Ehh everyone loves to detest on the True program.. money grab bla bla bla (all clubs are money grabs btw.) Solid staff, great support for players and coaches, ample opportunity to get better. Specialized position skills training offered outside of practice times. Great option if you’re in the Annapolis area and don’t want to deal with the egos that go along with the Hawks players, staff, and parents.
I’d say less than 10% of the true players could play for the Annapolis Hawks. Those egos have been earned with a decade of superiority. Ironically enough there is plenty drama and ego in the true program, just without the winning. The only thing that they are earning is W-2s for their coaches.
Every club is a money grab. You are paying for a chance for your kid to grow, get noticed, and hopefully play at the next level one day whether it be D1, D2 or D3. The biggest money grabs are the National teams. Absolutely outragious prices just to play in a tournament or a clinic. On another note....if you are a KP or Blue Claws parent are you moving your kid after this season knowing they have no teams after 8th grade?
Blue Claws have a ‘25 team. So it looks like they might be offering hs teams. Not sure about KP.
I have 2 kids who just went through this somewhat recently. One is a hs Jr, and the other is a freshman.
From what I saw, there is no reason to move in 8th grade. There are a lot who reshuffle at freshman year. And the roster sizes open a little too. Plenty of options out there for hs freshmen.
Accurate and key points:
1) Summer before 9th grade is the time to leave
2) Slightly more spots than MS years (rec teams go away but numerous 9-12th only teams show up)
3) KP held tryouts for 2025s and 2024s last summer but the (only slightly verified) story is that at least the 2025s were beamed up to the True Baltimore mothership.
4) Not sure if KP is actually running a 2025 or 2024 team, based on #3.
I don't know why clubs WOULDN'T run high school teams honestly. They rarely practice (no more 4x per week), rarely play (no more HoCo), and cost twice as much as MS teams. The "cost" morphs into "paying for access" to coaches who will coach you (correctly this time, unlike the dad coach you had at 91 or Zingoes since 3rd grade) or make a call on your behalf to a HS or college coach.
