Covid has very little to do with the talent missing from 29 class. It is a down year for the majority of on age players. Like Capitalism, the flow of goods ( holdbacks) will
fill this in soon.
This is somewhat true, but 2028 (on age) is a smaller class of lax kids in the DC/MD area also. Maybe 1/3 smaller than the 2026-2024 groups.
2028 has no Koopers team, no Breakers team, no Looneys team, and Kelly Post's B team folded to bring #s to True Baltimore, who couldn't put together a roster either. 2028 Predators is basically HoCo Pink (gone) plus several FCA and Crabs kids (honestly, all kids who historically would be at Looneys or Koopers now). 2028 Team91 is mostly kids from Swarm, with some HoCo Pink kids). Swarm just pulled up a bunch of rec kids for this year, they will drop to A or B in HoCo for 2028.
Some of it is just shuffling but it's simply not as many kids, or as some claim "there's too many clubs."
As for COVID, I think what we will all see is a talent gap erupting. The players who had resources and a work ethic during COVID and whose parents could support/remind/transport kids to lax events (aka "resources") are going to be just fine. That includes club resources, not canceling practices due to COVID shutdowns, kids having access to fields during shutdowns, skills coaches with access to outdoor turf, etc. And for lax, let's remember this includes academic success and performance. Your son may have a great BTB highlight video but if he has a 2.9 GPA he is not playing for Maryland. Period. And so many kids are one or even two grades behind at this point (nobody really wants to discuss this). That will work out fine (in time) for attending Towson or Mason or JMU but not for getting admitted to many D1 schools (basic admissions).
I think we are already seeing that kids who wanted to work out and travel for lax during COVID, and whose parents could support it, did, and they will be just fine. I think that all the rec kids, and the rec kids who usually start showing up at club at 5th and 6th grade, are not going to develop fast enough to be a real presence for middle school lax at least. Whether those kids will buckle down and train and their parents can/will invest the resources for those kids to catch up.....I guess we will see.
And before anybody hits the "elitist" pearl clutch, it should not be controversial to say that - especially in lacrosse - access to good education, quality coaching, flexible and affluent parents, and good modeled behavior (aka the kids know elite HS and college players) are huge (and unfair) factors in success at most things.
