has really let this go to [Censored]. Used to have the best coaches and best players. Now its literally failed freshman level coaches. Roster full of checks written by parents that didn't play or know any better.

2028's can be holdback city under the new age rules. Only applies to 2029's and younger.

Is it UA or New Balance? Maybe I am getting it confused with something else..

Do people really think the US Lacrosse and HoCo age verifications are going to stop holdbacks? Kids are ultimately held back for the advantage it gives them in HS. The fact that they can post IG highlight reels of their prodigy dominating younger kids is just a side benefit.

I don't think the age verification is going to reduce the numbers at all. They will likely just reclass later (probably repeat 8th grade) or maybe more will do PG years. Unless the NCAA someday changes it's age limits (which will never happen), coaches will prefer older recruits and parents/clubs/highschools will try to provide them.

The holdback comment is true for FCA and Crabs, not for the Hawks. Hawks' top 3 are all on age with the old Sept 1 rules (D-Pole/LSM, attack, midfield)

This is not true Hawks players are all holdbacks. One of your parents who was really nice told parents on our team. nice try

The top 3 players on the Hawks are all summer birthdays. Technically holdbacks. You don't know what you are speaking about.

Oh boy we found the "Grayden's been one of the national top 10 attackmen since 3rd grade, and he's going to play for Duke!" Dad, whose kid is secretly looking for the easiest way out of lacrosse at the soonest possible moment (10th grade ACL is the coup de gras, but we can also guess "academic probation" and "Oops I didn't try hard at tryouts." Don't worry Pops, within 30 months you'll be on the BOTC HS page, moaning about how "my son's school only starts donors' kids, and now my son wants to quit!" weak sauce.

Yeah, I'll let you and the Hawks holdback attackman's dad (who used to come to BOTC to rank his kid #1 nationally in like 5th grade) argue over who the top players are on Hawks (I promise Dad has an opinion), but yes there are Hawks holdbacks, I don't know them all but the ones I know are at MIAA schools already.

My son plays for Madlax, can somebody attack me please?

Is MadLax playing in hoco this year? People keep saying the team is not doing hoco.
Is Red Hots really playing or is that a rumor?

I have sons at this age and in hs. You know what no one talks about in hs? How they did in Hoco.

Of course they’re playing HoCo. They have a roster 45 deep, half of which are out of state kids they’ll fly in when available. They’ll still finish at the bottom of Elite division.

Red Hots could be 8th team, but as a previous poster mentioned— they’ll be using the bottom half of their 100-person roster since a lot of their top 50 play on HoCo teams, or won’t travel by plane every week to play one game.

Are you looking forward to HoCo?

LOL.

You are lucky to make Madlax, not easy, Top team with Top recruits coached by Top coaches....all those equal a Top team . Well Done !

The ML 2028 coach is particularly awesome. So fun to be a around and a good role model for the kids.

Indeed, the talk of McLean.

Thank you! Nobody had mocked my sons team in over a week and I was starting to feel irrelevant. Keep it coming!

Give us a signal if they're holding you against ur will.

Outstanding. No notes.

Has anyone has a bad experience with ML?
Everyone I talk to is completely happy.
Lots of people detest on them, but that's jealousy.
Please worry about your own club.

HOCO Elite lineup:

Hawks
Crabs
FCA
91
DC Express
Madlax
Next Level
Team Money

No Red Hots at all

Clippers and Team MD stay in AAA

Your attempt at sarcasm is poor….

Seems pretty safe to say that the 10+ starters who left weren't completely happy.

You must be new here.

We'll see if this ends up being True.

How bad are the public schools in Maryland? From BOTC comments it seems like none of the parents even consider for a second sending their kids to the public high school.

There is a lot to unpack in this discussion. The demographics of lacrosse families make them far more likely to consider private schools. The people on this board generally have kids playing on mid to high level club teams where the majority of kids go to private schools.

There are a handful of solid public school teams that occasionally can compete with the 15-20 strong lacrosse private schools. The public schools just don't have the depth to do it consistently. Outside those 5-10 strong public school programs, schools struggle to field two teams with kids that have never played before regularly making varsity. A typical HoCo elite 2028 team would destroy most public varsity teams.

Lacrosse is a rich kid sport for 2nd tier athletes. Of course they go to private schools.

Publics probably have winning record over privates. Curley won B and lost to all Balt and Harford publics they played and they are top half of the privates. JC did beat 1a public Fallston in OT and may still be celebrating this feat. KI beat Spaulding and I also remember Westminster crushing St. Joe so bad that they no longer play. 2/3rds of private are horrible at lax. Playoff "A" conference is head and shoulders better but thats like 6 out of like 30 teams. Years ago MIAA was way different, now not nearly as many playing at next level then what it was in past. Most MIAA schools are now looking to bring in out of state kids to compete since talent is diluted. School wise things have changed with SAT no longer as important. More emphasis is on AP courses which is same course at public school then it is at private (just free, not 30k with same class sizes). Now public school kids at 11th grade take college courses for college credits for free. Unfortunately you can't start college classes at privates till after graduation. Most recruiting is done through club ball now and out of season showcases. So if kid can play they will be found. A lot more options now then in the past to get good coaching. HS lax season is still only 3 out of 12 months. Before it was everything now just a small part of big picture. Privates do much better when at cocktail hour and the country club if that is what you are about.